My sympathies to Mr. Riordan!
I managed to swallow Chris Columbus's changes to the first two Harry Potter movies, but the travesty he created from Riordan's lively, likeable "quest" novel I just can't ignore or forgive. All the great conversations, the truly funny situations, the believable universe, and the contemporarizing (is that a word???) of Greek mythology that made Riordan's novel (and the complete series) such great fun were completely ignored. What this movie is instead is a retread of every stereotypical "fallback" character, plot line, and dialogue ever presented in a movie for preadolescents. Obviously, the choice of young stars was to introduce two more attractive youngsters who have some potential--whether as actors or teen idols remains to be seen. But what was the point of making Grover an over-sexed satyr? Of making Persephone a hot mama? Of making the Lotus Hotel an older teen's idea of free drinks, free sex, free gambling? Of making the gods SO stereotypical of every bad B movie from the 1930s...
Such a Shame...
My son talked me into reading these books with him, and we loved them.
When we went to see the new Harry Potter movie, scenes for it came on during the trailers.
He recognized the story the second the preview started. He was thrilled, and so was I. What potential this unique and fun series had for a movie--or movies...I mean, they advertised that it was being brought to us by the people who make the Harry Potter movies.
The Potter movies stay so true to the book--taking care to absolutely keep things in the screenplay that are necessary to the plot line.
I wish I could say the same for this movie.
When it finally came out, we went to a movie theater in NJ that was right across the river from NYC.
We could see the Empire State building from the theater parking lot, and took it as a sign that the movie was going to rock. We were so psyched to see it.
When we left the theater, I thought my son was going to cry, and I...
An Amazing Ride!
First off let me just say that I have read all 5 books at least twice through. I am an avid fan of this series. I was looking forward to this movie for quite a while. Of course this takes the course that many book adaptions take. That is, it differs from the book in many ways. Personally, I went to the midnight showing of this film expecting the differences, and went with an open mind to the idea of differences. And you know what? I immensely enjoyed this film! First, let me run down some differences between the book and film.
Unless you've read the book and don't mind finding out what was cut and changed, consider this your SPOILER ALERT!
First and most obviously, the ages of the actors. They are all in their late teens, whereas the kids in the book are 12.
Second, no Ares, Clarisse, or Dionysus. The fight for the Lightning Bolt is with Luke instead of Ares. And Annabeth takes on the role of the warrior girl in the movie.
Third, instead of...
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