On top of everything, the end of the movie doesn’t make for a good transition into the rest of the saga, whereas the book had the perfect way to introduce the rest of the series’ main plot. In the case of The Lightning Thief movie, the changes weren’t earned, and they made the story more confusing. On his way to the Underworld, he accidentally runs into a couple of monsters. Chiron encourages him to go on the quest, and Percy, who was only just made aware of Mount Olympus and the world of Greek Gods, barely cares about the bolt. But in the books, the fact that Percy’s mom is missing is what guides him in his adventures. They have to sneak out of camp because Chiron forbids them to go look for Percy’s mom - and the bolt. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover go looking for trouble because they expect to take the pearls from monsters. In the movie, Percy needs to acquire three pearls in order to get to the Underworld to confront Hades about Zeus' stolen lightning bolt. This isn’t a negative trait to give a character, but Grover’s confidence comes progressively in the books because his background and past failures have led to his shy nature. Grover is given a much bigger role and, in turn, comes off as much more confident than in the first book. Annabeth comes off as much more arrogant in the problematic Percy Jackson movies. A lot of the sass that Percy displays in the books is taken away in the Percy Jackson movies (in order to make him seem more mature, perhaps), and he's almost immediately in full control of his powers in The Lightning Thief movie, whereas it takes him years in the books to grasp just how powerful he is. Percy's changes also make him a less compelling character. Percy barely makes it out alive, and wouldn’t have survived if it wasn’t for the group of centaurs that came to his rescue. In the original work, the first real confrontation between Percy and Luke as a villain is at the end of the second book. Since Percy beats Luke before getting to Olympus in the movie, it completely undermines Luke as a villain, as audiences already know that when push comes to shove, Percy can beat the son of Hermes (played by Nathan Fillion). In the movie, he confesses to being the bad guy early in the second half, whereas the book had him come back in the last chapter, sending a monster from hell to poison Percy. The changes made to Luke's character were particularly detrimental. This gradual build makes sense for children who grow into young adults, but because the movies start with Annabeth and Percy as teenagers, they jumped towards romance without really having earned it. Since the characters in the Percy Jackson movie were 15 or 16 years old, Annabeth and Percy almost instantly developed romantic tension, whereas in the source material they barely like each other as friends and take four books to begin admitting the feelings they have – even to themselves. In addition to making the main characters from the books older, the movies also changed core aspects of their personalities and their relationships to one another. 12-year-olds falling off a bridge or fighting gigantic monsters and facing gods makes for more drama than teenagers (who are almost adults) doing the same. By contrast, The Lightning Thief movie made the age difference between Percy and Luke invisible, removing the tension in many moments. Character changes aren't always bad, but Percy and other characters being 11 or 12 years old at the start of the books was an important part of their story.
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