The Lightning Thieves

6 September 2010 | Filed Under Books vs. Movies 

I just saw the movie adaptation of Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief. It had good special effects, and I’m sure if you hadn’t read the books, it was a good movie. But they didn’t have to completely change the storyline. Spoilers Ahead.

The movie gets off to a good start, only condensing the book for timing issues. They condense roles too, like making Annabeth more antagonistic to fill Aries’ daughter’s shoes, which I also understand. And maybe it didn’t matter that everyone instantly knew Percy’s father was Poseidon, or that important series information like Kronos and Thalia and the prophecy were left out.

But changing the quest? Really?

Instead of being given a quest to find the lightning bolt, Percy is given an offer by Hades. Instead of stumbling across America, Luke (now the main villain) gives them a nifty map and some story about Persephone’s pearls. Instead of using the adventures in the book, the screenwriters invented a few of their own, like visiting the Parthenon in Nashville and Persephone’s betrayal of Hades.

What was so bad about the original storyline? Why couldn’t Percy set off on a quest and battle monsters and annoy Ares and fail at Hades’ doorstep like he’s supposed to?

Despite the special effects, the final battle was boring. All I could think was “Percy can’t fly, Zeus is going to zap him out of the sky.” And what, Zeus didn’t notice his master bolt was at the base of Olympus? You can’t radically change the rules just because you think it’ll look better on the big screen.

Or add rules, come to think of it. Zeus’ ban on gods contacting their children was unnecessary. The gods’ bending of that rule by talking to their children when in danger, even more so.

It was funny. It was exciting.

But it was only an okay adaptation.

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