Why the Percy Jackson Movies Suck - Miranda
The Percy Jackson movies. Undoubtedly some of the most infamous book to movie adaptations of all time, if not the most. But how exactly do these movies fail? Where do they deviate from the book, and do they do anything better (spoiler alert: they don’t)? Disclaimer: this list is not written in the chronological order of either the book or the movie, nor in order of importance.
The age difference
We know by the second line of the first book that Percy is twelve years old. Annabeth and Grover are also around this age. In the first movie, they are all sixteen (technically, Grover is 32 since satyrs age half as fast as humans). Normally, this wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But Percy’s sixteenth birthday is such an important plot point throughout the series that the age up was not a wise move had they planned to continue the series. Additionally, some of the actors look too old to be playing a sixteen year old. The director, Chris Columbus, has stated that part of the reason they chose to age up the characters was to appeal more to older audiences. Fun fact- Columbus also directed the first two Harry Potter movies. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone made over one billion dollars despite the characters being just eleven when the film starts. Seeing that success, you would think they wouldn’t have seen the characters young age at the beginning of the series as an issue.
The Absence of Ares
One of the major plot twists in the PJO books is how Ares ends up being the main antagonist in The Lightning Thief. He steals the lightning bolt, not Hades. In the movie, Hades has it just as suspected. It does not make for a very interesting climax. In addition to Ares not being the villain, he and all the scenes he appeared in are entirely absent from the movie.
Annabeth’s Casting
Everyone knows that Annabeth has blonde hair. Yet in the movies, it is brown. The whole point of her hair being blonde was to break to dumb blonde stereotype. Is it really that hard to find a young blonde actress in Hollywood? Luckily, this is fixed in the second movie. The actress also appears older than sixteen (she was 22 when she first played the part) and doesn’t quite capture Annabeth’s curiosity, pride, and fierceness.
Everything is Cramped
There are five books in the Percy Jackson series, but only two movies. Though they didn’t try to cram the whole storyline into two movies, they did try to conclude it in two, and that just didn’t work.
Camp Half Blood
Camp Half Blood is one of my favorite elements of the series, and sadly, I felt that it was poorly represented in the movies. First off, there were no Camp Half Blood T-shirts. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t include them. In addition to being iconic, they would have been great for merch. Maybe the revenue could have made up for the flop the movies were. Plus, it’s a little weird that the kids run around in armor all day. It doesn’t seem too comfortable.
Another thing is that there are no cabins. Instead there are tents, which seem like a cheap alternative and aren’t nearly as cool.
My final issue is, where is the Big House? It is a crucial part of Camp Half Blood— it houses the Oracle! Another thing which the movie didn’t care to include.
The Intro Scenes to Pretty Much Everything
For one thing, there’s how Camp Half Blood was introduced. It was okay, but I think the capture the flag scene from the book gave a good taste of how Camp Half Blood really is. Yes, there is capture the flag in the movie, but there’s no Clarisse, it’s not how Percy finds out about his dad, and I just think it could have been handled better.
Second, Annabeth and Percy don’t meet in the same way. Instead of Annabeth assisting Chiron in healing Percy and proceeding to tell him that he drools in his sleep, instead Percy first sees her in the movie when he points and says, “Who’s that?” as if he likes her. Annabeth and Percy’s relationship was built slowly and there was little to no romantic tension in the first book, so this seems out of place.
Hades is the Bad Guy
On the same point as the Ares issue, having Hades as the bad guy is boring and predictable. It also feeds into the stereotype that Hades is evil, which is not necessarily true.
Clarisse’s Absence
Clarisse had, no doubt, some of the best character development in the series. In the first book, she is a bully and a jerk, and be the fifth she was a hero. Her complete absence in the first film makes it obsolete.
Grover’s Personality
Movie Grover is funny, but far off from the quiet, nerdy book Grover. Movie Grover flirts with every girl he sees, but book Grover is loyal to Juniper. Honestly, I don’t mind this as much as some of the other things they changed. It’s not very accurate to the book, but his character in the movie is fun enough.
Quests
In the book, Percy and his friends receive a quest from the Oracle of Delphi. In the movies, there isn’t even an oracle. Instead, Percy starts randomly walking away from camp and Grover and Annabeth follow- even though Annabeth isn’t even really their friend yet. In the series, Annabeth has always wanted to go on a quest, and apparently all she has to do to go on one in the movies is just walk away.
The Parthenon Scene
The scene was okay, but it wasn’t supposed to be in the Lightning Thief. It messes with how the hydra is defeated, because in the books they didn’t have Medusa’s head to petrify it.
Annabeth’s Weapon
Annabeth is supposed to use a dagger that Luke gave to her, not some random bow or whatever. It had special significance and shouldn’t have been too hard to obtain a prop for.
Seaweed Brain (and other iconic lines)
Annabeth has several iconic lines, such as “Seaweed Brain” or “You drool in your sleep.” Movie Annabeth used neither of those even though they were important lines that showed her character.
Entrance to the Underworld
In the series, the entrance to the Underworld is in the middle of Los Angeles, not Hollywood. Because of this, many scenes were left out that should have been included.
The Invisibility Cap is Invisible
One of the Annabeth’s most important items was the invisibility cap, a gift from her mother Athena. However, in the movie, it’s completely left out. It was vital in defeating several monsters and should not have been “invisible” in the movie.
Persephone Doesn’t Save Everyone
Persephone doesn’t save everyone with the bolt because Hades shouldn’t have had the bolt in the first place. Again, I bring the Ares issue up. Persephone wasn’t even in the first book, so there’s no way she could have saved the day.
Lack of Rules
At Camp Half Blood, there are lots of demigod rules. One of them is no phones, because their signals attract monsters. This rule is not discussed nor followed in the movies. Heck, Luke has a whole gaming set up in the Hermes cabin.
No Fates
Towards the beginning of The Lightning Thief, Percy sees the three Fates snipping a string. This signifies a death. This scene haunted Percy until the end of the series, as he believed that it was his life. It was too important to leave out.
Basic Mythology
Hades wasn’t “banished” to the Underworld like is stated in the movie. Zeus, Poseidon, and him drew sticks to see what kingdom they would get. Hades happened to get the Underworld. This isn’t even a book thing, it is just untrue to the mythology the series is derived from.
On the note of banishment
Dionysus/ Mr. D, who was actually banished, is entirely absent. He was a nuisance, but I would have liked to see him.
THE MIST
Perhaps the most important thing on this list is the lack of the mist in the movie. If it weren’t for the mist, much of Percy Jackson wouldn’t make any sense. The mist makes it so that mortal see monsters as ordinary things. This wasn’t even mentioned in the movie, and is VERY important in the series.
And last, but not least:
Rick Riordan absolutely HATES the movies. He has said, “To me, it's my life's work going through a meat grinder when I pleaded with them not to do it.” He even has a letter on his website where he pleads teachers not to show the movie to their students (as my seventh grade teacher did to my class, unfortunately), where he states “Personally, I would rather have my teeth pulled with no anesthesia [than watch the movies], but to each his or her own.” among other roasts of the movies. You can find the complete letter here.
I know there are more things that I have not covered, but if I nitpicked every single thing wrong with the movie, this would be a much longer article.
In conclusion, if these movies were standalone, they would be your average fantasy-action flick. But considering the material they were sourced from and the expectations they have to live up to, they are terrible adaptations. Hopefully, the Disney+ series will be better! You can read more about that here.
You know a movie is bad when you can find 22 differences and still say there are more things that are wrong. I completely agree with this, I loved the Percy Jackson series as a kid but I couldn't even bother watching the movie when I saw the trailers. This is just depressing to see, especial now in the modern world most people get introductions to books from movies. I would say this is some of the worst movie adaptations behind Avatar the Last Airbender.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen the movies nor read the Percy Jackson books, but now I know not to watch the movies. This article perfectly explains how different the stories are-- and, of course, which is better. Great job.
ReplyDeleteNice post, I agree - adaptations of books in alternate forms of media often disappoint due to their separation from the original text, especially this particular adaptation. For a better adaptation of the Percy Jackson books, I would recommend you check out The Lightning Thief: The Musical; I am admittedly not very familiar with the series so I cannot confidently judge its faithfulness to the original text, but from what I've heard it appears to be more accurate to the source material than the movies.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I will definitely have to check that out, thank you for telling me about it!
DeleteI have only seen the first percy jackson movie and it has been a while since I read the books, but I do agree that the movies are pretty bad. I wanted to comment on the point you made about Dionysus, and that he has a similiar to Peeves in the Harry Potter series. In the Harry Potter movie Peeves has couple of cameos and this seems to be a similiar situation.
ReplyDeleteThis perfectly describes why the movie is just so bad! It isn't one thing, its an entire list of problems that all contribute to the mistake that was the movies. I bet when they were adapting the books each individual decision looked harmless, so they kept implementing them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this article. After watching the movie (or at least part of it) in 6th grade and at my house, because for some reason we own both of them, I have to say it was one of the worst movies I have ever watched because of the inaccuracies. I found the fact that all the things you pointed out here very hard to set aside. It was as if they took the characters and some of the plot, then made a different story. They are not even worthy to be branded as Percy Jackson. I am really happy the Riordan decided to do something and work with Disney to create a show that he is involved in the making of. I am looking forward to watching it!
ReplyDeleteI remember watching the first one; If I recall correctly, they stopped making them at the second movie because they were losing so much money. It isn't even good when look at alone. Some book adaptations are fine as movies but aren't faithful to the book; these movies are just bad all around. They're kinda funny to watch, though, just due to the sheer lack of quality.
ReplyDeleteI've never watched the movies, but I loved the books, and the elements that you mentioned were changed sound horrible. They just seem to have missed so many opportunities and great parts of the books. I thought it was clever how you said that Annabeth's invisibility cap was invisible in the movies, though. This is a great post, and it covers a lot of differences between the books and movies. I'll probably watch the Disney+ series when it comes out, so thanks for telling me about it!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. The movies are really bad! I loved the books when I was younger, and then for some reason I decided to watch the movies and that was a very bad idea. They try to cram a five book series into a two movie series, and it is really sad. Great job on the article, I appreciate your concise and yet well built arguments.
ReplyDeleteAlong with many of the others in this comments section, I agree. The movies are kinda bad and the books were way better. Its cool how you brought up such a relatable topic. Good job supporting your view with the numerous points.
ReplyDelete