When the Chris Columbus-directed movie Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief was released in 2010, young, avid readers like myself who had spent hours escaping into the world of Rick Riordan’s novels about neurodivergent Greek demigods could not have been more excited. Sadly, it disappointed, and the film’s reception from critics and fans alike was colder than the frost kingdom of Boreas.
There were fundamental adaptation errors that upset people. For example, they immediately forgo in-universe logic (the opening scene showed Poseidon as a giant, slowly shrinking to human size as a mortal watches mouth agape), and they cast actors in their 20s as late teenagers when the novels revolve around 11-year-olds. That cast would have been better suited as the stars of a Heroes of Olympus adaptation that one can only dream of happening (seriously, this die-hard Percy Jackson fan needs to see Jason and Hercules, everything Leo, and Percy/Annabeth crawling through Tartarus!).
Surprisingly, the movie spawned a sequel in 2013 that adapted the second book in the series, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. But with Columbus not returning and the course correction they attempted to the first film’s backlash not quite enough (this basically boiled down the criticisms of Alexandra Daddario’s Annabeth character to not being blonde), the rest of the movies were scrapped and adapting Percy Jackson for the screen form went back to the underworld.
So when they first announced that Rick Riordan’s series of books about Greek demigods fighting monsters and puberty was getting a TV adaptation courtesy of Disney and their expense account, along with Riordan taking an active engagement in the screenplay, you and I would be forgiven for being 30 and getting a bit too excited for a show skewed towards a younger audience.
This review was posted on February 2nd 2024. Full review linked below.
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