We live in a time where filmmakers have made faithful adaptations to books (Captain Underpants, Dune, Oppenheimer, and many more), but have also had many terrible book-to-movie adaptations – Fahrenheit 451, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, and Artemis Fowl. For the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians, it is a good adaptation, but a boring show.
The popular book Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief takes place in the modern-day world where characters from Greek Mythology are real and live among us. The story tries to be true to the original Greek stories, but with a unique spin.
This show is an adaptation of the well-known book, now renamed Percy Jackson and the Olympians. There are three main characters in the story – Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, played by Walter Scobell (The Adam Project), and his friends Grover Underwood, played by Aryan Simhadri (Adventures in Wonderpark), and Annabeth Chase daughter of Athena, played by Leah Jeffries (Something from Tiffany).
After two previously failed adaptations, Percy Jackson fans wanted a faithful adaptation more than anyone. The show gives a true retelling of the books for a mainstream audience.
There are some minor nitpicks that changed or didn’t make it to the show, like the big three Gods having connections to the Second World War, Hades being the only God that looks like an actual Greek God, and Percy and Annabeth being attacked by spiders in the tunnel of love.
There are scenes in the show that aren’t found in the book, for example, Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, showing a soft spot for his son in multiple scenes. They added a new scene and area in the Underworld that reveals if their character holds a regret.
The show doesn’t only intrigue you with its world but with its characters as well. The modernization of Greek mythological characters, like Medusa, Hades, and Dionysus, makes the viewer excited about which character they will meet next. You wish to know more about the main characters, how strong their bond will be, and how their characters will change by the end.
The plot centers on Percy and his friends going on a journey to discover who stole Zeus’ master bolt.
I like that the actors know who they are playing, they don’t dumb the characters down like in the Percy Jackson movies. Scobell knows who Percy Jackson is, he knows he is an upset tween who just wants to know the truth about his father. This is something that failed to be conveyed in previous adaptations of the book, so it was nice to see a lead actor truly know who they are playing.
The locations in the show were adapted faithfully from the books, like the Underworld. Previous adaptations failed to understand that the underworld in Percy Jackson doesn’t look like hell, it’s just a dark world holding people’s souls. Many other locations looked beautiful despite most of the CGI not looking so marvelous.
The chemistry between the three main characters was great to watch, just like in the books, it leaves the viewer wanting to see more of them together. Hopefully, they improve on that for the next season.
As I watched the show, it became clear that a sense of adventure would be missing. The show’s main strength in terms of story was its characters’ growing relationship. The show doesn’t feel like an adventure because there is too much exposition – the characters talk way too much and there isn’t enough happening.
When something does happen, like a fight, it doesn’t last for long, making it very underwhelming. The fights also have very bad CGI, which is strange to me because previous adaptations of the book had better CGI ten years ago.
It also doesn’t help that our main characters know everything about what they are going up against, which removes any sense of tension or excitement in their situation. This makes many scenarios boring to watch. When they encountered Medusa, they knew everything about her, they just stood still until she struck with her attack.
The locations, despite being very faithful to the books, hold no feelings or emotions to them. The casino doesn’t look colorful as in previous adaptations, and the Underworld looks ugly and gray for most of our time there.
The most dramatic moments could have been done better. They had them well set up but it just fell flat when it came to the pay off. The final twist shows the big problem with the show – its lack of tension and feelings. There was no “got you!” moment.
The show has officially been renewed for a second season, promising to adapt the next book in the series, Percy Jackson and The Sea of Monsters, which I believe it could adapt well if it improves from its mistakes.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians does a great job of adapting the source material into a show format. The casting for almost every character is perfect, the locations look faithful, and the characters aren’t misrepresented into a simplistic version of themselves.
In the end, this show tries to be so faithful to the book that it forgets to have tension. I give this show a 7 out of 10. While it has many strengths, it is an adventure show, which should be fun, which is something this show must learn to be.
