Member review

Percy Jackson is based on the hit book series by Rick Riordan. I was at first after seeing the film highly impressed with the story, effects and casting. Especially with Brandon T. Jackson as Grover, and Jake Abel as Luke. But when I saw the film I was so impressed with the story which lead to me to take up reading and I started with the Percy Jackson series. That is when I realised how poor the film actually was to the books.

In the film they got the littlest of things wrong that the fans went crazy about. For example Alexandra Daddario hair was a huge issue for the book fans. She was supposed to be blonde in the film but instead of spending a small amount of money on some hair dye, she played Annabeth as a brunette. And the character Luke in the book got a scar on one of his eyes towards the end of the book which to me symbolised a mark for betraying the Gods and his brothers and sisters in the camp. Just small thing like this when missed change the whole film and will leave the fans unamused. But Percy's sword "Riptide" has yet to be referred by that and that is a part of who he is and what the sword represents. The fact that not only in The Lightning thief but also in Sea of Monsters that the name of the blade has yet to be seen or said is upsetting for the fans of the books. This is because when we read the books and read the name "Riptide" then it gives up a sense of calm and lets us know that a good fight is coming. But despite all of this, the one thing that was worse than any of it was the age of the actors. In the book Percy was supposed to be around the age of 12 or 13. But if you look at Logan Lerman in the film then you will see that he looks at least 14.

But what the film did get right was how realistic the Gorgon Medusa, the Hydra and the Greek Gods themselves looked. Not to mention the glimpse of Olympus seen towards the end of the film. And it did spark an interest in not only reading the rest of the series, but also an interest in Greek mythology in not just me, but countless fans of the film worldwide. Looking at the statistics from 2008-2011 in 2010 the books had a huge increase in purchase since the release of the film in 2010.

The film itself as it says in the title is about the Greek God Zeus master bolt was stolen and all throughout the film a boy called Percy Jackson the son of Poseidon is believed to be the thief. So he goes on a journey with 2 of his fiends from Camp Half-blood, a camp for Demigods, one a Satyr the other daughter of the God Athena, to prove to the Gods that he is innocent and to not start another war of the Gods.

Overall I would say the film was entertaining and did a good job in an opinion of someone who has not read the books. With some small mistakes and one or two big ones I would say that this is a must see film as it has sparked a large interest in literature for younger viewers.