The Lightning Thief {movie review}

Percy Jackson and the Olympians : The Lightning Thief (2010)

based on the book of the same title by Rick Riordan

Rating * *

Last nigh I went to see The Lightning Thief movie with my dad. We both read the book this week and were looking forward to what we had heard was a good movie. I’m not sure if we didn’t like it because it was so different from the book or if we just didn’t care for it. I’m thinking it’s because we liked the book so much more. You can find my review of the book here.

The movie introduces us to Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon. After being attacked while on a field trip, he is forced to travel to Camp Half-Blood. It is here that Hades contacts him wanting Zeus’ missing weapon, the lightning bolt. So Percy sneaks out with friends, Grover and Annabeth, tagging along. With a fellow camper’s help they learn that they must first find Demeter’s three pearls so that they can escape the Underworld once they go there. From here they travel across America searching for the pearls and fighting monsters.

First of all, in the book he doesn’t run away from camp. He is actually sent on a quest. Secondly, his quest is not to find the pearls.

There are missing scenes which is normal, however, some were important to the book’s plot. There are missing character’s (like who actually had the lightning bolt and who really wanted it!!). I didn’t mind that the character’s were older in the movie than the book. And the acting wasn’t too bad. There were some bigger name actors than what I expected. I haven’t read the second book in the series yet so I’m not sure if they will be able to add in these missing details in a sequel or if they are just completely changing the story.

Have you read the book and seen the movie? Were you disappointed?

Have you seen the movie without reading the book? What did you think?