Thursday, February 25, 2010

Viewing thoughts.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, with Logan Lerman; directed by Chris Columbus. I don't frequently review movies, but since this is based on a current, popular book, it may be worth sharing my opinion. I saw it last weekend, and it's the first movie I've seen in theaters since P.S. I Love You (2007). I enjoyed the movie, actually, which surprised me a bit. It was better than I have come to expect from cinematographers, although people who haven't read the book won't really get it. It would have been better if the movie was longer, so we had more time to care about stuff. We skip over Percy's time living in the Hermes cabin and we really don't get to see Luke as a character hardly at all, so his betrayal isn't heart-wrenching in the least. We don't like him, so we don't care. I was surprised at how strongly I felt that they left out Clarisse. She's definitely not a sympathetic character, but Percy wouldn't grow as he does without her constant antagonism. She's really vital to Percy's development and it's a big disservice to leaver her out entirely. Lots of other details were different, which always annoys me. My favorite part was Grover; he did a really great job, especially with the little things. His goat-walking-while-disguised-as-human was brilliant and added alot to his character. Annabeth, however, left a lot to be desired; it's especially sad because she's such a great character in the books. I also think upping the characters' ages didn't do much for the story. It worked better when they were younger, both more vulnerable and more innocent. My husband says to tell you the score was really great. I never pay attention to the music playing during a movie, but I trust his opinion and so should you.

1 comment:

Ms. Yingling said...

Ditto. Pretty much exactly how I felt about the movie! My son kept shaking his head, but I just enjoyed it.