Split Personality

My brother and I, devout fans of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series written by Rick Riordan, were laughing all the way through the movie adaptation of the first book, The Lightning Thief, in theaters now. Tittering, actually. And not in a good way.

The day we saw it, I updated my facebook with the following status:

"...wondering why movie makers feel that they can tell a story far better than the author who made it famous...this I will never understand."

I think that pretty much says it all. Most filmakers seem to think that they have special license to completely alter the plot, thus improving it in the interest of attracting potential moviegoers. And the makers of The Lightning Thief (including director Chris Columbus, of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) are no different. Oh, they didn't take too many liberties with the plot. I could even sympathize with the ridiculous diversion of a self driven quest and an all too prominent misplacement of key scenes. Oh no, what they're missing is far more crucial than mere narrative slip-ups.

Now, even the book does contain a number of all too familiar storylines--average kid discovers secret, powerful identity, adventure ensues, love interest is introduced, trials and suspense, ultimate triumph. The Lightning Thief and its sequels owe a lot to the fantasy formula established by Harry Potter and its predecessors. However, what makes Percy Jackson stand out from the crowds is, number one, its focus on Greek mythology--not a recurring theme in most fantasy books--and, its unique and quirky writing style.

Rick Riordan may rely on somewhat familiar plot points, but his saving grace is his writing style. He constructs hilarious dialogue and witty first person narration from Percy's perspective, giving his books a lively, comic, and original feel in spite of their suspense-filled adventures and dramatic progression.

It's inevitable that some of this feel will be lost in the transfer from book to screen. But I don't think the filmmakers even attempted to capture it, opting instead for a straight-faced, utterly earnest and unfortunately free of irony interpretation that the book worked so well to avoid. Logan Lerman is the perfect man to play Percy, in spite of their age discrepancy (Lerman is an old teen playing a twelve-year-old) so it's unfortunate that he wasn't allowed to try his hand at the storytelling personality of his literary counterpart. The characters have lost all of their uniqueness and Grover the Satyr, easily one of the books most entertaining and sympathetic characters, is here reduced to a painfully ridiculous portrait of the wisecracking sidekick. Percy's best friend and (implied) love interest, Annabeth, daughter of Athena, is here a tough girl with a penchant for beating people at swordplay and falling headlong into obvious traps. This portrayal is not only illogical, given that Athena is the goddess of wisdom as well as war, it is completely divorced from the book's version of Annabeth as a tough, yes, and pretty, perhaps, but undeniably brainy and aspiring architect.

Jake Abel also does a fabulous job as Percy's counterpart, the seemingly friendly but highly conflicted Luke. Unfortunately, they're forced to play out their antagonism in a broad and ambitious battle scene that takes place at the top of the Empire State Building. Sigh. Because what would one do without a cliffhanging climax? It's anything but subtle. And, just like the rest of this movie, it goes over the top in its desire to appeal to as many people as possible without ever  becoming truly endearing.