Percy Jackson and the Olympians Review
The Lightning Thief
By Chuckysin
Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, I know what the hell am I doing going to see a kids movie? Well I have a kid, so being a father I often times will subject myself to the easy going mindless pleasure that is the world of children’s books and movies. We have all seen an absolute influx in the conversion of books to movies lately, some turn out to be pretty well done (Harry Potter series) Others are absolutely horrid adaptations (Spiderwicks). My daughter was very interested in seeing the film as we read the book together not too long ago. So, on Saturday morning we decided to go see the movie and how well it translated to be the big screen.
Now to avoid turning this into a comparison, I will simply say, if you read the books, please disregard the plot line, the time lines and the themes of the books, or you will not enjoy the movie. This movie was a very loose adaptation of the book, sharing a few connections of events, removing what I saw as key events in the books and adding new events. But overall the movie was enjoyable for what it was, a kids movie.
Story
Percy Jackson is a modern day deviant, he is enrolled in a private school for troubled students, he suffers from dyslexia, ADHD and has the modern day attitude of just not giving a rats ass about much around him. Until the day he is attacked by his teacher that turns into a bat like creature (she is in fact supposed to be one of the mythological Furies). With that he discovers that he is in fact not a normal teen filled with angst, but rather the son of the Greek god Poseidon. At this he is rushed to a camp for other demi-gods (referred to as half-bloods in the film and book), where he will meet two more protagonists and find out that he is being accused of stealing Zeus' master bolt. The movies story is then laid that if the bolt is not returned in 12 days, a war between the gods will break out, because Zeus is accusing Poseidon for the theft. Hades is then thrown into the mix demanding that Percy give him the bolt, and in exchange he will return Percy's recently killed (by the Minotaur) mother back. Percy knows he doesn't have the bolt, but decides to run away from the camp to get his mother back from the underworld. Now the quest begins and the movie can get rolling.
The Characters
You have three essential characters to this film, first and foremost is Percy Jackson, son of the god Poseidon. Second is the romantic interest, Annabeth, the daughter of Athena, and Grover the protector who just happens to be half donkey, oh excuse me goat, he is a satyr. Now my problem isn’t with the acting I honestly think the kids that did the acting did a fair job, my issue was with the character development, or lack of character development. They rushed so much to get to the special effects and the fights that they left out the key points of why are the characters the way they are, why you should relate to them or cheer them on. You simply just watch the film, watch the actors do their bit and really have no shred of caring for the character. Percy in the books is actually a very in depth kid, and you can relate to him even as an adult because you most likely felt many of the things that he feels, therefore, you establish a soft of pseudo bond with him. The movie just rushes past that. Leaving you feeling a little confused and empty.
At this point you have the minor characters, the Gods themselves, who’s role is very minimal in the film, but they are there and that is about it. At the end they tried to establish the abandoned father and I had to between Percy and Poseidon but it kind of feel short. I really think they could have played the resentment factor and the inner battle that Percy had about coming to terms with his father, but they decided it would be too complex so let’s cut the heads off of shit instead. You have Pierce Brosnan playing Chiron, the trainer of hero’s past here to train the new young heroes, but you really don’t see much training or relationships, he’s almost a cameo role if anything, a big name to put in lights to make the soccer mom’s swoon at his hairy backside as he runs around in his CGI glory. Then the best role goes to Medusa played by Uma Thurman, while the role didn’t require any acting ability, I still found that to be one of the more interesting parts, simply because of the rendering of her hair and how they played the modern day Gorgon.
Overall Impressions
I’ll say that the movie wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good. It felt very rushed, very unexplained, if you don’t know Greek mythology, you’ll be lost, if you read the books, you’ll be kind of upset with the story arc not matching at all. I’ll save that for a review of the books if I ever decide to stop being a lazy ass. As I was saying, its rushed, they don’t explain much, like why is Chiron still alive, he is not immortal? How is it Medusa is out and about walking around in the modern day world? Why in the hell is Olympus hovering over the empire state building? If the writers expected that the audience would be readers of the book they should have stuck to the books story line, but in changing it so much they should have made an explanation as to things like that. The fact that the Gods move with western civilization, first it was Greece, then Rome, then England and now the Center of the universe New York. They could have given 10 – 15 more minutes of film time and given a lot of explanation and character development in the process. Then again, most people are pretty much mindless when it comes to movies, and are more concerned with the CGI and action scenes then an actual plot line and story being developed. The CGI was well done, not over abused but the film was dependent upon it. Then again, what film that is an action film these days isn’t. So if you have kids, you may enjoy this film, I’m not going to say I didn’t, I was impressed, I laughed at a few of the things and I enjoyed the scenes. I went in open minded knowing from the previews it would not follow the book so that made it a lot easier to swallow. I just wish Hollywood would stop insulting movie goers and give us some character development again.
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Leave a Comment
Nicholai
09 Mar 2010, 00:07
A refreshing film criticism on this site. I hope you write again.
Harry Potter
11 Mar 2010, 10:02
Hey they stole my movie!
Neuromancer99
03 Jun 2010, 11:08
I caught Percy Jackson on satellite tv monday night and I watched it with
my daughter. I bought her one or two of the Percy Jackson books because she
is a Harry Potter fan but she liked them. She liked the movie a little but
she said it was different from the book and I told her that that was always
the case with Hollywood movies.
Since Percy Jackson was still fresh in my mind I read your review and I
agreed with you about the movie being rushed and unexplained and being
mediocre. But for a kids movie I didn't expect THE GODFATHER or anything.
But you wrote a good review and you should write more if you have the time.
piyush shrestha
18 Jul 2010, 07:25
one of the best movie as well as book . that's what i thought.
piyush shrestha
18 Jul 2010, 08:39
one of the best movie i have ever seen. that's what i thought.
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