Subject: *takes deep breath*
Author: hermione of vulcan
Posted on: 2013-02-10 19:43:00 UTC

(Begin rant)
The Lightning Thief is the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which is about a troubled twelve-year-old boy living in New York City (Percy Jackson) who in very Harry Potter-esque fashion learns that he is a demigod out of ancient Greek mythology. He ends up going to a summer camp for other half-bloods, before being sent on a quest to the Underworld with his new friends Grover and Annabeth. Humor ensues as Percy discovers how Greek gods and monsters blend into modern American society. (For example, Medusa sells statuary) The other books show his other adventures, new monsters and gods, and threats to Mt. Olympus (which is on top of the Empire State Building). The series grew popular due to its humor, cleverness, and interesting characters. So they decided to make a movie.

And, of course, completely change the entire plot. Percy and his friends grow up as the series goes on, yet the movie begins with them being sixteen or seventeen. Older than twelve, at any rate. Much of the humor was taken out in favor of monster fight scenes, and Annabeth, originally a Hermione-ish character with a tough side, was made out to be simply a warrior girl, without any brainiac tendencies. They even broke Greek mythology canon by showing Persephone in the Underworld scenes, while the movie was set in the summer. A whole new plot element was introduced that didn't need to be, and there were whole scenes that didn't have any basis in the book. I'm fine with changes, it's when the changes have no basis in the original that I don't like them.
So, while I realize the LOTR books and movies have differences, I don't think any characterization was so far off as to nearly character replace someone. The essence of Percy Jackson was in its humor and characterization, and both of those things were thrown away for the sake of action.

(end rant) I highly recommend the books, though.

And actually, I agree that Return of the King wasn't that good. It seemed to me that they spent too long on action scenes and not enough time on scenes that mattered. The entire Faramir/Eowyn romance was cut, and so was "the hands of the king are the hands of a healer" scene - one of my favorites in the book. But in comparison to what they did to the Lightning Thief, the LOTR movies are wonderful.

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