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Whatever happened to the Percy Jackson series? Well let’s just be honest with one another, it was pure trash. The movies and not the original series by Rick Riordan. I have read all 10 books of the Percy Jackson series, bet you didn’t know there were 10 books huh? Well here they are:
- Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief
- The Sea of Monsters
- The Titan’s Curse
- The Battle of the Labyrinth
- Percy Jackson and The Olympians
photo source: amazon.com
In a moment we are going to discuss the travesty that is movie 2 or “Sea of Monsters“. Unnecessary and very stupid changes were made and it made it atrocious. But anywho, there is a second set of books, that continue the Percy Jackson story. This series is called the Heroes of Olympus and they are:
- The Lost Hero
- The Son of Neptune
- The Mark of Athena
- The House of Hades
- The Blood of Olympus
photo source: amazon.com
Ok, now we are all on the same page. Back to these movies. What exactly happened? I am not sure. When you read the books, Rick Riordan, has Percy speaks to you in a way that it’s easy to understand and he is a very relatable kid. Yeah, I said kid. I mention that because these books are based on Greek and then later on Roman mythology. There are a lot of words and names that are not so easy to pronounce. Your kids will learn so much about Greek mythology and in story form with a kid who is not so different from them. I thoroughly enjoyed every single word Rick Riordan wrote. There is action, lots of action, there is loss and tears as you become attached to these characters. There is a lot of laughter and loyalty and comradery. Even some competition. It feels you with all these emotions and then paints a picture that is very clear for you to see. Like how they manage to get to Olympus, which is of course in New York (read the book). As these characters make it through each and every obstacle you find yourself rooting for them to succeed. So, then why were there only 2 movies?
Well, I told you the movies were trash. The Lightning Thief wasn’t so bad, but the Sea of Monsters, all I can do is shake my head. They kept a lot of things the same, but in typical Hollywood fashion, I think the guts of the movie was changed too much. Did you know, if you’ve seen both the movies and read the book, that Clarisse actually makes an appearance in book 1? And Poseidon claimed Percy after an incident with the same person. Maybe it’s a small detail to you, but it changed the whole tone of the story by eliminating whole characters. Also, Kronos doesn’t regenerate until the 5th book why they rushed it is beyond me. They changed it completely. Sea of Monsters doesn’t even go like that, and yes the ending is pretty much the same, except they left out the man-eating sheep that surrounded the cyclops cave. Again, small details that really changed the story. And that is why I think that the movies bombed.
Percy Jackson is played by Luke Lerman and I have no complaints about that. Rick Riordan describes Percy as a little cocky, a little arrogant, but I think that that is because his dad is one of the Big 3. The Big 3 consists of the most powerful Greek Gods out of all the 12 Greek Gods in Olympus. They are Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades; but he is in the underworld. There was a pact made and those particular three would sire no more children. Needless to say, the pact was broken and more kids were born. The reason for the pact is that their children tend to be abnormally strong. So no kids for the big 3. (by the way, I learned that all from the book, and it was factually correct, I found myself doing outside research. There is also a good program on Amazon Prime about Greek mythology). This is the issue that begins the Lightning Thief. For those of you who don’t, Percy was accused of stealing Zeus’ lightning bolt. This is just the beginning for Percy Jackson and his group of friends.
Back to the movies, the cast was great in my opinion, Alexandra Daddario played Annabeth, a good choice, and they finally died her hair blonde and Grover who is played by Brandon T Jackson. And Pierce Bronson who played Chiron and Dionysus played by Stanley Tucci. Chiron was then replaced with Anthony Head in the second movie. I actually prefer him to Pierce, maybe it was the delight that Stanley Tucci brought in because he and Chiron have a rapport, I am too sure. But I enjoyed those two together. FYI Dionysus was not in the first movie, again small details but annoying all the same. So, the first movie not so bad but it could have been a lot better. However, that second movie was absolutely dreadful. The whole delivery store scene, completely absent in the book. Are you confused yet? I’ll explain.
Ok, Percy is a demi-god, kid of one of the big 3. I explained who they were earlier. Percy is Poseidon’s kid, his name is actually Perseus. Kids of the big three are always targeted by monsters because they can smell how powerful they are and it makes them extra tasty. However, they have to sometimes go on missions and it is always 3 to a mission. They are given clues for the mission and they have to follow those clues in order to complete it. This is the case in the Sea of Monsters. However, they never stopped at the delivery store of Hermes. They could have excluded that part and thrown in one that actually happened from the book. For one it was stupid, and a waste of film. In the book, he brought Percy those items in a duffel bag, and then they snuck out of camp. But who am I to judge? Oh, I am just a person who spent my hard-earned cash watching trash. Thankfully the books are amazing and they are done.
Lastly, I think that had the series been directed better, we could have seen all 5 movies, just like with Harry Potter. And yes I have read all of those and seen all the movies multiple times. And not only is the Percy Jackson series good for kids and adults, the Heroes of Olympus series, are just as great. My favorite character ended up being Hazel, who is a daughter of Pluto (Hades in Roman version) and her love Sammy. Hazel was born to the big 3 on the Roman side. And she was found by her brother Nico who is a son of Hades. I could really talk about this all day, but check them out for yourself. It was a whole hot mess just like season 8 GOT, but don’t get me started on that. Once again I feel that Percy Jackson could have definitely had potential to be great. I read somewhere a while back that Luke Lerman had signed on to do all 5 movies, but I gather because of what went on with Sea of Monsters, that was halted possibly indefinitely. Who knows, maybe they will relaunch it again one day. If that does happen, hopefully, it will stay close to home. With that being said, I highly, highly recommend the books, and yes all of them. You will not be disappointed and if you enjoy his style of writing he has other series available like The Trials of Apollo, which I wrote an article about that as well. Happy Reading!
