The Lightning Thief - Page 2

[annettemarie]

Debi, I wonder if we could turn this into an opportunity for activism. Who would we write to? To be honest, I feel angry and sold out by Rick Riordan. I read his blog and frankly, expected better of him. I expected him to protect his books. Maybe that's naive.

[lotusdebi]

Could we write to Riordan, and ask him to do a better job protecting the integrity of his books for any sequels? And write a scathing letter to Chris Columbus about how he totally screwed up the book? I haven't read Riordan's blog; I'll try to look it up later.

[kittywitty]

The problem is that for a lot of writers, they have no control over the movies once the rights have been bought. I hate the "creative license" defense a lot of screenwriters take. Honestly, I felt like a troupe of baboons could have done a better job with this movie.

[Ellien C]

I was disappointed that some of the humorous moments in the book were not depicted. I was really looking forward to Clarice and there was a moment when they try to get up to Olympus and there is a bored guard at the Empire state building.

And no one was really how I pictured them. Chiron? Training fighters? Flabby Pierce Brosnan? I was thinking buff like in The 300. The same for the gods. And the kids were obviously too old. The sexual overtones didn't bother me and my 7 yo didn't really notice them.

I didn't HATE the movie though. I thought is was no where NEAR as bad as Aragon, which we own and DD loves.

[alaskaberry]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that writers don't get any say over how their books are made into movies.

That said, thanks for the heads up about Lightning Thief. Another wonderful series ruined by Hollywood.

[annettemarie]

But wasn't J K Rowling able to protect her books, at least somewhat, when they were made into movies? Or was that unique?

[raksmama]

Ds and I just came back from the movie. Believe it or not, Ds (11) quite enjoyed it. Both he and his friend found the movie a lot of fun though he missed many of the characters from the book. Not only did they leave out Thalia and Kronos, but there was also no Mr. D, no Clarisse and no Ares,
Because I was already expecting the worst, I did not find the movie that bad, but it is not great and certainly does not do the book justice.
If I were the writer I’d be very upset. Besides leaving so many characters out, they totally changed important parts of the plot. I don’t want to give away any spoilers for those of you who have not read the book and besides it would just take too long.
Other differences in the movie bothered me less like the fact that the movie Poseidon is more caring than the one in the book.
I agree totally about Grover. I found his movie character to be embarrassing. I also did not like the fact that in the movie the children are older. In the Book Percy is in 6th grade. In the movie they don’t say how old the children are but they are definitely older. There are very romantic overtones between Percy and Annabeth and they drive to Los Angeles rather than take a bus which I found odd.
Writers do have some control over their works being filmed for indeed there are some authors who have refused to allow their books to be filmed in the first place. Sometimes they can agree with certain stipulations but once they agree I think it is out of their control.

[Crafty]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

But wasn't J K Rowling able to protect her books, at least somewhat, when they were made into movies? Or was that unique?

That's pretty unique. Most writers don't have much control (if any) when it comes to the movie versions of their books. The fact that Harry Potter was already such a huge phenomenon before the first movie was made may have helped Rowling have some say in it, or she may have had that spelled out in her original contract, I don't know.

A good example of how Riordan might not have had any say- here's an article about movie versions of books that the original authors hated: http://www.avclub.com/articles/put-t...m-adapt,28405/

[annettemarie]

You know, I do find it rather telling that Mr. Riordan hasn't exactly been talking up the movie on his blog.
http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/

[Jessy1019]

Does this mean we shouldn't be disappointed that the theater we were at last night had "technical difficulties" and gave us all free passes to come back another time?

We haven't read the books . . . the kids just wanted to see the movie, and it was playing at the dinner theater so we figured, why not? I guess we'll wait for DVD now.

[Aquitane]

Oh, I'm sooo bummed!

My teaching partner and I do a huge mythology unit. We are reading the first book to our students right now and going to see the movie with them in two weeks.

The good thing is that we'll be able to discuss the differences. I always tell my students that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie, but still it would be nice if it had the production quality/values of Harry Potter.

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by annettemarie

But wasn't J K Rowling able to protect her books, at least somewhat, when they were made into movies? Or was that unique?

That was pretty unique and she didn't have total control. I know she really fought for several main points to be included.

[TiredX2]

Thanks for the honest reviews. Now we won't bother seeing it in the theater.

Originally Posted by annettemarie

No Thalia.

No pact of the Big Three.

HOW?!?!? I don't want that answered, I just wondered how they thought that could be a good idea.

They aged everyone up. They took all the innocence and intelligence out of the books.

I was really worried about that as soon as I saw the previews. It was really confusing to me because, obviously, Harry Potter sucess with a young (11 yo) protagonist, so I don't know why they did the 1st book with him being 16+. DP was figuring they would have the Percy reaching 18, or 21 at the end of the books, but

[annettemarie]

Tired, you can look on my blog if you want a more in-depth review. I won't c and p it here because it's pretty ranty, LOL!

The only redeeming thing is that they totally did NOT set themselves up to make another movie.

[Monarchgrrl]

Ok so I finally saw it. DW read the book last week so she really wanted to see it. I haven't read the book but I warned her that it's not like the book. I actually liked it. I thought it was entertaining. I thought the special effects were decent. It wasn't a waste of $6 at all. DW liked it, too. She told me about the parts that were different, but the only thing she didn't like was that Aries and Aries' daughter weren't in the movie and the bus fight scene. But she said everything else was enough like the book that it didn't bother her. She thought the change of the pearl-finding expedition was needed for the movie to make it more visual.

So, I dunno. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I enjoyed it, though. It doesn't take much for me to like a movie. If I'm mildly entertained enough to want to see how it ends, then I say I like it.

[csekywithlove]

Maybe it's just me but... I am used to being let down by Hollywood.

I have read all of Rick Riordan's books. And well, I missed everything previously posted and found the quest completely, I don't know the word, it was just wrong. One thing that I LIKED about these books is that the kids have it hard from the start. In the books they never know exactly how they are going to get from one place to the other, monster's are always chasing them, etc. And that bull about how Poseidon was responsible for the gods not being able to spend time with their children.... me gusta.

Personally I am more let down by Harry Potter movies. I mean. GRRR. I couldn't even watch the sixth one without wanting to punch something. But then again. Isn't this what we get? Especially when we are entrusting our beloved fiction to people of power and money? I get more satisfaction out of watching Big Love on a weekly basis than going to a HP movie anymore.

But then again. That is why we teach our kids to read, right? To let them explore other possible worlds through their own minds. On the one hand I feel cheated but on the other I feel lucky that we have visual companions to these books. (Even though they aren't accurate).


That's all I got ladies.

[raksmama]

Originally Posted by csekywithlove

Maybe it's just me but... I am used to being let down by Hollywood.But then again. That is why we teach our kids to read, right? To let them explore other possible worlds through their own minds. On the one hand I feel cheated but on the other I feel lucky that we have visual companions to these books. (Even though they aren't accurate).

Good points! As I said before, Ds and his friends still really enjoyed the movie and I was not bored either.
But still...certain things really bothered me... why did Percy and Annabeth have to be so old in the movie? How are they going to do sequels that way as they did in Harry Potter? They did not have to leave out the pact of 3. And why change all that happened in Hades and include Persephone in the plot when they did not need too. I can understand leaving out Ares because it would have make the story too long(even though he is one of DS's favourite characters) but I still don't understand all the changes..