If you remember my review of the first Percy Jackson and the Olympians book I mentioned how I got a strong Harry Potter vibe from it. After reading the second book this vibe got stronger to the point where I felt this series was a ripoff. Sure enough, after seeing plot summaries of the last three books, yes, this is a Harry Potter ripoff. And it was interesting, too.
Besides that I finally saw the Lightning Thief movie. I have to say this movie got the same treatment as the Cirque du Freak movie. Mind you, this movie was done by the same guy who did the first three Harry Potter movies, Chris Columbus. while the first three Harry potter movies weren’t all that great, at least they were somewhat interesting. This one fails on everything an adaptation should.
The biggest problem with this movie is that it feels like it was filmed and written by a person with ADHD. That means that this movie jumps from one scene to the next at high speeds with very little to no time for character development or plot. The book at least had some down time for the characters to develop and make us care about them. Here, there’s no time. They have to go the next Macguffin.
“What Macguffin?” you’re probably saying. Well, remember those pearls that allowed the characters to escape from Hades? Well, the entire movie is them getting three on their way to Hades via a map that Luke gave them. “Wait, Luke never gave Percy a map.” I know that, but the film makers didn’t. They completely threw the plot of the book out the window and made it a fetch quest.
A fetch quest that Chiron had nothing to do with. Oh, did I not mention that Percy is not given a quest but decides to go on his own to save his mom? Apparently the film makers wanted Percy to just say say “I’m saving my mom and there’s nothing anybody can do about it” instead of it being a quest.
Also, Ares is nowhere to be seen. Why Ares is absent is beyond me. The other -res character, Hades, looks and acts like the devil and his domain is the Christian hell. Anyone who knows anything about Greek myth know that HADES IS NOT EVIL! Also, his domain is never described as a pit of fire. This is the second time I know where Hades is evil (the first is Disney”s Hercules.)
Do you remember that scene where Percy and co. go to a casino and they plays video games for a while? Then they find out this is a trap, escape and find out a few days passed? It’s here, except they actually gamble and they’re kept there because they eat a mind altering lotus flower that makes the viewer think they’re tripping . Oh, and Poker Face plays during the scene. They also escape by stealing a car in the casino THAT HAS THE KEYS IN THEM!
Basically, everything that was subtle about the book is thrown out for “THINGS! EXPLOSIONS! ACTION! FUN!” Not to mention a complete rewriting of the story and you get this movie. Avoid.
Categories: Movies
Tags: movies, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, reviews
Sanrock Reviews 