Percy Jackson, the Lightning Thief movie

[journeymom]

What's with the age discrepancies between the actors and their characters?

The character Percy is 12 in the story? They cast a 17 y.o.

His friend Grover is a year older? They cast a 25 y.o.

His friend Annabeth? They cast a 23 y.o. :

Luke is supposed to be about 17 years old? They cast a 22 y.o. He almost looks young enough.

Luke is supposed to be several years older than Annabeth. :

We're very disappointed in this house.

Has anyone heard any sort of logical explanation as to why they visited such an injustice upon this wonderful story?

[34me]

I had heard they changed the story signifigantly, this just throws it over the top for me. Which is sad. This is the series that got my reluctant reader to not only read but beg to get a book

[Keeta]

I actually really disliked the book, so maybe I'll enjoy the movie.

[annettemarie]

I heard the phrase "Chris Columbus" coupled with "taking liberties with source materials," thought of Harry Potter, and shuddered.

[annettemarie]

I had linked to this article about the discrepencies on my Facebook:
http://scifiwire.com/2009/06/percy-j...aces-a-cla.php

More of a blurb than an article really.

[journeymom]

Thanks for the link, AnnetteMarie. The changes he refers to there don't really bother me (though why move the battle from the St. Louise Arch to the Seattle Needle?).

But casting these adults for the kids' parts just doesn't make sense to me.

[annettemarie]

Oh, I agree. It's crazy.

Uma Thurman as Medusa however? Brilliant.

[annettemarie]

Rick Riordan actually addresses this a bit on his blog
http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/

[jeca]

The Percy jackson series is DS's absolute favorite. I pray they do not disappoint my baby. I do think they should have cast younger characters though if they plan on doing more than the first book. It was funny during the preview for it in the HP movie you could tell the kids who read cause they were all "Percy Jackson! Percy Jackson!" lol.

[Viola]

I find it disappointing. Twelve is an interesting age for children. Twelve year olds are different in many ways than 17 year olds or 23 year olds. I was annoyed that they made Doon from City of Ember so much older than Lina, but I thought the movie was bad enough that I didn't end up caring.

[journeymom]

We finally saw Harry Potter yesterday, so we saw the Percy Jackson trailer, as well. I found myself getting excited anyway, in spite of the fact that the kid is too old. Olympus looks pretty much how I pictured it.

I'll also say that I enjoyed HBP much more than OotP. Not only was it a better movie than OotP, but unlike with OotP I did NOT re-read HBP in prep for the movie, and I made a huge effort to not read any reviews of the movie, not watch previews, not go check out every movie still picture that came along, not join in any discussions speculating about what they'll include and what they'll cut.

So, I guess I'm glad we know this much about the Percy Jackson movie, that the cast is not going to directly reflect what the author wrote. Now I know, and I'm going to not put much hope into the movie.