Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
 

This movie just came out Friday. Anyone seen it yet?

I just recently finished the book (like within the last week or so) and loved the book.


I just came back from seeing the movie and all I can say is HORRIBLE!

There are things I would have liked them to keep aligned to the book, but aren't essential. But there are MAJOR things they've changed, and IDK why they did it. Soo disappointed :(

Oh no! I'm going to see this movie on Thursday with the bf and some sisters. What did they change?? I'll be super pissed, the entire book series was so good!

They altered the entire plot of the movie. I'll PM you about it if you want.

I will say this....Ares is NOT mentioned at all in the movie (except for one moment during Capture the Flag where Luke says "ahh sons of Ares")

Andy and I both really enjoyed it...but we did not read the book.

That was my 12-year-old son's reaction. He was very disappointed. He likes the Percy Jackson books more than Harry Potter (I think they're great, too) -- his copies of the last two are autographed by the author, whom he met at a booksigning. He doesn't have much patience with movies that change the story from what it is in the book to begin with, and he said this one went way too far with changes.

pomplemousse, one of the things they did was age Percy and Annabeth about 5 years.

I just told the boyfriend (who got me into the books anyway...we both love Greek mythology) about the changes and he isn't happy about it either. At least when we go see it on Thursday it will either be free or we will only have to pay five dollars, hopefully thatll make up for it.

See I didn't mind that one bit. I minded more that they didn't give Grover horns!

My mom and I had an argument about it after watching the movie. She claimed they had to make it more "Hollywood" and my whole thing was the book was "hollywood" enough. They didn't HAVE to alter the plot so drastically. I mean really? Leaving Ares out completely? The way they changed Hades character? Not cool.

And I can see that being the case. But since Percy is 12 in the book, my 12-year-old son minded a great deal. The indentification with Percy became much harder.

Boyfriend is sitting next to me, mad. Most likely after we see it, we will be protesting any further movies. How is Grover supposed to go search for Pan in later movies if she doesn't have a searcher's license?! It just makes no sense.
I don't understand why they felt they had to change the plot so drastically.
Meanwhile, boyfriend wants horrible things to happen to the director.

I saw this book at Borders when I went on my most recent book binge and I thought about getting it, not knowing that it was about to be a movie.

I also sorta thought the main character might be black with a name like Percy Jackson. I'M SORRY I only ever knew one white Jackson in real life! (I also thought Encyclopedia Brown was black.)

Anyway, I'm sorry for those of you who feel the movie sucks. I hate when that happens.

The entire Percy Jackson name is a "pass the offering plate down the Southern Black church row" name.

I feel like it was just Harry Potter with half the magic and originality. I never read the books but they were huge sellers when I worked at B&N, so they must've been pretty good. I thought it had it's funny parts but the monsters were a little on the scary side. I was worried about my nephew (he's a fraidy cat) but that fury scared the crap out of me. He was fine. :o My dad wanted to come along as well.

The reviews mostly say that the cast was great, it was just the movie itself that wasn't great. Uma Thurman did a great job, it's hard to make people pay attention to you and not all the snakes around your head, so she was able to command a lot of attention. The mom was meh, but Persephone was funny. My dad giggled like a freakin' schoolboy at every joke she made, but I think it was that black bustier that had him smiling more than anything. :rolleyes: After the movie, I showed my mom a YT clip of her part (I like Rosario Dawson) and my dad walked in, looked at the screen, and IMMEDIATELY started giggling. Not laughing like a grown man, but seriously giggling. At least somebody enjoyed the movie. :rolleyes:

HOWEVER, why was Persephone with Hades at the summer solstice? The myth reads that she stays there during winter; it doesn't make sense for her to be there in June. That peeved me more than the other missteps because it was the most obvious.

The Percy is short for Perseus, if that matters. :D

The book is great. I was hooked as soon as I saw the name of the first chapter: "I Accidentaly Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher." That's followed by "Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death."

^ Ha! I get it!

*reminiscing about my copy of D'Aulaire's Greek Myths, which I still have!*

Better than the animated Disney Hercules...
 

I don't care how much the movie makers changed things from the book, they could put Hades in a Tutu, have Dionysus stick to unfermented grape juice, have 9 fates (and 3 muses) and they *still* wouldn't butcher Greek Mythology as much as the Animated Hercules movie (and the resulting Disney Series) did.

Sigh. I guess that's another change they must have made. The book is very clear that it was the winter solstice.

The movie was o.k. I didn't like the character, Grover. I will have to read to the book to see if it matches up with the way he was portrayed in the movie.

I thought it was really good, but then again, I haven't read the books yet. The Persephone/timing thing bothered me, I was stuck on that for a solid 15 minutes after it happened. The other thing that bothered me, how did Athena have a child with a mortal? She was famously virgin. If her child was born the same way she was, wouldn't her child have been a god (no mortal blood involved to "taint" them?) But maybe that's explained in the books?

Nope. In the book it's the summer solstice--June 21th.

In the book, she's up with Demeter when the trio go down to see Hades. The only reason I can see them including her in the movie is because of the way they changed Hades character (trying not to give too much away lol)

But the Solstice is on the 21st. :confused:

Can you PM the change? Because I don't get it! LOL I'm trying really hard to understand over here.

You are right, the 21st. I don't know why I was thinking the 25th.

Because June 25 is the best day ever known to humanity.

Is that your birthday? lol. Cause I think the 19th of June is the best day. lol

Bump y'all, the party is CLEARLY in August. :p

Thanks, I stand corrected. I guess it's been too long since I read it -- maybe I was confusing it with another trip to the Underworld in one of the other books?

It's explained in the books. I forget exactly how because they're not right next to me, but Athena was attracted to wisdom and the brightest people of their age, and her children are born from thoughts. It's pretty neat actually.

Thanks! That makes way more sense now. I think I'm going to have to read these books

It hit me while I was watching the movie yesterday that what I was remembering was that the bolt was stolen at the winter solstice, right?

If I could put the book out of my mind, the movie was good. But it was hard to put the book out of my mind, and it was just a constant stream of disappointments that the story had been watered down or outright changed. I thought that the result was a much less compelling story. (Not to mention, I thought that the books great humor took a hit.)

Really too bad.

I lent my book to my cousin, so when she gets back today i'll make sure, but I think that is correct. That is when Annabeth and Luke, and some other demigods went up to Mt. Olympus and met their parents (which is why it irked me that it mentioned they weren't allowed to ever meet their parents).


But I agree, I think the movie was very watered down. I will not believe that the book wasn't "Hollywood" enough. Really? People wouldn't wanna see Percy fight a Chimera and then fall through the St. Louis Arch? Yeah cause fighting Hydra was muuuuuuch better :rolleyes:

I thought the book would have made a perfect movie the way it was (although they could have left the smaller things out, like them fighting the dude in the waterbed store, etc).

Right, and wasn't Percy's class on a field trip near there, or he was home from school or something, which they thought gave him the opportunity to take the bolt at Poseiden's request?

I agree. But I was particularly disappointed that the whole underlying segment of the total 5-story arc -- why Luke really stole the bolt -- was completely ignored. Way to set up any sequels. :rolleyes:

And Camp Half-Blood was a major disappointment, too. That baffled me as much as anything. Don't they realize that the people who have read the book and can fuel the movie's success want to see Camp Half-Blood look like it does in the books -- complete with the old house, the cabins and Mr D?

BTW, two things to look forward to in the fall: A Percy Jackson graphic novel and the publication of Thalia Grace and the Hunters: The Drakon Slayer.

I haven't read the book yet. Waiting for the kid to finish it.

I think what happens, is that you have a wildly successful book, which would *probably* make a good movie, but TPTB don't want to risk $$ on an unproven film. So the first version is usually very watered down, and the subsequent films are better, as the director and other PTB are more comfortable financially. (TPTB= the powers that be) Look at the HP franchise. ETA: its hard to keep the readers engrossed in the story that they already know AND attract and keep new-comers to the series.

I thought the movie was ok, although the mother's flat performance irked me. I thought Hades was fun, lol! And Posiedon was delicious...but that's my GA addiction coming out.

Except that the first and second Harry Potter movies, which like Lightning Thief were directed by Chris Columbus, were the most faithful-to-the-book of all the HP movies. It's the later HP movies that have strayed more from the books. It seemed with the first HP movies, they understood they'd fail miserably with the fans if they messed with the story too much. (Ditto Lord of the Rings.)

Of course, the other difference was that JK Rowling was involved with the HP movies, at least to some degree. That was partially because she hadn't finished the series when the first movies came out, so her input was needed to make sure they didn't work against the story arc.

I thought the later movies were better, maybe because I had read the corresponding books by then, IDK. :( The first two aren't my favorite ones from the series.

But again, I haven't read the book, so I can't really comment yet. But the film was a solid B.

Interesting. I was so disappointed in the last HP movie. Not that I'm arguing with you; we can after all have different tastes. :D

Actually, I think it points up a fundamental problem. I'd agree that the later HP movies perhaps work better as movies. Movies present a very different style of story-telling from books. Movies that slavishly adhere to a book often don't work too well. When you're talking about books like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, it's no small challenge to make a movie that is reasonably faithful to the book and that still stands on its own and works well as a movie.

How are your kids liking the book?

Yeah, it was stolen during the winter solstice, and Zeus was convinced Poseidon stole the bolt. Since gods can't steal from each other directly, Zeus figured Poseidon used a human--just didn't know who. Zeus figured it was Percy because 1) he was in New York during the winter holidays and 2) Poseidon claimed Percy.

I agree with the idea of how they are going to set up the sequels. At the time of the movie, I was HORRIFIED that they used Luke as the person who gave Percy the bolt, but now that i've read more of the books (currently on 3, getting ready for 4) I can see why they would chose him over Ares. But to completely leave out Kronos/Tartarus is really forsaking the whole plot of all the later books....especially with the plot twist of book 2.

I wonder if they will even try a second movie? :confused:

I could be wrong, but I think it's already in production.

oh geez. I wonder how they'll weave Luke (who had seemed to be killed in the movie) and Kronos into the film.

My son asked the same question. As I told him, we didn't see Luke die, se just saw him go in the water. He is a demi-god, so I can easily imagine them picking up with "Luke's not really dead."

True, who knows maybe that is how they'll weave the two in. Luke was suppose to die but made a deal with Kronos....save his life and he's be loyal to Kronos and help him rise. :confused:


I did finally read the part where they talk about Annabeth's birth. Don't know why they waiting until book 4 to talk about it...but whatever. lol

There's a neat interview on Persephone by Rosario Dawson. I never imagined Persephone as "crazy" or "manic" but I suppose if you were locked away by Hades, you would turn out that way. Kind of a neat interpretation of the character that wasn't supposed to be there. ;)

Yeah if the movie went that far off the books....*sigh* I probably won't see the sequel unless my nephew drags me to it. Though by the time one is made he might not be into this stuff anymore.