Movie Review: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief

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You know a movie's bad when even Sean Bean can't save it for you.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the Percy Jackson movie. I had heard that it wasn't great, and young adult/ middle grade books don't exactly have an awesome track record when it comes to movie adaptions. Some changes are understandable, but what I don't get is when directors feel the need to cut out or change major characters and moments during the process.

The most noticeable difference would be in the major personality changes in the main characters. Annabeth (a blonde played by a brunette) is supposed to be tough, certainly, but that first scene where we saw her practice fighting I thought that she was Clarisse (a brunette to be played by a blonde), a character from the books known for being rather rough and short-tempered compared to serious and calculating book-Annabeth.

Grover was also acting strangely. Normally introverted and skittish, throughout the movie he was cracking jokes and flirting with women just about every moment he was on screen. Also, within the same setting, he would switch between his satyr form and his human disguise, which came off as sloppy directing-wise. His desire for a searcher's license, also a major plot point in later books, is not even mentioned in this film. How they're going to work this out in their planned future movies, I have no idea.

Percy's attachment to his absent father kind of bothered me in the books,  but I never realized just how nice it was until I saw how cold their scenes in the movie were. That's Luke's thing, and paired with the movie backdrop of Zeus forbidding the gods from seeing their children I again don't know how that will fare for future Percy Jackson movies.

And then there's who they left out. Ares plays a major part in the first book, fueling the actions of not only Percy and his friends but the other gods as well, and the fact that he has no speaking role in this movie is what crumbled the film for me. Essentially, the entire climax of the book was changed for reasons I don't totally understand.

On a positive note, the movie was beautiful from a visual effects point of view. Gone are the plastic, campy monsters used in old Greek hero movies, the sleek CGI of this film looked fantastic. I was especially impressed with Percy's healing abilities, involving water climbing up his arm, which looked incredibly realistic.

Overall, I'm embarrassed to hear that they're making a second film. I certainly have no plans to pay to see it unless another fan of the books confirms to me that it's accurate, or at least takes a good shot at accuracy. Every book in the series compounds on those that come before it, so a very different movie right from book one doesn't give me good vibes about the potential rest of the series.

And don't get me started on Persephone, my favorite Greek goddess who appears only in the fifth book.

Have we found Johanna Mason?

Entertainment Weekly has reported that Jena Malone has been offered the part of Johanna Mason in the second Hunger Games film, Catching Fire, out November 2013.

Image Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Any thoughts? I know that there was some talk of people hoping that Johanna would be played by a woman of color, along with some hopefuls, but I didn't have anyone in mind for the part. One thing that we can be certain of is that if Johanna is here, Finnick isn't very far behind.

I (finally) saw The Hunger Games!

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So tonight, at seven PM, on May 7th, I saw the Hunger Games. In theaters. For the first time. Wearing my mockingjay necklace. Literally all by myself. No joke.

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I thought it was a beautifully made movie (the sounds, the setting, and the off-kilter camera work were all stunning), but not my favorite adaption. I felt like people who hadn't read the books would lost (feel free to say something if you weren't, though). It was really nice to be able to recognize things from the book, and I thought some of the book was enhanced by the film.

One of my favorite things was just how beautiful the arena was. You didn't need 3D glasses to appreciate just how green and lively the forest is. I could hear crickets, and doves, and all kinds of forest life, and that made for a better experience than just sticking in some random animal noises. It helped to balance out the tension with some peace.

Hunger Games Wikia

The only two things that I would have changed were Rue's screen time and the showing of the propaganda video. Of course I though Rue's death was sad (though the real sobbing came during the riot scene), but I felt like people who hadn't been touched by their relationship through reading the books may have been confused. Luckily Lawrence's great acting backed it up a little.

Hunger Games Wikia

As for the propaganda, the movie shown during the reaping, I would have put that at the very beginning of the film rather than stuck it in the middle of a scene already established to be tense. The text at the beginning was fine, but I thought that it would have been a nice(?) throwback to when news and propaganda films would be shown in American movie theaters before the show at around the time of World War II. Then, after that, cut to Katniss talking with Prim before she heads out to the woods.

And so there goes the tale of someone who is probably the last person to see the movie in theaters for the first time, a whole 46 days after the premiere!

P.S. More Haymitch next time, please!

Catching Fire Director

If you haven't heard already, Gary Ross will not be returning to the The Hunger Games trilogy. After weeping, the next logical course of action would be to ask who's taking his place, right?

The wait is over, and the Huffington Post has stated that Francis Lawrence will be taking the reigns for Catching Fire.

I don't know much about him, but his IMDB page says that he's also directed I Am Legend and Water for Elephants. I haven't seen either of them, have you? Any thoughts?

Hunger Games Parodies

I love a good parody. Most of the time they're all in good fun, and pretty hilarious.

I know one person who's read Nightlight, the parody of the Twilight series (by Stephenie Meyer), by Harvard Lampoon. They're out with a new book now: The Hunger Pains, a parody of, you guessed it, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

You have to admit, the use of the vuvuzela is pretty funny.

This one still has to be my favorite, and these are the lyrics that I have to sing whenever I hear the original song come on the radio. It's made it's way around the web a few times, but let's face it, it never gets old.

Any more favorite parodies of The Hunger Games? Post a comment!