Monday, April 23, 2018

I Read That Movie: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I  read that movie is a feature where we compare movies or TV series, and the books they're based on.



The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan


The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1)Title: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publishing Date: June 25th, 2005
Pages: 375
Length of Audio: 10 Hours and 2 Minutes
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy 
Series:  Percy Jackson and the Olympions
Source: Audio
  
Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can't seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse—Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy's mom finds out, she knows it's time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he'll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon a mystery unfolds and together with his friends—one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena—Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.
See Jenn's Review Here

Mini review:

What made me read this book: 
I had seen the movie years ago, and I knew I wanted to read the book. People kept talking about how great the book was. And it matched for a task, so I was like yeah! Time to do this!

What did I like the most: 
I tried to actually read the physical book and I just could not get into it. So I decided to get it on audio. 
And let me tell you, it is fantastic on audio. The narrator is perfect for it and I can listen to it at 2.5 speed and it doesn't at all bother me. So it's perfect.

The characters are great. Annabeth is really snarky and smart ass, but also a bad ass. Percy is likable, he's adapting well from the beginning.
And Grover, let me tell you about Grover. He is hilarious, he is also a smartass and really loves food. So Grover is by far my favorite character.

The story itself is pretty unique, not the idea of Demi-Gods, but of camp halfblood, and having to go on quests and such. It's really interesting. And it's interesting how they tie in the gods with everything in modern times. 

I loved this book way more than I thought I was going to.

What didn't I like: 
There honestly wasn't anything I disliked about this book. I mean I disliked that I couldn't get into the actual book, but that's not a big deal at all.




Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief PosterRelease Date: February 12th, 2010
Cast: Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario
Series: First in Series 

A teenager discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods.




Mini Review:
I knew I loved this movie already. The effects are great, the acting is great, it is really well done. 

Let's compare:
Did I see the movie or read the book first?
I technically saw the movie years ago, though I didn't remember anything about the movie. So this time around I read the book and then watched the movie.

Like the movie or the book better?
I like them both, they're both really good. But I surprisingly think I like the book better. 

How does it compare?
There are quite a few huge differences in the movie than in the book. A lot of the monsters they got pretty well, and they got the main part of the story correct. But we'll compare here in a moment.

Do the actors match the characters in the book?
I think so, the biggest difference I noticed is they combined Annabeth with Clarice from the book. 
Also she was supposed to have silver eyes and she has bright blue eyes instead. I don't know why this bothers me. But when movies get characters eyes wrong it bothers me, especially when it seems like the eyes are one of the things that noticed the most.

Other than that, I think that they chose well for the characters. Except that they were supposed to be 12, and they're like 17 in the book. But I suppose they wanted to make it a bit easier in the movie.

Major differences?
Some of the biggest differences I've noticed, is of course that they are much older in the book.
Other big things are the way they find out the lightning bolt is gone, in the movie it shows Poseidon and Zeus talking about how it's gone and they think Percy stole it.
But in the book it's not known that it's missing until much later.

In the movie there's no Clarice or any scene with her regarding water and having her butt kicked.

Also in the movie they figure out he's the son of Poseidon pretty quickly and don't act like it's a big deal. The monsters are also after Percy in the movie because they think he has the lightning bolt.
Unlike in the books, they have no idea he's the son of Poseidon and when they find out it's a big deal, because he's the son of the one of the three. And the monsters are after him because he's the son of Poseidon. 

In the book there is this huge scene with Achilles and he's not once mentioned in the book.

They changed who actually stole the bolt. 

There was a few other big differences, but I don't want to spoil anything. 

Overall I think they changed way more than they should've and I was a little disappointed after reading the book then watching the movie.

According to Jenn they also combined The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters. Even though there's a Sea of Monsters movie. I haven't read the second one yet. But I plan to.

They should most definitely reboot it with actual 12 year olds. Maybe then they could get through the entire series. 


Fun Facts?
In Greek mythology, the goddess Athena is a symbol of virginity. She never had any children. But in the books, it is said that Athena would create the children using her mind, being the goddess of wisdom. Adding in the traits of the father of the child and adding in some of her own.


       







2 comments:

  1. I wasn't all that crazy about the movie (I saw it after reading the book). I didn't love that they made them all older and focused a lot more on the romance elements. I loved the book, though! I agree that if they'd made them the regular ages in the movie, they might have been able to extend them a bit more.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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  2. I read the book first. I liked the first couple of books until the characters started spending all their time fighting with each other and Annabeth became a whiny bitch! I thought the film was decent too.

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