i'm talking like white house famous!
PERCY JACKSON!!! You guys know that I have mad love for this series, so I was very excited to see the film version of The Lightning Thief last night. I recently re-read the book, and I've read it about 8 times total (including using it as a read-aloud to my students, so that's 6 times!) but I remembered how doing re-reads has ruined several Harry Potter films for me so I promised myself that I wouldn't sit in the theater going "but it wasn't like that IN THE BOOK!" Books will always be better, they will always have more detail, and my imagination will always seem superior to even the most accomplished film director's because human beings are essentially egotistical.
I definitely think the filmmakers (I guess technically the people who adapted the book into a screenplay) looked at the movie not in terms of "what things are really important to the plot of this book and the series as a whole?" but in terms of "what parts of this book are going to make for the best special effects?" I didn't nitpick in the theater, so I will now. A film review, in list form.
Casting Win:
- Logan Lerman as Percy
- Jake Abel as Luke; I was grateful that the movie kept his role as a big brother type persona and son of Hermes- see my comments about Kronos' absence below, though.
- Catherine Keener as Sally, Percy's mom, was absolutely true to the book's description, and I was glad.
- Pierce Brosnan as Chiron
Things I am sad the filmmakers left out:
- Most of the humor that makes the books so successful with young readers. The books are so funny, mainly because Percy is such a sarcastic narrator, but also because of "modernized" details like Riordan's portrayal of Poseidon as kind of the Jimmy Buffett of the pantheon, with a throne shaped like a seat from a fishing boat. That's creative. Olympus and the Gods in the movie look like extras from 300 and I feel like that's lazy. I was glad the movie had at least some funny bits interspersed with the ACTION ACTION ACTION, but it didn't deliver as much humor as it should have.
- Most of the things that make Rick Riordan's version of Greek mythology quirky and magical: Percy's sword being called Riptide, Annabeth's Yankees cap, I-Messages. Percy Jackson without these elements seems kind of like if Harry Potter had been made without wands choosing the wizard, Harry's invisibility cloak, or Owl Post. And Annabeth having her cap would have made taking the pearl from the statue in the Nashville Parthenon (which replaced the Gateway Arch as a Secretly Significant American Landmark) a LOT easier!
- Ares was pretty much my favorite Greek God at the moment after re-reading the book. I thought he was going to roll up to the diner looking like Dog the Bounty Hunter.
- Clarisse. Leaving out Clarisse, Percy's biggest bully at Camp Half-Blood, is something like the Harry Potter movies being made without Draco Malfoy. Without Clarisse in the movie, some of her role in the story seemed to fall on Annabeth, like in the Capture the Flag game.
- Dionysus as camp director and his many mispronunciations of Percy's name a la "Peter Johnson."
- The Big House and especially the Oracle and her prophecy.
- The Thalia-Luke-Annabeth-Grover background story and Thalia's tree. Apparently in the filmverse Zeus has no children?
- Kronos in the pit, because in the movie it seemed like the driving force behind all of the conflict was Luke's daddy issues; the series' real antagonist was just... not there at all.
- The FATES!
- Sally's blue food
- Mrs. Dodds' leather jacket and Georgia accent... I had a lot of fun with her while reading the book aloud to my students.
Things I don't really mind changing:
- The kids' ages going from 12 (Percy is in sixth grade in the book) to at least 16, because being able to drive really helped move the plot along... and allowed the filmmakers to add a scene that reminded me of the part where Dee accidentally gets on the freeway in Clueless.
- Annabeth's haircolor-swap from blonde to auburn. I'd been freaking out about it when the promo pics came out, comparing it to what it would be like if the Harry Potter films hadn't made Ron Weasley a redhead, but Alexandra Daddario is so pretty that while watching the movie I stopped caring about what color her hair was. I was more concerned with tough, smart Annabeth being turned into a saucy minx than Annabeth being turned into a redhead.
- Yancy going from a boarding school to a day school, because it allowed the film to squeeze a semester into a couple of days and get Percy to camp more quickly.
- Mrs. Dodds changing from a pre-Algebra to an English teacher, because it allowed the film to demonstrate Percy's dyslexia and add some Shakespeare!
Changes I thought were just weird:
- Knowing that Poseidon was Percy's father all along; I also had trouble wrapping my brain around Kevin McKidd as Poseidon because I associate him with his role on Grey's Anatomy.
- Camp Half-Blood in the books is a a lot more like a regular summer camp, not a "renaissance faire," to quote movie-Luke. Camp t-shirts. Camp necklaces. And the cabins are all in rows; Percy does not live in some open-air pierhouse by the lake and Poseidon certainly didn't build anything for him.
- The pearls becoming a major plot point and associated with Persephone instead of being given to Percy by the Nereid... but I guess they had to have something like this since they took out the Oracle.
- Percy beating people up in the Casino... in the book they just walk out. The bellhop is disappointed, but no one tries to stop the kids using physical force.
- Grover staying behind in the Underworld instead of Sally and apparently hooking up with Persephone, which is creepy not because he's a satyr but because this is a children's series!
- Charon in the book is an Italian suit wearing, smug record exec type. In the movie, he's the old-school ferryman. The book's version is more creative; I don't understand why the movie kept resorting to old-school "Greek mythology" imagery. Why didn't Chris Columbus let the movie be as quirky as the books?
Even though the movie's not perfect, the more people who go see it, the more likely that a sequel or the full series will be made. And I think the movie's production has boosted the book's popularity (if empty shelves at my local Target are any indication), so hopefully any future movies will be more loyal to Riordan's vision of the Greek mythos.
I definitely think the filmmakers (I guess technically the people who adapted the book into a screenplay) looked at the movie not in terms of "what things are really important to the plot of this book and the series as a whole?" but in terms of "what parts of this book are going to make for the best special effects?" I didn't nitpick in the theater, so I will now. A film review, in list form.
Casting Win:
- Logan Lerman as Percy
- Jake Abel as Luke; I was grateful that the movie kept his role as a big brother type persona and son of Hermes- see my comments about Kronos' absence below, though.
- Catherine Keener as Sally, Percy's mom, was absolutely true to the book's description, and I was glad.
- Pierce Brosnan as Chiron
Things I am sad the filmmakers left out:
- Most of the humor that makes the books so successful with young readers. The books are so funny, mainly because Percy is such a sarcastic narrator, but also because of "modernized" details like Riordan's portrayal of Poseidon as kind of the Jimmy Buffett of the pantheon, with a throne shaped like a seat from a fishing boat. That's creative. Olympus and the Gods in the movie look like extras from 300 and I feel like that's lazy. I was glad the movie had at least some funny bits interspersed with the ACTION ACTION ACTION, but it didn't deliver as much humor as it should have.
- Most of the things that make Rick Riordan's version of Greek mythology quirky and magical: Percy's sword being called Riptide, Annabeth's Yankees cap, I-Messages. Percy Jackson without these elements seems kind of like if Harry Potter had been made without wands choosing the wizard, Harry's invisibility cloak, or Owl Post. And Annabeth having her cap would have made taking the pearl from the statue in the Nashville Parthenon (which replaced the Gateway Arch as a Secretly Significant American Landmark) a LOT easier!
- Ares was pretty much my favorite Greek God at the moment after re-reading the book. I thought he was going to roll up to the diner looking like Dog the Bounty Hunter.
- Clarisse. Leaving out Clarisse, Percy's biggest bully at Camp Half-Blood, is something like the Harry Potter movies being made without Draco Malfoy. Without Clarisse in the movie, some of her role in the story seemed to fall on Annabeth, like in the Capture the Flag game.
- Dionysus as camp director and his many mispronunciations of Percy's name a la "Peter Johnson."
- The Big House and especially the Oracle and her prophecy.
- The Thalia-Luke-Annabeth-Grover background story and Thalia's tree. Apparently in the filmverse Zeus has no children?
- Kronos in the pit, because in the movie it seemed like the driving force behind all of the conflict was Luke's daddy issues; the series' real antagonist was just... not there at all.
- The FATES!
- Sally's blue food
- Mrs. Dodds' leather jacket and Georgia accent... I had a lot of fun with her while reading the book aloud to my students.
Things I don't really mind changing:
- The kids' ages going from 12 (Percy is in sixth grade in the book) to at least 16, because being able to drive really helped move the plot along... and allowed the filmmakers to add a scene that reminded me of the part where Dee accidentally gets on the freeway in Clueless.
- Annabeth's haircolor-swap from blonde to auburn. I'd been freaking out about it when the promo pics came out, comparing it to what it would be like if the Harry Potter films hadn't made Ron Weasley a redhead, but Alexandra Daddario is so pretty that while watching the movie I stopped caring about what color her hair was. I was more concerned with tough, smart Annabeth being turned into a saucy minx than Annabeth being turned into a redhead.
- Yancy going from a boarding school to a day school, because it allowed the film to squeeze a semester into a couple of days and get Percy to camp more quickly.
- Mrs. Dodds changing from a pre-Algebra to an English teacher, because it allowed the film to demonstrate Percy's dyslexia and add some Shakespeare!
Changes I thought were just weird:
- Knowing that Poseidon was Percy's father all along; I also had trouble wrapping my brain around Kevin McKidd as Poseidon because I associate him with his role on Grey's Anatomy.
- Camp Half-Blood in the books is a a lot more like a regular summer camp, not a "renaissance faire," to quote movie-Luke. Camp t-shirts. Camp necklaces. And the cabins are all in rows; Percy does not live in some open-air pierhouse by the lake and Poseidon certainly didn't build anything for him.
- The pearls becoming a major plot point and associated with Persephone instead of being given to Percy by the Nereid... but I guess they had to have something like this since they took out the Oracle.
- Percy beating people up in the Casino... in the book they just walk out. The bellhop is disappointed, but no one tries to stop the kids using physical force.
- Grover staying behind in the Underworld instead of Sally and apparently hooking up with Persephone, which is creepy not because he's a satyr but because this is a children's series!
- Charon in the book is an Italian suit wearing, smug record exec type. In the movie, he's the old-school ferryman. The book's version is more creative; I don't understand why the movie kept resorting to old-school "Greek mythology" imagery. Why didn't Chris Columbus let the movie be as quirky as the books?
Even though the movie's not perfect, the more people who go see it, the more likely that a sequel or the full series will be made. And I think the movie's production has boosted the book's popularity (if empty shelves at my local Target are any indication), so hopefully any future movies will be more loyal to Riordan's vision of the Greek mythos.