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| Theatrical release poster |
PLOT: The movie follows the story of the book. It involves an older Percy Jackson (At least, older than early on in the books anyway), portrayed by Logan Lerman, going to a museum on a field trip. This leads too him discovering that his math teacher, Mrs. Dodds, is actually a monstrous being called a Fury, one of the warriors of the underworld. This leads too his mother, Sally Jackson (played by Catherine Keener) and his best friend Grover Underwood (played by Brandon T. Jackson) too go to a mysterious place called Camp Halfblood. There, his mother is attacked by the half-man, half bull beast the Minotaur, causing her to vanish. This leads to a battle between the two, which Percy wins. He later wakes up too find himself in camp halfblood, where he meets Chiron the Centaur (played by Pierce Brosnan), Annabeth Chase (played by Alexandria Didario) and Luke Castellean (played by Jake Abel). There he discovers that he is actually the son of the god of the sea, Poseidon (Protrayed by Kevin McKidd), and is believed to have stolen something form Zeus (played by Sean Bean), the Lightning bolt and that Hades (played by Steeve Coogan) has his mother in the underworld. So Percy and his new friends have to travel across the country, taking on Medusa, Hydras and other monsters too find the true thief and get Percy's mother back.
THOUGHTS: Okay, as a fan of the series, I enjoyed the film as an adaption and as a normal film...but it's not a great adaption. It only has snit bits of the original book (the Fury fight, the Minotaur, Medusa, the Underworld, the pearls, etc) but forgot a lot of important moments. While I am aware this happens with every story and all, but there are some things that weren't needed.
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| Yeah...was THIS needed in the film? |
Some of the cast was good as well, though some choices (like Sean Bean as Zeus and Uma Thurman as Medusa for example) are some odd choices. And also completely forgetting about some characters (they only mentioned Thalia in a deleted scene and they dropped out almost all the other characters that became important later). I kind of think that Chris Colombus, who is best knwon for doing the first couple Harry Potter films...which explains why so many people compare these two together.
Now for the fun part...THE CAST! Since the cast is huge, I'll just go through the main characters (as in, the main four characters). Sorry, but I don't want this to be TOO big. But I can say this: The side characters are well played and the gods had some good choices (except for Zeus and Hades, who I don't think fits the roles at all)
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| Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson |
Logan Lerman plays Percy Jackson and, despite being older than how he was in the books early on (he was 12 in he first book, but in his teens by the time the 5th book came out). And I have to say...I liked his portrayal. He is actually a good actor and he played Percy to a T. Sure he was a bit stiff at times, but he does give off a good characterization.
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| Alexandria Dadarrio as Annabeth Chase |
HERE'S the girl I had some trouble with...Alexandria is a decent actress, but with her protrayal of Annabeth, I'd think she'd be a better Thalia Grace or Clarrise la Rue, given her personality in this movie. She doesn't show a lot of the traits I liked in Annabeth (heck, they got the hair wrong (What, a wig was to expensive for the budget?)). Plus she rarely ever used the dagger she got from Luke (I know that sounds like nitpicking, but that dagger WAS her main weapon of source) and relied mostly on other weapons. Plus she was kind of boring of a character. I hope she gets better by Sea of Monsters...
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| Brandon T. Jackson as Grover Underwood |
To be honest...I like Brandon playing Grover. Sure he's not a worrywart like in the books, but he does seem to take the role seriously. Sure he's the comic relief, but most of the jokes he puts in do get me to chuckle. He plays the good best friend to Percy (And DON'T do a 'Supportive BLack Guy' mention, please...I'm NOT in the mood for that.) In all, this guy is a good character and can't wait to see him in the sequal.
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| Jake Abel as Luke Castellan |
Okay...Jake surprised me with this role. He actually played Luke how I'd think Luke should have been played: Good natured and nice at first, but shows his true colors when the time arrises. He first shows himself as a good ally at first, but kind of hints that he is having some other plans. But sadly, it wasn't explained why he did what he did in the film, but I think we can blame the writers more than the actor. I can't wait to see how they turn this guy around come the next film.
RATING: In all, the film is okay. It's not perfect, but it's not terrible either. The cast was okay and the story, while flawed, was enjoyable. So as a score, I'll give it...hmm...***1/2 out of 5 stars.
Can't wait to show you guys my first '2 cents' editorial. Hope you enjoyed the review.
Percy Jackson and the Olympian novels are property of Rick Riordan, and the film is owned by 21st Cetury Fox and other studios.
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