Tuesday, February 23, 2010

We Three Bloggers and the Lightning Thief Movie

What's the one thing that could bring a Master Jedi, a Sith Lord, and a CARLMAN together? The Lightning Thief movie! Zack, Bill and Carl have seen it and here are our thoughts.

Since I'm already here, I, the CARLMAN who brings balance to the Force, will and give my review first. Actually, I can sum my whole review it up in two words--Not Bad. It wasn't a great movie and it wasn't terrible; it was good. There's a lot to like--lots of action, lots of monsters, and great effects, as you can see with the Hydra. All the stuff GUYS love in their movies! There were also a couple of things I didn't like as much. For instance, even though there was humor in the movie, there wasn't as much as there should have been. (even though Grover is really funny) And the final scenes with Percy and the Olympians was kinda lame. (I expected more tension between the gods and between Percy and Poseidon) But, overall, I enjoyed the movie and I think you would too. Worth seeing. I'd give it six or seven stars out of ten.

Now the big question is--IS THE MOVIE DIFFERENT FROM THE BOOK? Well, yeah. A lot different, in some places. But don't let that stop you. Movies and books are two inherently different media--which is a fancy way of saying that books and movies are very different and you can't expect them to be the same. So if you expect the movie to be a exact replica of the book, you'll be disappointed. But if you go in there and watch the movie on its own terms, you'll like it.

One more thing--I'm going to demand credit for scriptwriting!! I've been saying for years that a Percy Jackson story should take place in Nashville, Tennessee since it has a full-scale model of the Parthenon and is called "The Athens of the South." So where does the middle part of the movie take place? HUH??? I demand my cut!!! (and not with Riptide!)

Okay, Tis I Darth Bill, and I went and saw the movie Sunday. I really was expecting the worse from the reviews the movie received by the "experts" in the paper and media who said at best it was average. Also several people I know said it was lousy. Okay here is where I give my sermon on forming your own opinions. I can't tell you how many times I have seen books and movies reviewed by so called "experts" and my opinion has been totally different from their conclusions. Bottom line, form your own thoughts and opinions and don't blindly believe what others may say. So what did I think of the movie? I loved it!!!!! Even though it was not exactly the same as the book (in my opinion most books adapted into movies are in general not as good as the books), I had a good time. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give it it an 8 (and that is just my opinion). I hope you all who like the books go and see the movie.

Master Jedi Zack here now with my 2 cents. I liked this movie for what it was, a fun action filled movie. I didn't like it for what it wasn't, an accurate adaptation of an awesome book. My only real beef with the changes was the age of the characters. I wish the movie's characters were younger, because that is one of the things I loved about the books. With all of that said, it was a fun movie and Grover had some pretty good lines. So, if you can get past it not being exactly like the book, you should see this movie. I give it 7 out of 10 stars.
So there you have it, guys. Tell us what YOU think!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nannah V here,
I took my two grandsons to see this movie. Jeffrey is almost 11 and Bruce is 6. They loved it! Now they want to read the book! They are also excited about the two movies they saw intros for. "Diary of a Whimpy Kid" & "The the Last Airbender". Jeffrey has read all of the Whimpy kid books and they are very big fans of the Airbender cartoon. Personally I agree, I wish the actors looked younger. I have a hard time believing that they were 13. They looked more like 16.

Susan Kaye Quinn said...

You guys hit most of my beefs with the movie: that Percy was 15 instead of 13, and that the consequent love interest story was more pronounced (really not in the book); that it just wasn't as funny, with Percy being rather flat in the movie and flat-out-funny in the books; that there were lots of changes from the book.

I was really hoping for a closer rendering of the book, because its really a great one. I'm concerned that they may not make future movies, just because the story lines in book 1 were truncated, especially the parts that are important for the future movies! But if the money's there, they probably will...

STILL, very worth seeing and a fun action flick. AND if it gets kids to read the book(s) - which we already have - then it's all good.

Anonymous said...

it left out my favorite part with echidna and the chimera.
giant fan of the books.

Iron Guy Carl said...

Yeah, I hated they left out that part too. And I hated they left out Ares and Mr. D. I still say they should have had Hulk Hogan for Ares and Danny Devito as Dionysis.

Patricia J. Weaver said...

I went to see The Lightning Thief last night and movie was very good.. interesting, had great characters, it kept the story moving forward. I really think the critics have been unfair in their reviews. Now did it follow the book, of course not. The book is much better. The only thing in the movie that bothered me a little was the love interest between Percy and Annabeth. Why question is why... friendship is so much stronger than goo-goo eyes and flirting.