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Percy Jackson and ATLA are some of my favorite series ever. And the fact that they both had absolutely terrible movie adaptations brings me pain every day.
@@thewingedserpent5823 the PJO movies were bad adaptations but ok movies (5/10 at most) but the Airbender movie was just bad all round. Go watch Tim Hickson's breakdown of it. An hour and a half of chaos
Do not forget Artemis Fowl. That's another that was done dirty. And by the same Disney that's handling the new Percy Jackson. Even the fact that Rick Riordan's involved isn't all that comforting when I remember that Netflix's upcoming ATLA adaptation originally had the creators attached.
one of the changes that annoyed me the most was that in the movie Zeus forbade the Gods to interact with their children while in the books there is no such rule. Most of them just don't care. It's why so many of the demigods join Kronos, because their godly parents are just horrible. it's such a big part of the story imo and makes the world much more complex and interesting.
That's a change I can see working, at least working more than the rest of them. Sure, the movie is just putting all the blame in Zeus, but that also would be a good reason for them to join Kronos against the gods, since their leader is the worst. It is a big part of the story, and the mensage would change (going from "bad parenting could lead to serious consequenses to the child" to "bad ruling could lead to revolution from the opressed"), but it could work, it just needs to be well done (but it unfortunatly wasn't).
Yea this change is even worse from a world building standpoint for the greek/Roman contrast seires. Part of how thier cultures and gods developed was the hands off nature of the gods specifically for them Jupiter did actually order the gods to stay back and have minimal communication. All that said I have no hope we will ever have a live action adaption of the wider universe sadly. Would have really loved to see the egyptian trilogy
I mean.. there's plenty of complex and interesting things that could come from them being forbidden to interact with their children too. But it's definitely a different flavor, anyhow.
Actually, there is a rule in place which is briefly touched upon in the books. It's the Ancient Laws. They are not allowed to steal each other's items of power, they are not allowed to go picking fights without being challenged, and they can't visit their kids.
@@Ule289 they are? Lol. I've read Harry Potter over 10 times, the movies are quite faithful. Of course it isn't the same, you can't make The Order of the Phoenix in 2 hours without cutting some stuff. It's a fantastic adaptation, don't even get started lolol
@@SilverstreamPJ28 I think that comparing the books to the movies is the same relation as comparing movies to their trailers. I’d love to see HP in a series format, that is sentence by sentence true to the books.
@@SilverstreamPJ28 for me personally...it's quite the opposite of an "fantastic adaption", because there is nothing fantastic in it. Yes, start point and end point are there, but so many thing in between were bend or deleted, the whole Ron-character was changed so much and degrated, to a point where he doesn't make even sense. The only character in the movies that was faithful to the books was Umbridge. I hated her in both equally😅 ofc you can't put everything in a movie, but deleting storylines (the battle at the end of book 6) so you can focus on the most stupid things...that's something I will never understand. Movie 1 and the both 7ths are for me the only 3 movies where I don't want to yell all the time. And it makes me sad.
You NEED to read the email that Rick wrote to the producers of the movie after they gave him a copy of the script to look over. It's the most fantastic and hilarious take-down of every single change. I was re-reading TLT the other day and Percy makes a specific point of saying that he didn't know who his dad was because he wasn't really good at anything (archery, arts and crafts, racing) except canoeing. And he didn't feel like being good at rowing a boat was a particularly useful skill. The way he gains confidence over the course of the series is SO CRITICAL. The "fail to save what matters most in the end" (leaving Sally behind in the underworld) is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the book. It's so significant and I will always be FURIOUS that they changed it. Especially since it's one of the first times that we see just how loyal Percy is to his friends (to a fault), so the result is INCREDIBLY critical to his character. I can't even talk about the extent to which they butchered Annabeth. It's too painful.
He must have gotten to the Persephone/Grover scene in the script because I had the exact same thought as Riordan, “please don’t sex up this children’s story”
Annabeth in book: wise, passionate, caring, funny, topped off with a smidge of pride. Annabeth in film: disinterested, aggressive, dry, and so far up herself she's starting to resemble a pretzel
Watching TLT movie for the first time in theaters thinking “okay they’re changing this but it’s okay, I can’t wait to see the fight with Ares” over and over again only for Luke to show up at the end is still the saddest experience I’ve ever had at the movies.
There is also a musical! You should listen to it!! It is more accurate than the movie which is so funny 😭 Annabeth cap and her song make so much sense I love it
The Percy Jackson books were so important to me. Besides being fantastic Y.A. fantasy, my cousin has ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism and I used to read the books to her because of the lead characters having similar difficulties and I think it really helped her, and helped the two of us bond over a shared love of the series. When the movie adaptation was announced she was so excited because film is a more accessible media for her as she has trouble reading. Needless to say when the two of us went to see it in the cinema we were both greatly disappointed, her more than me, so we're hoping that the Disney Plus adaptation at least captures the spirit of the novels so that she can have something more to enjoy from the series.
Clarisse I think is the best written and best acted character in the two movies. She weirdly also seems to have much better chemistry with Percy than Annabeth does, almost like they were planning to give them a romance if the series continued. As much as I hated what they did to Grover, I think Brandon T. Jackson did a great job with what the writers gave him to work with, also the guy who played Chiron in the second film gave off good mentor vibes and could have been a good Chiron with more screen time. Everyone else I thought was written so horribly that I couldn’t even really get a feel for the actors. I know a lot of the cast either proved before that they were or later went on to be really good actors, so I can’t judge them based on those movies.
Two of my biggest gripes with the movie is the fact that Percy wore and used the winged shoes when in the books he was told that he would be struck out of the sky by Zeus if he went in his territory. And also the fact they brought the hydra from the second book into the first movie.
Persephone critique: its the summer, so in mythology, she's up on Olympus with her mom Demeter. She wouldn't be in the underworld then. Plus the fact that they make it look like hell when it's more than that and they get rid of all the redeeming qualities of Hades, he's the most honorable of 3 brothers by sticking to the deal with Percy
Pretty sure Zeus attacked them in retaliation towards Hades even though the kids were innocent so he put them in the casino to protect them(????) Also doesn't matter in the books he specifically isn't the villain. That's the whole point but no, they had to make him a villain (a boring one at that)
I remember when reading the books i really wanted a movie and a few years later when I found it I was really excited. But then I watched it... and I really didn't like it. It's a good movie, but not a good adaptation for me
The one time I watched Chris Columbus's "Lightning Thief" film, I was blitzed on vodka chasers and had no bloody clue what was going on. All I know is that Pierce Brosnan was a wheelchair horse man, there's a lot of hot ladies at the camp, they find Medusa, they almost get turned to stone, and then the USS Enterprise beams them to Valhalla or something. Thank you for clarifying that the choices are just as weird as I thought they were.
"I definitely have strong feelings for you, I just don't know whether they're positive or negative yet," or however that line went, might be one of the cringiest lines I've ever heard in a movie! And to think that writer was paid!
One of the biggest flaws is always making Hades the bad guy in every greek mythology adaptation. I love his stuff in the books, Hades is not necessarily a bad guy, hell he's honourable and follows the rules he has been set mostly.
Its especially ironic when you consider the fact that Hades is, without a doubt, the most chill of all the Greek Gods. When he appears, he is never an obstacle, not really, in fact, he tends to HELP the hero. He allowed Orpheus to break the rules and take his love back to the surface, even though it broke the rules, he let Heracles take his dog for a walk, he never curses anyone, never turns anyone into something unpleasant and is even...mostly faithful to his wife. I think he did have one or two dalliances, but compared with the rest of the family? Hes a god damn saint!
If you wanna see a faithful adaption, you can watch the musical version! It is literally just the plot of the first book, but onstage and with songs, and it’s amazing. It’s called The Lightning Thief if you wanna find it:)
Tbh, as soon as a saw the notification, I started yelling "MOVIE RANT, THIS IS WHAT WE WANTED, YEAAAH"😂 Love to see you truly join the pjo cult merphy, can't wait for you to try Heroes Of Olympus!
The one thing I refuse to let go about this movie is taking out St. Louis and the Gateway Arch. I'm from St. Charles, really close to St. Louis, and have never read my city being in a book and absolutely LOVED Annabeth's interest in it as an architectural structure (totally in character as Athena's daughter, and establishing her interest in architecture really well, an interest that grows throughout the series and becomes even more important in Heroes of Olympus), Percy's encounter at the top of the Gateway Arch, the chimera blowing out the side of the Arch and Percy FREAKIN' JUMPING INTO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Especially as a kid who visited the Arch several times, I was able to completely immerse myself in and connect with the scene. Then they changed it to Nashville, which has been in many films/shows. (It was a pretty cool fight, but still.) I am REALLY HOPING Disney+ brings St. Louis into the show. It was epic. I also had a similar reaction, that the movie was fine as a standalone, but not good as an adaptation. Though you explain the reasons why much better than I ever did. 😂
They didn't build on Camp Halfblood at all! In the Disney plus adaptation I want there to be focus on the Camp even if Percy isn't there I want to see others interacting with Clarisse Silena, Charlie their conflicts etc. I hope they do this...
When I was younger I didn't realize what a clever twist Rick had written when he made Hades seem like the villain only to make him a relatively ok guy (for a Greek deity, anyway). But nooo, the movie had to undo that and do what Hollywood always does with him.
I noticed that they didn’t bring the prophecy into it until they adapted the second movie and I was like what? Why was this not in the first one?! The second movie made no sense in that aspect to me and it definitely had a changed plot from the book.
I remember watching this movie with my dad and became enamoured with it. This movie got me into reading the books and found out that the books were more amazing than the movie.
This was made in a post Harry Potter and LOTR era, when Hollywood all really wanted to find that next big movie franchise, and did a lot of these movies. Except that they didn't learn from those previous 2, and decided that the only things that needed to remain the same as the books were character names. Because yes, while Harry Potter and LOTR are not 100% book faithful, they have enough of it in it. And.these others, like I said, are almost completely different. And when they do that, it becomes clear that they just wanted the name. Eragon, is it the greatest fantasy ever? No, but it's good enough that it could have had a successful film run, if done correctly. Percy Jackson, I think they were afraid of being compared to Harry Potter, so they made the kids much older. But there is a charm, when you start as kids, you care a little more. And they took out a boss fight with Ares. Noob move.
I think Chris Columbus even specifically said he aged the Percy Jackson characters up because he’d directed the first two Harry Potters and didn’t want them to be compared based on their ages.
The movies really go down hill in The Sea of Monsters adaptation!! The movie suddenly introduces Clarisse, the prophecy, Dionysus, and Kronos. I can’t understand why they would leave these important elements until the second movie. BTW I love your channel!
I would agree but, no, you deserve more sympathy. The Percy Jackson movie, while not the best in the world, at least had a few minor plot points covered. Artemis may be the worst movie in the world and an even worse failure of an adaptation.
@@bendover7841 Why do you say it destroyed that hope? Have I missed some major news that absolutely destroys the story? Have they taken what makes the characters enjoyable away from them? I legitimately would like to know, so I can know whether I should be worried or not for this
Going to give the upcoming Disney+ adaptation a shot but not getting hopes up, think a limited series instead of movie? Just like the upcoming ATLA Netflix adaptation
Considering that Rick Riordan himself is involved with the writer’s room on the Disney + series, I think we can be reasonably optimistic that it will be a much more faithful adaptation, at the very least. Whether it will be faithful enough for you is something that remains to be seen, I guess.
I feel like the movies by themselves aren’t bad. But, they were mostly directed at the fandom who had read the books, and we didn’t got what we really wanted. However, they did got to another audience and probably the fandom is a little bigger now. 🤷🏻♀️
I doubt this movie did any good to the franchise until merphy's review I used to think its a shitty harry potter wannabe series that no one really cares about because of how bad the movie was.
If that movie was directed at the fans then I eat my PJ books. The movie was an _okay_ movie, but a shitty Adaptation. Would they have tried to go for the fans, then a good start would have been to ask Rick Riordan what they maybe shouldn't change and not have him at the end totally horrified what they did with his work. If they would have tried to go for the fandom they should have tried to start with the right age. Or even easier use the eight hair color. Things like that are normally Not so important for me, but in the PJ world you can most of the time tell who your godly parent is by hair and eye color. The same with Annabeths weapon choice, it would have been so easy to give her a dagger to fight, but no she needed to fight with a sword.
The first movie is what got me into the books when I was in elementary school, so I can confirm that the movies did something to get new people into the books. I still like the books way better, but I can't really _hate_ the first movie. Regardless of quality as an adaptation or otherwise, I would've never read the books without it.
I liked the movie when I was a kid, it probably influenced me to read the books. It isn't a bad movie imo, but it's worse than the books and not good as an adaption
The group in the book was 12 but Grover looked older; that's why he was driving. I missed the St. Louis arch scene and really disliked how they combined so many things and changed the plot so much they couldn't continue the series (after Sea of Monsters, and that was a mess too). I dislike how they removed most of the gods, their involvement in things, and basically killed off the future romance arcs for every character. I would have loved to have met Nico in this one. The book series is so good it deserved better. Unfortunately, the same thing happened to Cirque du Freak series by Darren Shan.
@@AecoYT Found it. He is, in Book 1, 28 in satyr years (so 14ish). In the movie, they changed him to be 16ish (though I'd say a college frat mentality) to match the other upaging.
The Four Horsemen of Apocalyptic movie adaptations: 1. Artemis Fowl 2. Eragon 3. Percy Jackson 4. Dark Tower When brought together they summon the Beast AKA The Last Airbender
This has to be the best review of the movie I’ve seen. Honestly agree with you on most points especially about some of the plot in the movie and the fact I hated most of the character personality changes:)
Omg I hate what they did with Hades in the movie. It was just so ahshhsksoxmskslsln Grover was ok, I didn't hate him. I think I only liked one line from movie Percy ( "This is a pen"). Annabeth hurts me as much as lore does.
Hey Merphy, now that you have seen that "movie" you need to see the second one. Keep in mind that it was marketed as "faithful to the books". I love your reviews, please make one for "that" too!
Was it really marketed as totally faithful to the books, or just as being more faithful than the first one, though(?); and was it actually people officially connected to the film that marketed it that way, or just other people[ like viewers talking about things after seeing it in advance screenings or whatever]? 🤔 (I don't recall😅😅) As someone who hasn't actually read the books yet but enjoyed the movies when I saw them, it wasn't so much personally relevant to me at the time the movies came out if they were faithful adaptations or not, so I didn't pay much attention to who was saying what about it or not at least in that particular regard. I'm kind of curious now, though, how much of what differs in the second movie is stuff that's different because of what was already done differently in the first movie(?)-versus how much of it was new stuff introduced for the first time in the second movie but they still got wrong anyhow?🙃😁😊
@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 The actors said that it as faithful to the books in multiple interviews. You should definitely read the books, they are interwoven with ancient greek lore so well, The story is also amazing. You can watch The Mythology guy's video, he goes well into detail about the movie and it's connections (and differences) to the lore and the books
@@AmanYadav-ry7nv Ah-Kay; thanks😊 (I mean..did they actually read the books themselves though?🤔 Or were they just taking someone else's word for it? Who knows. Loll) I know the books are interwoven with greek mythos and lore, they've been on my TBR for ages after the movies came out because of that💜, but I went through a long period of time where I wasn't reading anything at all for a number of different reasons .. so .. unfortunately, there's just a lot of reading I've never gotten around to yet, and now that I'm finally getting back into reading again just over the last few years unfortunately my reading pace is slower than a snail's and my reading volume is virtually microscopic. If I'm very lucky though, I'll get to it one day before I die though. 🙂 😅🙃😁
@@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 I get that, I had to stop reading due to a big test and I'll get back to it now (after months), I'm expecting to be very slow as well, I think it's better to read a couple of your favourite books first, that will help you to pick up the pace, Percy Jackson is a series from my childhood so I'll be reading those again before jumping into a new book just to get back in gear, I think that would help you as well : )
I watched the movie around when it came out and thought it was bad. Then I read the first book in high-school after a friend lent it to me. (For context I'm 21) Because of that experience this film has latched itself to my brain and I love watching reviews (rants) about its weirdness.
I watched the movies first with the kids I use to work with and they were enjoyable. A couple of years ago I read the books and was like "Jeezus the movie massacred this thing."
Yeah, I didn't understand most of the changes in the movie. The same happened with Artemis Fowl. Both Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl... I wasn't a huge fan of their books but both had some charm that I could recognize... some elements that, despite my age, I could like. The movies removed most of the good stuff and I never understood the thinking process. Oh, and the exact same thing happened with Eragon. Why would they remove every interesting aspect of the books? I don't get angry with these things, I just got puzzled. Why, is the question, no doubt.
With Percy Jackson and Eragon specifically they left out my favorite scenes from the books. In Percy Jackson the scene where Percy fights Aries on the beach and in Eragon the scene in the church. Not to mention they changed the ages and look of the characters which is forgivable in Eragon but in Percy Jackson his age is tied to the plot and if they wanted to do the series justice they would’ve had of made five movies so having an actor that was 16 or 17 in the first movie after five movies would be between 21 and 22 while he’s supposed to just be turning 16 in the last book. So why not cast a 12 or 13 year old and hope when he’s 18 he can still pass for 16. Idk, not casting age appropriate actors is a big pet peeve of mine. I have hope for the new show. I was going to go into all the horrific choices in the Eragon movie but I’m sure you are aware if you read the books.
@@gman7774 Yeah, I think it's the same problem that we have with videogame movies, I think it's exactly the same: The people who made these movies, never cared at all about the source material, and/or never understood it. Then people come and say stuff like "videogames are so hard to adapt" or "books are just a different media, making good adaptations is so complicated", when in reality, I think a big part of it comes to the question "do the film makers care about the source material?". It's all about that. Every good movie adaptation had people who cared about it, if not in the direction, in production or other relevant roles.
@@Alfonso88279 absolutely! I understand that they would have to change things just because of the length differences but why change the core of the plot or the motivations of the characters? It should definitely be somebody that has read understands and loves the source material or played the game and loved it that is in charge of writing casting and directing adaptations. It shouldn’t be a time for them to want to put their stamp on a project and make changes to fit their views or preferences. It should be their best attempt at being faithful to the original writers vision. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of people like Peter Jackson or Denis Villeneuve that are passionate enough to get it done right.
@@gman7774 And I don't think it was because of their brilliance. I mean, they are skilled but I think at least in the case of Peter Jackson, his passion for the books moved everything around. I don't think you can find books that are harder to adapt that Lord of the rings. People used to think they were impossible to adapt correctly! And granted, they had to change a bunch of things but when I watch the movies, I can see the core of everything Tolkien's work was about. It's still there. Dune was good but I am afraid. Let's wait to see what Dennis does with the second one before getting to conclusions. But I am very hopeful.
@@Alfonso88279 yeah if he doesn’t nail the second half of dune it will be awful. I guess I was just more talking about his passion for the project. He’s loved the books since he was a kid and it’s his dream to make it. Same with LOTR. Like you said he and his writer changed a lot but the core was there and all of my favorite things from the books made it in(mostly) watching the extended editions every year is still satisfying. I just want the love and care they put into those movies put into other fantasy projects. Like the first 5 seasons of GOT. I have a little hope for the new Rings of Power show because it seems like they aren’t making it for the fans. But I hope I’m wrong. I hope they get the Wheel of Time show to work in the next couple seasons because the first season was not great. I hope the new Percy Jackson is good, I love the cast and that Rick is involved. The people that just wanna milk the fantasy of all the money they can need to just put creatives in charge that actually care and maybe give the fans a chance of being satisfied instead of disappointed.
I had a similar interaction with this film as I have with a lot of other adaptations where the film introduced me to the books not the other way round. Because I didn’t grow up with reading friends, I was always optimistic that movies that were bad but were based on fantasy books probably would serve as good recommendations for books I’d enjoy (which mostly ended up being true except for contemporary romcoms which I love to watch but hate to read 🤷🏼♀️)
I have exactly the same experience... found some of my favourite books through the movie adaptations (ended up loving the books way more than the adaptations). It happened to me with Percy Jackson, Hunger Games, Ender's Game, and even the Hobit and Journey to the Center of the Earth (for some reason I had no idea there was a prequel book to the Lord of the Rings, and I had heard of Jules Verne but I never knew about Journey to the Center of the Earth until I watched that film with Josh Hutcherson). Romcoms I like to watch them but I never really read the books. I'm much more of a fantasy books reader...
I remember complaining about things after seeing the first Harry Potter movie, and subsequent ones. But then I saw this particular 'adaptation' and realized that it could be much, much worse. I have my reservations about the HP movies, but they were definitely at least decent adaptations of the source material.
I teach 6th grade LA, we read Lightning Thief and kids love it. I show them the movie to show how movie producers think their viewers are idiots by explaining things too much instead of letting viewers piece it together. It helps with making their own Percy style demigod story
Does Percy (or any of the other kids) even have learning disabilities in the movie? I feel like that was one of the changes that felt the most like a betrayal to little-kid me
I remember liking the movie when I first watched it (I didn’t remember the book all that well when I first watched it) because the movie was entertaining… but then I reread and rewatched 😬 I like the movie on its own, but because they changed the entire story I’m not on board for that. Excited for the new adaptation and I think they cast the PERFECT Percy.
My first experience with the series was seeing the movie at a resort on vacation. I thought it was interesting enough to seek out the books. I have since read all of the books, but never watched any movie past the first one. It is totally fine as a jumping off point to get people interested in the concept of the books, but it is bad enough to dissuade people who like the book from recommending it to anyone.
Oh man. That's basically how I got into Eragon xD watched the movie with my family as a kid and LOVED IT then I went out to buy book 2 and was like '¿¿??dafuq??¿¿' and went back to buy book 1 which was completely different story. That's how I found out there wouldn't be a 2nd movie xD I have only watched the movie ironically ever since.
this movie and its sequel feel like a fever dream 💀 i have removed both of these movies from my memory unintentionally. i thank my mind brain for that.
I remember watching the movie as a kid (ironically, it came out about when my history class was focusing on Ancient Greece, particularly mythology in which I ended up doing a project on Poseidon) and I loved it so much I was overjoyed to learn that there were books. For some absurd reason I can't remember, I decided to purposely read the series backwards, and by the time I got to the first book, I didn't remember much of the movie, so imagine my surprise when I got the DvD and it turned out nothing like the book lmao.
Oh I was wondering if you were going to talk about the movies, this should be fun! 🤣 * I will say that Percy being stronger in the water and healing in the water isn't new. In the books, Percy only disarms Luke during their first fight after he gets water splashed on his head and then later during capture the flag he heals in the water which is also when the trident appears over his head. Oh yeah and even more so in his fight against Ares later (they get rid of that whole plotline in the movie! ahhhh 😡). I do agree of the rest of the points you brought up though, they did Annabeth and Grover so dirty in the films 🙂 The pearls yeah is a good change to go to all of these areas instead of just randomly stumbling upon them 😂 I'm glad you were able to see some of the positive qualities to it. I know a lot of people just completely write it of (and I did at first too) but there are some legitimately good aspects. I hope she watches Sea of Monsters soon, that should be even more chaotic🤣
Thank you so much for dropping this video today. I’ve been having a very bad week and seeing you review one of my favorite franchises helps put a smile on my face again. Thank you!
The fact that they only made 2 movies got me into the books, because i wanted to know more of the world and where the character was going. Do not regret it.
I think Clarise shows up in the second movie. And they make Alex Daddario dye her hair because that fixes everything, lol. BTW, I don't blame the actors at all for the movie being meh. I actually thought they were well cast.
As one of the stories that got me into writing, this honestly felt like a stab in the throat because I saw the movie first then got into the books. And then I continued to binge the entire PJ and HoO books in the subsequent week. It's so good but damn. Only if people didn't try to change the story so much
You are making me want to re-read Percy Jackson so much, I adored the series and still have memories of book 4 making me cry so much over Pan. Also, I don't want to sound like a commenter who begs creators to talk about something, but I recently got into the Wings of Fire series and have been so enchanted by it, and I think it would genuinely really be up your alley! They're so self aware in how they incorporate and then break down so many classic fantasy adventure tropes while still prioritizing a satisfying outcome, and building a SUPER colorful world full of lots of unique kinds of dragons. I've loved every arc and this broke my reading block I've been fighting. I've been taking long walks to the library just to read each next book.
Annabeth was such an important girlboss role model (pre Hero’s of Olympus) and it was literally heartbreaker to watch that all fade. Just thinking about the movies caused mental and physical distress.
I saw the Percy Jackson movie while I was growing up, wasn't never really into books. a couple years ago I knew id be making long journeys consistently so I tried to find something to do. I found some old Percy Jackson books just laying around the house and since I knew the movie off by heart I thought the books would be good. I was confused when I noticed the differences but wasn't disappointed. after finishing the first book i immediately got a hold of the rest of the series. since then I've been looking at other book series and when my college work needed me to make a book adaptation I knew I wanted to do Percy Jackson (before Disney blows it out of the water lol). to this day I'm still reading it currently reading house of hades, cant wait to see what the Disney show brings
@@julianmolinamata393 Well, Percy Jackson tv show at least has Rick Riordan overseeing a lot of things. While with the movies he had no part of it. Obi Wan, is just something to shoehorn in to make more money while people wait for Mandalorian season 3.
@@Kento300 doesnt it scare you that they can just take a character from a beloved series and write a completely horrible story for him just for a quick money grab ( which btw doesnt make any sense cuz it would make a lot more money if it was good right?). I am more optimistic about the percy jackson one but just really dont wanna get too excited just to get dissapointed again like whah happened with boba fett.
@@roskari8772 More like it's not surprising with how they treated Luke, and then turned Boba Fett into "I don't wanna rule through fear though I was the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy". Also, I haven't watched Obi Wan because, I'm just not that big of a fan. And I REALLLY want to be optimistic about something I am a fan of, when the writer is involved. It's like the Avatar The Last Airbender live action series they are/were making. I was excited, then the OG creators left because of differences and now I am no longer optimistic for that exact reason. So, as long as Rick keeps being in the process of choosing the roles, and has say in it, I'll keep my optimism for Percy Jackson.
Yes to pretty much everything you said. They "adapted" the second book as well, and they very obviously tried for some massive course correction (including, amusingly, Annabeth's hair color), but they were already too far off track and it was too little too late. It's no surprise they gave up after that and never made a third.
Great video! I hope you will see the second movie, where they realize "Oh no... There were other books after the first one!?" and jam everything they changed in the first movie like nothing happened XD
I watched the movie first and was whelmed by the experience; however when I read the lightning theif I fell in love with the series! The movie made me more upset the longer I read the lightning their because of how much they changed about the characters
Book Percy becomes an excellent fighter when he splashes water on his face, during his first day of training in swordplay he beats Luke, who is said to be the best swordsman in the camp, same goes for the Clarisse fight, he still beats all the Ares guys when he's pushed into the river; don't know where the criticism stems from...?
Confession I used to love the Percy Jackson movie, and it was one of my favorites. Then I decided to read the books and now I cant ever look at the movies the ever again
Merphy *titles the video "Percy Jackson Movie Rant - i mean review" The entire Percy Jackson fandom: "ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!" I'm reminded of a moment from Seamus Gorman's video on the first Percy Jackson film, where he's talking about the decision to make Hades the villain and completely cut Kronos (and Ares) out of the story and he compared it to if the creators of the Harry Potter films had chosen to have Snape waiting for Harry at the Mirror of Erised and just not mentioning Voldemort or Quirrell. To me, that's a perfect summary of the biggest issue with these films: The creators didn't want to make a Percy Jackson movie, they wanted to make a generic YA fantasy movie where the characters just happen to share the name of the characters from the series so they could make more money.
Thank you for this video Merphy, I watched that movie when it came out in cinema and hated it without ever reading the book and I never knew it was not even close to the book and so I never felt inclined to read the book even. now I'm really regretting that decision and hope I am not too old now to enjoy reading it for the first time
i agree that the idea of fetching the pearls to escape the underworld as part of their quest could be a good change ... if they weren't sent on that quest by Luke who's whole plan hinges on them NOT escaping the underworld Also by cutting the fact that Luke trapped the flying shoes to drag percy to tartarus, they made Luke's plan even worst because it means it was 100% based on the chance that they'd not be able to escape hades punishment when he gave them a map to collect the things you need to escape Hades punishment
I watched the movies first and actually really liked them. It got me to finally read the books(which I'd been putting off because I like reading things "all in one sitting")... and then I was frustrated by the missed opportunity for an amazing movie series. If I separate the movies from the books in my mind while watching them, I'm actually okay watching them, but I am hesitantly excited to see what the TV series has in store. Also, Clarice and Talia are both in the 2nd movie.
I started reading harry potter when I was the same age as the protagonist and fell in love with the series and I used to be ready to do anything to see the movie adaptations which were great. so when I heard about the percy jackson movie, I think after hp had already ended or was close to, it felt like something I could bounce on but watching the trailers completely convinced me that was a soulless cashgrab so I never watched it. it kinda tainted the reputation of the series because years later I really didn't expect people to say that they love the books. hopefully I get around reading it when I got enough time for a long book series.
I absolutely love the books as I grew up with them. All your points in this video are LITERALLY ALL MY FEELINGS ABOUT THE VIDEO. Thanks for this video, seeing you rage about all these points is sooo nice. Also, I hope you will do a similar video about the 2nd movie! It's just as bad (if not worse), so even more chance to rage at it!
I picked up this series and started book 4. Thanks for the movie review. The books are cool. Maybe I'll put the movie on in the background at some point... maybe.
Not to force anyone to go through the hell of the second movie too, but there is actually a second movie that "tried" (and failed) to correct the mistakes of the first one
I've always enjoyed Greek Mythology, loved this movie in the theater. Years later after watching it a few times finally got around to reading the books. Now I love them and can't stand the movie. They make an attempt with the sequel, but it was too little too late. Pumped for the series.
The fact is that even in the books, Percy IS more powerful in contact with water, and even without any training, he HAS some inner talent. Luke detects it in his first training before the games in the books, and that talent awakes when Percy fights Clarisse at the river in the forest. It is shown that he has an big energy boost when his feet are in the water, and that he's very tired when they're not. It is more abused in the movie and far less subtle, but it is still in concordance with the original story that Percy is overpowered in contact with water and that he has swordmanship talent. As for your complaint with the fact that some characters are removed, remember that the first movie is supposed to cover the first book, and that Thalia's first appearance is at the end of the second book, though she is mentioned in the first one, being a tree and the half-blood that Grover failed to protect (I think this part isn't mentioned in the movie). As for the general impression, I agree with you: the movie isn't good as an adaptation. Now go watch the second movie, it's worse xD
I loved the books a lot (and I still do), so when I saw the movie I was very offended. Now, I’m excited for the new series too! Since Rick is heavily involved, I have faith it will be a good adaptation and a good series in it’s own right.
A couple other things the movie changed that contradict the lore of the books: 1) Why are the people at Camp Halfblood able to use devices and electronics? It's been a little while since I read the books but I'm pretty sure in the lore of the world halfbloods can't use phones or other electronics because they will either explode or tell monsters where the halfblood is. And yet Luke has an ENTIRE GAMING SETUP IN HIS BUNK HOUSE! WHY!? HE SHOULDN'T BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT! NONE OF THE CAMPERS SHOULD HAVE PHONES! 2) All the characters are now 16 years old for some reason. And yeah, I know that getting child actors is tricky but aging up the characters creates a HUGE plot-hole. 12 is the age where a halfblood is first able to be easily spotted by monsters. So if all the characters are 16 they should have been getting attacked by monsters a while ago! Not to mention the prophecy literally says: "a halfblood of the eldest gods, shall reach *16* against all odds". So Percy should already be 16! So because of that making the character 16 instead of 12 creates a huge plot-hole. 3) Persephone shouldn't be in the underworld during the time of the first book. She only comes down to the underworld in Winter and Fall. It's Summer in the first book. So not only is this inconsistent with the lore of the book IT'S INCONSISTENT WITH MYTHOLOGY TOO! Also, her personality is completely different from in the book (because basically every character in this movie is like that) and her new personality made me.... uncomfortable... to say the least....
All I want to say is, the whole stumbling upon roadblocks is actually a reference to the old myths where they had a main goal and stumbled upon obstacles along the way.
I think the first movie makes it pretty clear that the writers ONLY read the first book, and didn't take the rest of the series into account. The set has Percy go under a gate to get into Camp Halfblood. If they had read the second book AT ALL they'd know that the fact that a living tree maintains the magical barrier is important later in the series.
One problem I have with the destinations vs. Roadblocks change is the roadblocks made the world feel much more alive. It felt like secretly everywhere under every rock was an aspect of Greek mythology and it was exciting to see it implemented but when they're goals it was more "of course the important item will be guarded"
My gf saw rhe movie first and was fascinated with it so much she immediately bought the whole saga to read... after finishing the first book, she hated the movie so much she refuses to see it again. That bad of an adaptation.
about integrating the locations "better" into the journey or the plot; I think Rick was trying to emulate how in a lot of Greek myths that involve a journey, the characters don't really mean to go to the locations that they run into, those places just happen to be in their path, which I think is captured really well in the books when the kids end up in these places and encounter unique threats and it's really memorable
Thanks, I found it and WOW. He literally told the producers it was crap and it made no sense for building a franchise. It baffles me that they ignored every single word from him.
the movies were an odd situation for me, in both good and bad ways I saw the movies before I ever read the books, and I really liked the movies, so because I also loved reading, my mom bought me the third book in the series (which is still my favorite) so I started reading the books halfway through, assuming that the movies stayed true to the source material of the first two books, and because of the ending of the second movie (which essentially crams all 4 of the last books into one movie), I was a very confused fourth grader wondering why kronos was still an issue if they'd already defeated him in the sea of monsters, and why annabeth's knife was suddenly the cursed blade when it was percy's in the second movie until I read the first two books and realized just how badly the movies messed up the entire story and now I hate the movies, understandably because of how bad they are but also without them idk if I would've ever found the books, and if I had, it would've been much later and it wouldn't have had such a big impact on my life the way that it did when I was a child, being the first fandom I was ever in I've read every book in the series at least a dozen times (if not more for my favorites) and I haven't seen the movies since I read the books other than to hate watch them and make fun of them I'm so desperate for the new show to come out, we don't even know that much about it yet but I already know it's going to be leagues better than the movies currently speedrunning reading the books again for fun and to refresh myself on everything before the show comes out (also the musical is great, some songs are mid, but the ones that slap, REALLY SLAP, I recommend anyone who wants to see an actually good adaptation of percy jackson to watch it) (Edit: I take it back, I just listened to the soundtrack again and all the songs are bops, go listen to them!)
What was horrific to me was they warped a whole character and went straight to stereotype. Then they changed the full audience scope. they went kids to teens. No spoilers, but literally the antagonist is changed to fit a stereotype. and that made me sad AF.
I just started watching this video and I'm really enjoying your experience of this bonkers "adaptation" (LOL. "Did you know this isn't even the same story?!!"😆😆) IMHO the second movie is more serviceable as an adaptation...until you get to the ending, but I'll let you experience that for yourself. 😆
I was in the exact age group that this book was targeting when it came out, I had read a short story set in the universe and loved it, however somehow I remember really not enjoying the books as a kid and I have no idea why
