Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Movie Review

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

Loosely based off of the book. Loosely being the operative word.

Plot

The first movie in a series based off of the novels by Rick Riordan. Percy Jackson (Logan Leerman) on his birthday finds out that he is a demi-god. Half human and half immortal, he is to go to Camp Half Blood to train where he meets Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) and finds out his best friend, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) is a satyr. He must rescue his mother by trying to get into the Underworld, whilst also trying to find his Uncle Zeus’ stolen Lighting Bolt.

Review

It is safe to say that the fans of the book series were heavily disappointed with this adaptation. It’s almost as if Riordan had no say in what was changed at all! However if you’re willing to look past the fact that the plot line is completely different, and the beloved twelve year old heroes that live within their paperback world have been swapped with some trainees that are four years their senior, the movie might be worth watching.

If you were to watch this film with no prior knowledge to the acclaimed book series, you would have thoroughly enjoyed the fresh talent, and the special effects convenient to the plot line. Leerman does a good job playing the confused sixteen year old, but perhaps it wasn’t acting, and he really was confused as to the guidelines of his characters personality. In the books it’s easy to fall in love with the humour that Riordan is known for. The witty banter that is exchanged between characters is slightly lacking in the film version. The audience laughs more for the rushed explanations and the nickname of ‘Purse’ that, without subtitles, really doesn’t emulate the hero persona Percy was going for.

Let’s talk about the gods in this movie; slightly controversial without the capital ‘g’ another thing that’s slightly lost in translation in the making of the film. Why is Zeus – the most powerful god of all - sitting around doing nothing and relying on a bunch of teenagers to do his dirty work? These Greeks need to get a grip. The character of Persephone, Hades’ wife, with her sexual nature and sass was definitely a scriptural addition for the parent’s appreciation. Does it work? Perhaps, but let’s try and keep this as a PG shall we?

The film does have its good points though; we shouldn’t focus on the negative, too much – although there is plenty of negative to focus on. Annabeth may be a brunette in this film, but her strong willed female presence to an otherwise ‘boy’s action movie’ is reassuring. She may take the clichéd mother role, but can be ‘loosely’ compared to other females in famous trios.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians has been a great platform for the actors to acquire better roles. Leerman has gone on to star in, the now iconic adaptation of, ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower’. Alexandra Daddario has stared in a lot of television shows and Brandon T. Jackson has worked on countless movies after his role as Grover.

Verdict

Overall the film showed a good range of themes common in family fantasy movies, but there was nothing that we haven’t seen before.