By Kimberly Nibungco
Staff Writer
Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief is a new teen sci-fi/fantasy movie directed by Chris Columbus, who also made the first two Harry Potter movies. Percy Jackson may be like Harry Potter in that a boy and a girl helps out the story’s teenage hero, but it is no Harry Potter—in a good way.
The Lightning Thief includes humor, wit, and some well-placed lessons in Greek mythology. It is the tale of the young Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), a dyslexic, ADHD-affected New York teenager who finds out he’s a demigod, the son of the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon (Kevin McKidd). When other gods and monsters find him, they go after him.
For safety, he is sent to Camp Half-Blood, a training camp for demigods where he discovers that his ADHD is his active impulse that will help him in a battle, and his dyslexia is something he has in common with other demigods and will help him read messages in Greek.
Percy is accompanied by the lovely Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), a daughter of the wise Greek goddess Athena, and his best friend, Grover, played by Brandon Jackson, a satyr assigned as a junior protector to Poseidon’s offspring.
The three of them go on a journey to save Percy’s mother, Sally, from Hades’ lair and to attempt to seek out what actually happened to Zeus’s stolen lightning bolt. Zeus blames his brother’s son Percy because he was the son of the three main gods, who happens to all want power. Therefore, a world-wide storm forms as the gods anger with one another grows. As Percy goes through this adventure, he learns that there is a hero inside of himself and he just has to let it out.
The Lightning Thief was an exciting movie, with great characters, an interesting plot, and much humor. The movie was based on Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson and the Olympians books.
If I didn’t read the books, then maybe I’d enjoy this movie even more. The movie cut out some great characters such as Clarisse, the daughter of Ares, and the god Ares himself. It also didn’t include the conflict with the titan Kronos, the father of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. Also, the movie makes the three main characters much older than they are in the books.
But overall, I was very ecstatic to see how this movie turned out, no matter the major differences from the book. The way the actors played their roles and the director’s method of changing up the film happened to please me.
It is a great movie to go and watch, especially if you are interested in Greek mythology and adventure.
