Ronnie Hinojos

(2012-05-01 15:28:12)

Good for Non-readers, bad for readers

First off, if you didn't read the Percy Jackson series, then this wouldbe a good movie for you. The actors and actresses do excellent jobs,and the storyline is good although it is off the book's storyline. Ifyou did, then this movie will probably be mind numbing. It has the samelocations and characters, (for the most part) but, with the exceptionof a small fraction of events, that's about it. And just to warn you,beyond this point there will be spoilers! In the book, Percy is atroubled kid with dyslexia and ADHD (same in the movie). He has beenkicked out of numerous schools for 'accidents' he causes. Here comesthe most obvious difference: In the book, Percy is twelve, and in themovie he's about seventeen. In the series, he isn't sixteen until thefinal book. Then there's Yancy Academy being a high school in the movieand a boarding school in the book, (SPOILER) Percy doesn't kill Ms.Dodds (a.k.a the Fury)in the movie but does in the book, so yeah, thereare several differences between the book and movie. But there are twothings that bug me severely: One, Annabeth isn't blonde in the movielike she was in the book, and two, the whole book series is aboutKronos (Father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades) rising from Tartarus tounleash his vengeance against the gods. In the movie, Kronos is onlymentioned once: When Mr. Brunner (a.k.a Chiron) is explaining how thegods obtained power from the Titans at the Greek and Roman museum. Thebig 'bad guys' in the movie is Hades and Luke. In the book it is foundthat Hades is innocent and the real enemies are Kronos and Luke. Thesame goal is present in both movie and book: Somebody stole Zeus'slightning bolt, Percy is the prime suspect, and Percy has to obtain thebolt and prove his innocence. In all in all, a good movie, just notloyal to the book.

(2012-04-30 15:56:10)

very entertaining!

My labor coach took me to see this movie after I started early labor with my second child. (hubby was deployed) I definitely kept me entertained so I could relax in between contractions. Very good movie!

three_am

(2012-04-29 22:40:25)

Pure fun with this one.

I enjoyed Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Readingthe book was not required to like and enjoy the entertainment that wasthis movie. The movie was pure adventure with an atmosphere of humorthat any child or child at heart fans would like.Anyone that grew up intrigued with Greek mythology would like thismovie. It incorporates a modernized Greek mythology that is alltogether fun and unique. I smiled at the details of the converse shoeswith wings, pen sword, Medusa wearing shades and a Casino lotus lair.Logan Lerman did a fantastic job bringing the character Percy Jacksonto life; I dare say moreso than Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter. I wasimpressed with how believable he came across as the angsty teenagerstruggling with his identity and becoming a hero. Poseidon is myfavorite Greek god and a specific story on what if he had a son wasbound to be interesting. Percy Jackson and the actor who portrayed himwas a likable character. It was fun watching a demigod who couldcontrol water and it wasn't overly done either. I also liked how aportrayal of Percy's weaknesses (dyslexia, ADHD) ultimately becomes hisstrengths. This is a good message to youths who struggle to overcometheir own flaws. His sidekicks also did a good job and I did wonderabout their back story. A sequel could solve this issue.My favorite villain was medusa. PJ's medusa was a lot more interestingthan Clash's medusa given that Uma Thurman was the perfect actress topull off this character. The biting hair snakes were funny and chillingat the same time.The movie had all the elements required of a summer blockbuster: wellpaced action, cool special effects and a fun storyline. I'll eventuallyread the books.

j_botello

(2012-04-29 10:49:02)

Let the facts do the talking.

The actress who plays Annabeth will be turning 23 this coming month.That's a solid decade older than the character in the book, and thatalone is enough to warp what could have been a fantastic retelling of awonderful story.Nothing about the Grover in the book suggested that he spent most ofhis energy chasing women.Persephone doesn't exist until much later in the series.Mr. D, Clarisse, Kronos (the main villain through the series), and Aresall fell by the wayside in this (and I use the term VERY generously)adaptation.It's just too bad.

joeomar

(2012-04-29 03:45:32)

One of the worst book adaptations EVER

Chris Columbus did a pretty poor job with the first two Harry Pottermovies - visually impressive but lifeless, like someone reading thebooks out loud without any inflection or emotion in their voice. Hefollowed that up with this astoundingly horrible adaptation of thefirst book in the very entertaining Percy Jackson series. I believe hemust have made a very detailed and accurate list of everything in thebook that made it so great, and then carefully ensured that absolutelynothing on the list was in the movie. He even left out the storylinethat connected the book to its sequels - it would be like someonemaking the first Harry Potter movie without mentioning Lord Voldemort.Between omitting the storyline thread that connected the books, andsimply bad movie-making, he completely killed this franchise right outof the gate.

Pauleightsix

(2012-04-28 21:28:41)

It was alright.

Well I haven't read the books but I saw the movie and thought it wasalright. The movie was filled with Greek Mythology and it used thathistory in modern day situations very well. I thought that there wasenough action, and it was appropriate for kids. The acting was OK asfar as kids movies go, especially Percy's mom, her acting was prettyaverage, as was all the rest of the characters. Didn't have very goodspecial effects though, and some killings were unrealistic. I know thatthe movie was aimed at 7-11 year old kids but it still could have beenbetter in that point. The situation with Percy's family is also alittle mature for little kids. But in the end I have to say this was anexcellent movie for good plot and action flow. The characters alsoworked together in the cast. I recommend this movie to all who knowlots of Greek mythology.

(2012-04-27 23:20:48)

I think this was stolen from a library :/

This review is from: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DVD) I got this DVD in the mail today, it has Douglas County Library-Colorado on the CD - a label. Is this stolen ?!?!???

buckeysooz

(2012-04-27 19:23:44)

Chris Columbus should be ashamed!!!!

When this movie first arrived in trailers, I like so many adults, whohave become fans through our children was excited. We could overlookPierce Brosnan playing Chiron which gets both the age and nature of thecharacter wrong. We could overlook the character of Percy obviouslybeing older than the books stated age of twelve, however almosteverything else was so far removed from the books that have become sopopular including storyline, that this movie should not even be allowedto carry the "based on the books" tag. The characters were completelymiscast, the storyline was a weak abominational blend of books one andtwo..... kind of..!He (Chris Columbus) invented places for the movie to go that havenothing to do with the story in its origination, he omitted too manydetails that are so pertinent to the actual storyline that it may beimpossible for any new director (and I believe if future films are totake place a new Director IS NECESSARY) to repair the damage that hasbeen done.For a story that has millions of fans who will be buying tickets tomovies for a very long time, this does heavy damage to Chris Columbus'sreputation as evidenced by post movie chatter in which most if not allwas incredibly negative. Negative both to the movie as a whole and toChris Columbus personally. Many there seem to believe he did the sameto the Potter movies he has been involved with and feel at this pointanyway that they will think twice before seeing another movie with hisname attached to it. Lets' face it, as one young fan said, "notsticking completely to a Potter book...understandable, they are 1,000pages each...Not coming close on a book 350 pages long...notforgivable." So, if you are going to see this movie because of the wonderful scenesin St. Louis, Denver, The Santa Monica pier, or to see his step fatherget his, etc etc etc etc save your money, they are not in there.Neither is Clarissa, Lukes scar, Mr. D, Aries, Kronos, and so on. Ifyou would like to see a movie that completely rewrites the creation ofRick Riordan, then by all means, spend your money on a mildlyentertaining theft of a wonderful idea.

killer3000ad

(2012-04-27 15:19:23)

God awful bad, should win a Razzie for 2010

I haven't read the book, wasn't planning on, but I think I might sinceI was so god damned pi$$ed about forking over my hard earned cash forthis movie, that my friends advised to read the book which is fardifferent. So here's the deal with the whole Percy Jackson craze. AfterHarry Potter showed you could do a lucrative venture from making movieadaptations of popular children's' books, others have hopped on thebandwagon and here we have Percy Jackson.Having already read all the Harry Potter books, I could not help butnotice the numerous carbon copies they have put into Percy Jackson.Lets see boy living with deadbeat relatives or relative in this case.Check. Has special abilities. Check. Gets carted off to school/summercamp for special kids like him. Check. Has a female and male sidekick.Check. Is being hunted by evil forces. Check. Did I miss anything? Iguess we can hand it to the Percy Jackson creator for setting it in theUS instead of Great Britain.That's not to say the movie couldn't have been much better that thesubject material. I am told the book is GOOD. Well if the book is GOODand the movie SO BAD, I guess we can all blame Chris Columbus here. Thefact is the Harry Potter movies are usually watchable but here thePercy Jackson movie adaptation is god awful bad. The acting from theyoung stars is stilted, wooden and cringe inducing. Percy's reaction toseeing his mom die and immediately forget about it once he lays eyes onAthena's half breed daughter are some of the worst FACEPALM parts ofthe film. By getting Columbus to direct the first film, one wonders ifthey were trying to emulate the Harry Potter success.. oh heck they aretrying to. Sadly... it doesn't work. AT ALL PERIOD

(2012-04-26 21:57:22)

Dude, where's my movie?

So, I read this book about a 12 year old boy and his 12 year old friends and then i heard there was a movie so i watched that... ONLY TO FIND THE 12 YEAR OLDS BEING PLAYED BY AN 18 YEAR OLD, A 24 YEAR OLD AND A 26 YEAR OLD WITH A GOATEE.The Justin Bieber hair and the squishy, constipated emo facial expressions teenage percy had plastered on his face really did not help endear him to me. Was annabeth supposed to be a cyclops? because i only saw ONE of her gigantic creepy blue eyes the whole movie. (yeah by the way, in the book her eyes were GREY and her hair BLONDE not brown.) in the book grover, the satyr is supposed to be pale white with red hair. i do appreciate hollywood trying to squeeze in minorities into the movies but was it really necessary to have a MYTHICAL CREATURE behave like a STEREOTYPICAL HORNY GHETTO person? It's a KIDS MOVIE, leave the sex stuff out for goodness sakes! I think it's more insulting to black people than it is beneficial. would a white skinned satyr have acted like that? no? then leave it out!forget the physical appearance of the actors, 90% of the movie was totally different than the book. the ONLY thing i actually liked was the Uma Thurman scene (Medusa) medusa was supposed to be ugly in the book but the movie did a good job (or at least Uma Thurman did.)If the movie hadn't been based on a book but just been a movie i would have given it 3 stars (deducting 2 stars for the horrific acting of percy, cyclops girl and horny ghetto satyr.)

(2012-04-26 16:54:51)

Great Movie for adolescents

This review is from: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DVD) This movie ended up being my favorite one of all time so far. It is a combination of Greek mythology and modern American Life. This is a fantasy movie. It has spectacular special effects and displays 3 young Americans who go on a quest to aquire 3 pearls while overcoming monsters and other human threats. It's worth watching if you love fantasy movies, special effects, or movies that star teens and young adults.

(2012-04-25 23:33:51)

Not so good!

This review is from: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (DVD) This was an awful attempt at making a movie from a book. They cut corners, changed characters, changed locations and missed entire sections of critical plot development. Beyond the names, the similarity between the book and movie are minimal at best.

(2012-04-25 00:23:03)

Watch the movie first, it's actually good then

I'm glad I watched the movie way before I even thought about picking up the book. It was entertaining and I loved the characters. It was really everything I wanted in a movie like this. I would've given it 5 stars hands down. That's before I read the books.Now, well yeah this movie is so bad if you read the books first. ALL THE MAJOR POINTS have been tossed aside. & I'm talking about this is the bases of the story line of the actual books and they completely ignored it for the movie. Believe me there's no way they can make a movie for the 2nd book because they cut out everything for the sequel to even make sense unless of course they destroy that movie too and just make up stuff as they go like with The Lighting Thief.The movie by it self is a pretty good film. The movie with the book is the most horrible adaptation from book to film probably ever.

imjason-676-997799

(2012-04-24 06:25:44)

Entertaining movie, but it really needs a different name

FYI: Some spoilers from the books and movie coming below.OK I did this is much the same way I did Harry Potter, saw the moviefirst and then read the books. The difference here is that Harry Potteractually followed the book. Ask my friends to hear me say that theywould be flabberghasted, but by comparison Harry Potter is a perfectadaptation compared to this. Lets start from the beginning:Percy is 11 years old in this book. Logan Lerman is 18yrs in thismovie. Now at least Harry Potter had the decency to cast the right age,but Logan is already beyond the age Percy is for the entire series thusfar. Which is likely why the whole turning 16 prophecy is nevermentioned, would make most in the audience raise an eyebrow.The battle with Medusa takes place in New Jersey, not Ohio and thereare no pearls, they simply stumble into this madness. And for the loveof God there is no Ferrahi, that was the dumbest scene in the movie.Least they did a good job with the Locust Hotel.OK someone PLEASE tell me why Hades was depicted as such. We never seeElysium, the Fields of Aspholde, and why is Grover commenting on therecession in Hades.Percy does not KNOW he is the Son of Posideon at any point until afterhe is attacked by the Fury at the museum, he is still Undetermined. Imean seriously, he can breathe underwater, 7m would be no problem, andwhere is the school nurse? This never happens in the movie and its justsilly.The fight with the Hydra does not happen until the second book and itsClarisse who defeats it, not Percy. In the first book Percy is stilllearning about his control over water, its not until the second book westart to see it become more developed.OK so despite all that, the movie is actually fairly entertaining onits own. But the thing is, its nowhere even in the same area as thebook. I would change the movie title to "Wow, My Dads an Olympic God".I really am interested to see how things go with the sequel movingforward, given that there is so much of the main plot that was leftout. Kronos, Clarisse, Mr. D, I mean these are major players in thelater books, its going to be awfully confusing to the audience movingforward.

(2012-04-17 16:47:06)

Save You Money. Buy the Book.

This review is from: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) I had hopes for this film. It had a good book THE LIGHTNING THIEF: Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book One and, with Chris Columbus as director, I hoped to see some adherence to the original plotline. Boy, was I wrong! The book plot centers about a series of mysteries -- who Percy is, why the Gods are trying to kill him and who actually stole the lightening bolt. The book also establishes via its subplots several lead-ins to the future sequels. The movie solved the first two mysteries in the very first scene, ignored the subplots and many of the rich characterizations that made the story half-way believable. We're left with some good CG monsters and a cast whose talents are totally wasted on a really banal dialogue. One is left with the impression that the studio refused to come up with the money for a good script writer after spending its wad on its animations. I feel cheated. This is one where I'd like to go to Fox and Chris Columbus and demand my money back!

Angelafterglow

(2012-04-16 19:25:02)

I Suposse It's Chris Columbus Fault!!!

OK, so where to start? I had like the biggest expectations for PercyJackson's first movie,I for one loved the book, and thought that itwould be a great movie based on the trailers but WOW was I gonna get asurprise.First of all let me all say to you guys who have read the books that Iactually didn't mind the fact that the actors were way older than thecharacters in the book, because I think this way it was a little bitmore real due to the journey they had to go in their cross country tripfrom NY to LA, but here are my biggest disappointments in the movie:1.- Who the hell decided to take Ares & Kronos Out Of TheMovie!!!!!!!!!! They should get fired, not to mention getting Annabethin The role of Clarisse when introducing here in the movie.2.- A quest for the pearls wasn't such a bad idea in order to justifytheir cross country trip but, changing events and avoiding facts likethe bus explosion and the attack of the Furys, and changing stuff likethe arch of Sant Louis for the Parthenon in Nashville... for real???Nashville???? And The Chihuahua Turned Chimera changed for the Hydra(In Book 2)??????3.- Hades dressed like Ares was supposed to, and becoming a bad guywhen he actually wasn't bad at all????4.- Dropping The storyline of Hades invisibility Helmet and just makinghim want the lighting bolt???5.- OK And lets just make Luke an almighty bad guy who can fool thegods all by himself.6.- Not To mention that Grover is now a senior keeper he is not asearcher so he ain't supposed to be anywhere else but in half bloodcamp in the second movie (which I doubt will get made)7.- Really his mom just kicked her husband out??? what about Medusa'shead????I've had no problems in the past in movies like harry potter where theykeep the main storyline and drop some other less important story linesbut changing the hall background of the movie and the depth of theirproblems in general I think It's I huge mistake.If you have not read any books, U'll probably like it, but otherwise...AVOID THE MOVIE.

movieleaf

(2012-04-14 20:28:07)

Aimed more at kids

The movie is decent but it is aimed more at kids than adults. Themythical creatures and Gods could have been scarier and more impressivelooking but the director makes it look a bit childish. There are a fewgood laughs, in particular thanks to Brandon Jackson(Grover Underwood).As for the story I will give a brief introduction - The lightning boltof Zeus(Sean Bean) has been stolen and Zeus suspects PercyJackson(Logan Lerman), son of Poseidon(Kevin McKidd), to be the thief.Zeus warns of war if it is not returned to him in ten days.Don't expect too much from this movie and you wont feel disappointed.And don't walk away once the credits start as there is a funny scene inthe middle of it.

rehobothbeachguy

(2012-04-14 06:20:17)

Painful

What was Columbus smoking? It was so far removed from the book. Thecasting was awful, as well. Percy was COMPLETELY obnoxious, as were hisfriends.I continued to watch, hoping it would improve, but it didn't.The best of the movie: The water special effects and the hotel maid,whose three-second role consisted of a horrified expression and ascream. Okay, and Uma Thurman looked hot in the black leather, butshe'd look hot in a potato sack.The worst of the movie: Everything else.What a waste of money and time to endure such rubbish.

(2012-04-11 14:48:10)

Not the book, but great adventure movie

I saw the previews for this movie while watching another movie, and thought the books might be worth the read. I read the whole series in about a week, they were that good! I had encouraged my oldest daughter, 9, to read them, but she has just started the Warrior series, and wasn't interested, but did want to see the movie. I took her and my 7 year old. I was very disappointed that it differed so much from the books, but tried to look at it as a totally separate thing. Neither of my daughters had read the books, but they really loved the movie. Looking at it as just a movie, it was a good, fun adventure. And after seeing the movie, both girls were interested in reading the books, which is always a positive. It has become part of our bedtime routine, for me to read one chapter out loud to them both. We're now on the 4th book, and they are loving it. My oldest daughter also takes each book when we're done, and re-reads it. Even knowing the differences in the books vs. movie, she still wants to watch the movie again. It IS a good movie, it's just completely different from the first book. I do hope if they make a second film, they will find a way to incorporate more of Riordian's words into it and make it more true to the series.

iraklis

(2012-04-11 02:56:48)

nice story, (very) bad film.

This is probably one of the worst films I watched since ever. I justwatched Percy last night and although I always have the nicestintention when coming to films, this one really was terrible. And Iwatch every kind and genre. I always judge a film for what it is andnot what should have been compared to any other films. And, honestly,this film is bad.The pros is that it has an interesting story - I am a real sucker forGreek mythology. As far as the mythology part is concerned, I found itquite precise and true to what Greek mythology is all about. The secondpositive thing was the Hades scene, which I found very cool. Third, andlast positive thing of the movie were the CGI. So, three cons, threestars and that's it, because, trust me, it can't get any better thanthis.Now, let's go to the downside. And, man, where to start? Firstly, theacting was at most parts lame, filled with unbearable clichГѓВ©s and lineswe all have heard thousands of times before. This, by itself, is not aproblem, the problem is that they don't fit in. I didn't know that thisis a book adaption, so this is what makes the effort even morehorrible; this might be the worst book adaption ever! The charactersare very shallow and the director doesn't even try to develop them,doesn't give them the space and time to grow inside the viewer andcreate a bond. The scene right after Percy's mother supposed death isridiculous. A kid sees his mother die and the next thing he does, is tohit on a girl. Grandiose.One other thing that I disliked was the explanation of every referenceto the Greek mythology. "You cannot see Medusa in the eyes, you willturn into stone", "If you cut Hydra's head, two will pop out". If youread the book, it is apparent that you know who Medusa is and what shedoes, if you don't, well this is an excellent food for thought. Open abook, search on the web and find out why you shouldn't look into hereyes. I mean, that the film doesn't leave room for the viewer to think,after the movie is over, the whys and the hows. In Greek we call this"Chewed food".The final battle between Percy and the other guy(I don't even rememberhis name) was tragic. No reason to explain this further, if you'vewatched more than ten films in your life just choose randomly of one,cut the battle scene, paste it to your mind and then say that this isnot true.To close this review I say that this is one of the most shallow,clichГѓВ©d, and bad directed movies I've seen. I wouldn't suggest thisfilm, even in an 8 year old. As bad as it can get.