Dan and I went to see The Lightening Thief yesterday. I had loved the books, and so wanted to see the movie. I had high expectations.
For those who haven't read the books, the basic premise of the books, and movie, is that the Greek myths are real, and there are children of gods and mortals who need to be trained and protected in the world today.
I was not impressed. Yes, I know, books usually have to be changed in order to make movies. But they changed so much of the plot. And, they merged two characters in the book--Annabeth, the brainy, blonde daughter of Anthena, and Clarisse, the angry daughter of Ares (god of war), into one person.
Annabeth is supposed to be blonde. She is supposed to be smart. She is supposed to have a magic hat that lets her turn invisible. While she does fight, she also uses her brains. And she only fights with a knife. Not a sword, like they had her use in the movie. They turned her into a great fighter, who is also beautiful.
Annabeth is also supposed to be conflicted about her love for both Percy and Luke, who she doesn't really like in the movie.
And Luke is supposed to be a great guy, which is what makes his betrayal so surprising and hurtful. And why Annabeth can't give up on him.
I can understand (but not really like) why they simplified the plot. And changed some of the underlying reasons things are happening. They only had two hours. But they destroyed one of my favorite characters. And the movie was not awesome. If the movie was awesome, it might have been alright. But it wasn't.
This is why I think that movie adaptations are tricky things, and that complex fantasy books should be written as the book is written. I didn't read the series or watch the movie, but the previews made it seem like a great story line. Maybe if I watch the movie first I will like it.
ReplyDeleteI agree--the movie didn't have the wittiness or warmth of the books in my opinion--totally a bummer. The contrived pearl scavenger hunt thing bothered me the most I think--and yes, the new Annabeth is really one-dimensional (sigh). Thanks for recommending the books though--I loved them :).
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