‘Percy Jackson’ Films: We Don’t Need Any More [Op-Ed]

After Chris Columbus apparently left the directing duties of Harry Potter for greener pasture, he obviously felt nostalgic when he decided to produce Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Unfortunately, instead of sticking to the story of Rick Riordan’s fantasy children’s book, he made a cross between Harry Potter and Clash Of The Titans.

How else can you explain why the movie based on the first book in the series almost left out the main villain? Yes, the movie named Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief managed to end after only one scene with the main villain from the book.

Did you notice the Monster Donut shop in the first Percy Jackson film that ended up being a monster in disguise? Nope, it wasn’t there. The movie left out most of the monsters that the book included. Also, a major fact in the book was that demigods never carry electronic devices because they attract monsters, and yet Percy Jackson defeated Medusa in the movie using an iPod Touch. In fact, Camp Half-Blood was so full of technology that I’m surprised monsters weren’t attacking it regularly.

How bad was the movie? The actor who managed to make four James Bond films in its shakiest era isn’t reprising his role in Sea Of Monsters. Pierce Brosnan was replaced in the role of Chiron.

When I saw the trailers for Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Sea Of Monsters, I couldn’t believe how stupid everything looked. The acting from the extras was terrible (one group reaction shot had one kid looking in a completely different direction and two others looked bored) and the special effects couldn’t have looked much more fake if they’d been rendered on an Xbox 360 in a hurry.

Come on, Hollywood, we have seen Avatar, Transformers, and The Lord Of The Rings. We know what level of special effects you are capable of. The monsters in the latest Percy Jackson movie trailer are so fake that I can almost hear the theater audience laughing.

Let us remember the books the way they are. We really don’t need any more Percy Jackson films.