Review: Demi-God Percy Jackson finally has a reliable on-screen adaptation
Movies “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” and “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” were produced in 2010 and 2013 respectively. Both were produced without the help of Riordan and got a rating under the 50% mark on Rotten Tomatoes. The movies star Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson. The production team made the executive decision to age the characters up to 17 from 12 like the novels describe. Riordan states that he had no decision-making in the filming process, which left the book readers with distaste toward the production. On Riordan’s website, he explains how once the rights to books are sold, they are hardly in the hands of the author anymore. Many scripts were sent to Riordan. While he said he hated the way his characters were “lustfully” written, the production company did not consider this, leaving Riordan in the dust.
With the release of the new Disney+ series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians,” Riordan released this comment regarding the past films.
If there was one thing fans liked about the 2010 film, it was the Lotus Casino scene. Lady Gaga’s hit “Pokerface” blaring throughout the casino gave the film some modernity (because apparently defeating Medusa with an iPod Touch wasn’t enough). While the upbeat noise and bright lights made for an easy-on-the-eyes experience, the scene gained controversy due to the kids “being drugged.” The premise of the Lotus Casino is that time passes in the outside world unnaturally fast once one enters. Guests seem to never age because time is severely dilated, elapsing at a much slower rate than it passes in the outside world. The book shows the perspective of the kids staying much longer because of the addictive games instead of the cookies; in the case of the movie, the three protagonists, along with guests, stay exclusively because of the addictive lotus flower cookies. In the book, Percy hears Poseidon’s voice in his head telling him “Don’t eat the flower” while he has one in his hand. He gets the others to stop eating the cookies and come back from their trance. The movie scene left some moviegoers with a mixed opinion because of the implication of kids becoming high. This concept was something Riordan dismissed completely from his new and improved Percy Jackson world: In the series, the kids feel the effects of time through the air vents instead of through consumption. Once again, Percy snaps out of it before the others and encourages his friends to leave with him.
In December of 2023, the new Disney+ series released with the first two episodes already aired. During December and January, every Tuesday evening a new episode was released continuing the journey. The show was produced with Rick and Becky Riordan who finally had the voice to accurately present what the movies were missing (or had too much of). Not everything can be described to its truest form, whether it has to do with pacing, camera angles or the ability to continue telling the story. The TV series did a vastly superior job of capturing the likely reality of three young children navigating their way through the country while meeting monsters and gods of all sorts.
Students throughout all grade levels at WHS grew up with the series. Sage Anderson (12) began reading the books in third grade and started with the spin-off series book “The Lost Hero.”
“Rick Riordan is really good at tackling harder topics while still translating it to a younger audience,” Anderson said.
It is a common theme among readers of the books to dislike the movies. “I guess that’s one of the problems with the movies — they lost the magic and simplicity of that world. Which is what made me love the new series,” Anderson said.
It’s not just students who love the mythological universe — it’s also the teachers. English teacher Ethan Mattix (staff) claims he is a little too young for Harry Potter so Percy Jackson was the next best fantasy world to dive into. The book series was in the process of blowing up culturally when Mattix was in middle school. “I loved watching (the series), even though I am way older than the target audience now. It is just something I grew up with for so long; it’s nice to finally see an adaptation that shows how good this material actually is,” Mattix said.
A season two renewal has already been announced. Season two will follow the story of the second novel: “The Sea of Monsters.” This book too had a film made in its name yet did even worse than the first one according to Rotten Tomatoes. High hopes and anticipation await for production to start to continue telling the story of Percy, Annabeth and Grover.
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