Movie review: Percy Jackson: the lightning thief

Movie Information:

Rating/ time: PG, 1hr, 23 min
Theme:         Action and Adventure, Fantasy, Drama
In theatres:   Feb, 2010

CAST: 

Director:    Chris Columbus

Writer(s):   Crag Titley

Star actors:-Logan Lerman         (Percy Jackson)

                 -Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth Chase)

                 -Brandon T. Jackson (Grover Underwood)
                 -Jake Abel                (Luke Caspian)

                 -Pierce Brosnan.       Chiron/Mr. Brunner)

          "Percy Jackson: the lightning thief" was a great movie, in terms of film quality, authentic action, and the story line wasn't too confusing. The movie was based in a Greek mythological theme, where the Greek gods and goddesses had children who took up half god and half human form. Since I was a big fan of the Percy Jackson series (books), I heard that there was going to be a movie based on the novels, and so excitedly, I  wanted to view it! Sadly, in my opinion, the movie didn't taken the 

events from the novel. It turned out to be quite disappointing, because I assumed that some exciting parts of the book would be in the film, but ended up not being included. Aside from the The movie 

not being parallel to the storyline of the book, the acting, the filming, and the action was good!



           In the movie (Percy Jackson), the main character is a boy named Percy who discovers that he is the son of the  god of the sea.  After he gets "recruited" by a satyr named Grover Underwood (Brandon T. Jackson), his world quickly spins around, into a dangerous adventure, full of quests for the Greek gods, against monsters. Once the two (more or less) boys reach a safe haven for "Demigods" (commonly known as "Camp Half Blood"). Soon after Percy stays at the camp, he finds out that his father is a major Greek god, Poseidon- the lord of the seas. Chiron (Pierce Brosnan), the camp director then realizes that Percy had been found guilty of a great crime-that he hadn't done, to the gods. An important lightning bolt- Lord Zeus's lightning bolt, had been stolen, and Percy Jackson was to blame. The camp director, Chiron granted Percy a quest: to find the missing "Master Bolt" and clear his name from the gods. The quest that Percy embarks, with his Demigod friend, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena (Alexandra Daddario), and Grover Underwood, a satyr (Brandon T. Jackson) ends up to be a dangerous and suspenseful journey, fighting the Hydra, the great Medusa, Lord Hades, and a betraying friend- who tries to kill him. The trio of heroes journey across America, to find out who had stolen the lightning bolt of Zeus, and complete their adventurous quest.
There were many different characters who scarcely popped up in the movie, but the main, or star actresses and characters were the demigods/ creatures that travelled with Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) throughout his adventures. Percy's closest friend in the movie was Grover Underwood, a satyr (half goat/ half human) who was African American, and had a lot of attitude towards monsters, and his friends. The second most recurring character in the movie was Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario), a demigod, who was the daughter of Athena (goddess of Wisdom). Annabeth has brown hair in this movie, and is skillful in swordsmanship. Chiron (Pierce Brosnan) , a Demigod "coach", who was the director of Camp Half-Blood. Chiron is a half horse, and half human creature, known for his wisdom and knowledge. There are many gods who showed up in the movie, but Hades (Steve Coogan) was the most descripted, or showed. Hades is shown as a vengeful, sassy, angry god, who is married to Persephone (Rosario Dawson). He becomes a minor enemy towards Percy in the movie. 

(Hydra in process)



The movie was actually a great movie, produced with phenomenal side-effects, and a chunk of amazing acting. The actors and actresses had to pretend to "fight" a monster, and while watching the movie, I couldn't find many flaws of the animation of the monsters "attacking" Percy Jackson and his friends. There was a part where Percy, Annabeth and Grover entered a museum, and  eight night guards confronting them. The trio soon realized that the night guards all moved in the same manner. But before the heroes could defend themselves, a hydra formed from the eight night museum guards. That part of the movie was done extremely well, as the heroes had to act like a real hydra was in front of them. The animation was done very well too, and most of the lighting in the filming matched the lighting on the animation, unlike the second movie. The movie built up from mystery, a bit of romance, and a ton of action (a little too much in my opinion), making the movie a great adventure movie.



(Annabeth from the book)



(Actress Alexandra Daddario)

There were quite a few things that I didn't really enjoy, or found the best in this movie. Aside from the point that the movie had almost nothing to do with the book, the characters were too different looking from what the book descripted, in the novels, and in the "profile drawings" of the characters. The actress for Annabeth, (Alexandra Daddario)  had brown hair, and blue eyes, but in the book, she clearly had blond hair, and grey eyes. Because of the persistent complaints against Daddario's brown hair, and blue eyes, by some of the audience, in the second movie she changed her hair, and eye color! What really disappointed me, while watching "Percy Jackson", was that the director, or script writer took out some exciting, and important parts of the book, and replaced them with unnecessary violence.  In the book, Percy Jackson first experiences his power (water), because he was the son of the sea god, he unleashed his anger accidentally at an annoying classmate. The water around Percy pushed the character into a water fountain, getting her soaking wet. I thought that this part would be a more reasonable way to introduce the main character's power, than the way the movie did. In the movie, Percy Jackson just abruptly "knew" all of a sudden who his godly parent was, without his father actually telling him. I think that the movie could've done a better job of keeping the storyline clear, without random or unesscary violence and romance. The most dissapointing part of the movie, was that Percy and his friends were supposed to be only twelve years old! In the movie, the main characters are in their older teenaged years. The problem with the age probably influenced the script writer to add in more romance, making it less child friendly, like the book was.     In my opinion, Percy Jackson was a great movie, if the audience or watcher hadnt read the books. The movie had great acting, side effects, animation, and a good storyline, but some parts included unnecessary violence, romance and character description. The movie shouldnt have taken the name of "Percy Jackson" because it stole the main idea, of the author, and changed it up into a completely diffrent story, so why name it "Percy Jackson"?  



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