Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a was published in 2005. Five years after the book was published, a movie was released based on the book. While the movie is a great piece of film, it does not follow the book very well. There are differences in the characters’ appearances and in many other aspects. Overall, the movie is a great movie with great actors and actresses. If you were to watch the movie without knowing that it was based on a book, you would likely think highly of the movie. Nevertheless, I believe that the movie could have been a much greater film if it had followed the storyline of the book and descriptions of the main characters in the book more closely.
The first and most obvious difference between the book and movie is the physical traits of the characters. The main character of the book, Percy Jackson, was depicted by Logan Lerman. Logan has many of the same physical traits as the character he played such as black hair and blue eyes with a lanky build; however, in the book, Percy is twelve years old while Logan played the character at age of eighteen. Percy’s best friend and protector, Grover Underwood, is described in the book as a white male who appeared to be thirteen or fourteen based on his acne and growing goatee. In the books, Grover also has curly hair. Grover was portrayed by Brandon T. Jackson who was twenty-six at the time that the movie was released. Besides the fact that Brandon was double the age of the character that he portrayed, Brandon is of African American descent, yet Grover is Caucasian in the book. Annabeth Chase, the smart one of the group, is described in the book to have blonde, curly hair and gray eyes. Alexandra Daddario, the actress who plays Annabeth in the movie, had such dark brown hair that it was almost black and shockingly blue eyes. In the book, Annabeth is twelve, like Percy, but Alexandra was twenty-four when the movie was released. While many of the characters’ physical traits are not the same in the book and movie, the movie completely cut out some of the most important parts of the book.
The first important portion of the book that was missing from the movie is the scene where Grover and Percy are on their way back to Manhattan for summer break from their school, Yancy Academy, on a bus from out of the city. The bus breaks down for a short time across the road from a fruit stand. Percy witnesses three old women knitting and gets an odd feeling when he sees one of the women cut a piece of the yarn while looking at him. After he mentions what he saw to Grover, Grover immediately gets concerned. He does not tell Percy, but the old women that Percy saw are what is known in their world as the Fates. When the Fates cut a string in the manner that they did in the book, they mean that someone is going to die. Grover was concerned that the death would be Percy’s; however, as it turns out later in the book series, Percy caused the death of someone else. The movie does not actually show that Yancy Academy was out of the city. It appears as though Percy and Grover’s school is in the city and as if they live with their parents throughout the year, which is not accurate.
The second important portion of the book that was nonexistent in the movie was the Oracle. In the book, there is an Oracle who will tell a demi-god a riddle to send that demi-god and no more than two others on a quest. While the Oracle does not play a huge part in the book, it is the reason that Percy, Annabeth, and Grover go on their quest. The movie makes it seem as though the three of them are breaking rules to go on their quest when, in all reality, they are given permission and supplies by their camp councilors in the book.
The third important portion of the book that was missing from the movie was the entire scene at the St. Louis Gateway Arch in Missouri. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover make a stop at the Gateway Arch because Annabeth is very passionate about architecture and had always wanted to see the Arch. When the three of them got to the top of the Arch, they admired the view and then attempted to get back on the elevator to go down to the ground again. As there was not enough room on the elevator for all three of them, Percy waited at the top of the Arch for the next elevator to take him down. While he was waiting, he was attacked by a monster and then fell out a hole that was made during the fight into the Mississippi River below. At this point, it is important that you know that Percy is the son of Poseidon, the sea god, so he can survive a fall of over 600 feet into water with no problem since the water will cushion him instead of flattening him like it would most people. This chapter of the book is very important because it is the first time that Percy’s power and ability is really shown to him. He had previously been healed by water touching his wounds, but that is not the same as falling to certain death and surviving because the water protected him.
The fourth important aspect of the book that is missing from the movie is the god of war, Ares, and all of the events that transpire because of him. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are travelling when they stop at a diner for dinner one night and are met by Ares. He employs the three to go to an abandoned waterpark to retrieve some items that were left there in exchange for a ride the rest of the way to Los Angles. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover accept and quickly run into some problems. After retrieving the items for Ares, he shows the three to a truck that will take them to Los Angeles. They end up only going to Las Vegas on it. In Las Vegas, they go to the Lotus Casino and although it feels like only a few hours, are in the casino for five days. That is one part that is included in the movie. When they leave the casino and realize that they have been there for five days, they quickly get a cab to Los Angeles and go to the Underworld to retrieve Zeus’ lightning bolt from Hades and to save Percy’s mom. After they do what they came to do, they escape and end up in the Pacific Ocean. While they were in the Underworld, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover realized that Ares had actually been the one that had possessed the lightning bolt, and when they got to the water, Ares was waiting for them on the shore. There was then a battle between Percy and Ares to take back the lightning bolt so that it could be returned to Zeus. Percy somehow won, and everything was resolved. In the book, Ares was a very important character; he was hardly mentioned in the movie just like many other important aspects of the book.
In conclusion, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is a great book just as it is a great movie; however, the two are not alike in many ways. The producers of the movie removed parts that were key to the storyline of the book and added parts to it that were not necessary. If I had known before I saw the movie how different it was from the book, I, personally, would never have watched it. It appeared in commercials as though it would be very similar to the book but was not in the end.

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Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton