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.