Places to Chat
Percy Jackson: The
Chatterbox: Pudding's Place
Percy Jackson: The
Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters
I know BHR did a thread on this long ago when the film actually came out, but because I'm slow and only watch movies on DVD, I'm going to rehash this again, since I saw it last night.
First of all, my biggest issue with it was how Percy seemed to keep brooding so much on how neglected he felt. I know that in the book he did have his insecurity, but in the movie it just felt forced. And I really wish they didn't take out the part with Annabeth and Percy with the Sirens, especially when they pointed out their respective weaknesses then. It would have tied in Percy's not-so-great-after-all loyalty with the part in the beginning when he saved the other half-blood on that climbing device, thus losing to Clarisse.
I really liked Clarisse. Aside from the fact that she was slightly too pretty, looked a little too old, and her dislike of Percy was mainly reserved to being catty to him, she was really quite dead on. And I loved her costume.
I liked Tyson, too, aside from the sprayable Mist (though I guess, for those that didn't read the book, the fact that there is such a thing as Mist had to be pointed out). He seemed almost too stupid, too, but he was still a really fun character.
I didn't care for Luke's bit in this, though. It never seemed like he had a chance of getting ahead of the others, since Percy managed to brig-break with such ease. I wish Luke was as impressive as he was in the book. In the book he was a great villain, but he's a little dull in the films. And Silena should totally not have joined him yet! She's going to be important, and she isn't even introduced properly!
I also didn't like how they raised Kronos and then just "killed" him again so easily. This is the Lord of Time! Father of the Olympians! And why does he have to sound like Darth Vader? And there seemed something too ordinary looking about the Fleece.
I loved Grover in this one, though. He gets all the great lines and the bit at the end when he dresses up as a Cyclops handmaiden is precious!
Thalia seemed pretty cool, though I imagined her looking different. Annabeth had too small a part in this movie, though. It seemed like she should have done a little more.
All in all, I liked the film a lot, though I wish they had included more of the episodes from the book. I hope they do Titan's Curse, though if they change it too much, I'm going to be very angry indeed.
Sorry for the very late review of this--you're probably all like "That's yesterday's news!" and "Girl, get with the times!" but with my slow library and not being allowed to go to movie theaters...I really don't have much of a choice! :)
submitted by Everinne, age 14, Camp Half Blood
(March 1, 2014 - 9:23 pm)
(March 1, 2014 - 9:23 pm)
@ Blackberry E:
Yes. Everything you said was spot on (and you took a very commendable, economical use of words to express it.)
(March 29, 2014 - 9:27 pm)
@ Blackberry: Okay, first *goes into fits of laughter* Yes, I admit, I rant way too easily and way too much!
Second, as Everinne said, spot on. I totally agree! (And again, I'm with Everinne, kudos for such a short decisive expression of opinion. How on earth did you do it?)
(March 31, 2014 - 7:32 pm)
I would say that the movie hardly followed the story at all. I mean seriously! Come on! At the beginning of the book Percy had the dream about Grover being on the island. Then, Percy found Tyson playing Death Dodgeball. Finally, they almost got eaten by that giant fish. Although if some people had seen the movie and hadn't read the book they would think it was fine.
(April 1, 2014 - 10:13 pm)
@ Ethan: True, but considering the nature of movies, Percy Jackson movies especially, it went well enough. It could have been a LOT worse.
(April 2, 2014 - 9:11 pm)
Yeah... it was like in the SoM, they put some of the 2nd book, and basically half of the 1st book. But now everything had to be changed to fit the 2nd story's plot. That's how it got so changed.
(April 4, 2014 - 4:13 pm)
I didn't mind how they changed some of LT at all; I thought they managed Medusa and Olympus and Luke all very well, but I did think it a little disappointing that they had to change so much of the characters to make Percy all invincible in SoM. He's not supposed to be invincible. That's what the stories are all about! I know they have to make plot changes because that's just how movies are, but can they not make character changes? Unless they make characters more believable, thought that's very hard when you're dealing with Percy Jackson, because RR wrote them all so well to begin with!
I once found this bookmark that said "Don't judge a book by its movie" and I thought of Percy Jackson. If I had seen the movies first, I would so not have read the books, I think.
Sorry for ranting.
(April 4, 2014 - 8:53 pm)
@ Everinne: I totally agree. Too many people do judge the book by the movie, and it's just sad. If I had seen SoM before reading the books, I probably wouldn't have read them either. Heck, I probably wouldn't bother seeing any more movies. It's honestly only cause I have read the books, and know how awesome the actually story line is, that I go and see the movies.
Movie update: Apparently, what Logan Lerman said previously about PJ being dead was taken out of context. It's not totally off the table, and by contract, he's still bound to do it. But apparently they haven't called him about filming another, and since it's been awhile since SoM, it seems doubtful there'll be another. BUT THERE'S STILL HOPE! Maybe they'll get someone this time who will actually try to make the characters at least like the book!
(April 5, 2014 - 12:47 pm)
Oh good. *sighes in relief*
At least we will see Clarisse again (seriously, she saved the movies!) and get to know Bianca and Nico, though they will be just two more characters to abandon if the fourth one isn't made. :/
Quite honestly, I don't think I would read any book if I saw the movie of it first (except maybe LOTR, but part of the reason I liked the movies so much was because I read the 1000 pages of novel first and got a lot that went unmentioned in the films). So I'm totally a book girl. I like watching movies (who doesn't, really), but I stand by the author's pure creations. With something like Harry Potter when the author worked with the director, it's all right, but so few authors are famous enough to put in their word about how their movies should be made. I'm surprised RR didn't have any imput on his movies--it would have been sooooo much better if he did!
(April 5, 2014 - 2:34 pm)