I was very excited when they added this movie to Disney Plus. Rick Riordan is one of my fav authors, so I had really high hopes. But, the storyline as well as details that only true fans would catch, we’re wayyyy out of line, compared to the books. Issue 1. In the books, long story short, is that this kid discovers he’s a child of the Greek god, Poseidon. He was framed for stealing Zeus’s master bolt, and he has to travel across the world to save his mom from a prison in the Underworld. At one point in the book, the main character comes across a naiad, a water spirit, and she gives him 3 pearls that will teleport him and his friends out of the underworld. This happened after he fell off the St.Louis Arch. In the movie their whole quest was set around finding the pearls at locations like Auntie Um’s Garden Gnome Emporium, and the Lotus Hotel and Casino, where they did travel to in the book, but not for the same reason. Issue 2. In the books, Annabeth has one weapon- her Celestial Bronze dagger given to her by Luke when she was a kid. In the movie, I lost count of how many different weapons she seemed to have just pulled out of her pocket. In the earlier scenes, she’s pictured with a sword and shield. In later scenes she’s shown with both a regular bow and arrow, as well as a crossbow. And then at the end of the movie, she has her dagger!! I don’t understand!! Anyway, yea. Don’t go in thinking, “Oh this is going to be a perfect representation of the book.”. I liked it as a movie, but not as a tribute to the magic (no pun intended) of Rick Riordan’s “The Lightening Thief”.

I was very excited when they added this movie to Disney Plus. Rick Riordan is one of my fav authors, so I had really high hopes. But, the storyline as well as details that only true fans would catch, we’re wayyyy out of line, compared to the books. Issue 1. In the books, long story short, is that this kid discovers he’s a child of the Greek god, Poseidon. He was framed for stealing Zeus’s master bolt, and he has to travel across the world to save his mom from a prison in the Underworld. At one point in the book, the main character comes across a naiad, a water spirit, and she gives him 3 pearls that will teleport him and his friends out of the underworld. This happened after he fell off the St.Louis Arch. In the movie their whole quest was set around finding the pearls at locations like Auntie Um’s Garden Gnome Emporium, and the Lotus Hotel and Casino, where they did travel to in the book, but not for the same reason. Issue 2. In the books, Annabeth has one weapon- her Celestial Bronze dagger given to her by Luke when she was a kid. In the movie, I lost count of how many different weapons she seemed to have just pulled out of her pocket. In the earlier scenes, she’s pictured with a sword and shield. In later scenes she’s shown with both a regular bow and arrow, as well as a crossbow. And then at the end of the movie, she has her dagger!! I don’t understand!! Anyway, yea. Don’t go in thinking, “Oh this is going to be a perfect representation of the book.”. I liked it as a movie, but not as a tribute to the magic (no pun intended) of Rick Riordan’s “The Lightening Thief”.