The movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is based on a best-selling young adult book by the same name by Rick Riordan. I really wanted to see the movie, since the book is a real pageturner and is single-handedly turning on a new generation of kids on to mythology. The movie didn't disappoint. The gods were there in all their glory, along with some very recognizable actors (Uma Thurman is great as Medusa; Sean Bean who played Odysseus in Troy was promoted to Zeus). The special effects are seamless (I loved both the Underworld and Mt. Olympus), which left me wondering if someone would remake The Iliad and let the Olympians stick around. (This was so not Jason and the Argonauts circa 1963!)
Saturday, March 6, 2010
A New Generation of Mythmakers
The movie, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is based on a best-selling young adult book by the same name by Rick Riordan. I really wanted to see the movie, since the book is a real pageturner and is single-handedly turning on a new generation of kids on to mythology. The movie didn't disappoint. The gods were there in all their glory, along with some very recognizable actors (Uma Thurman is great as Medusa; Sean Bean who played Odysseus in Troy was promoted to Zeus). The special effects are seamless (I loved both the Underworld and Mt. Olympus), which left me wondering if someone would remake The Iliad and let the Olympians stick around. (This was so not Jason and the Argonauts circa 1963!)
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I'll have to check it out! Did I see in the ad that Athena had a daughter?! That's a twist!
ReplyDeleteYes, Athena has a daughter, as do some of the other gods. "A new generation of mythmakers" is a reference to more than the ten year-olds I was sitting next to in the theater! Lots of interesting twists... ;D
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ReplyDeleteI was thinking on seeing it in theaters. Do you recomend I should?
ReplyDeleteThe book is a big hit with middle school students, so that's the main audience, but yes, it is worth seeing & I think you'd enjoy it. It's very well done.
ReplyDeleteIf you do see it (and again, I hope you do!), let me know if you think the Iliad could be remade to include the gods in the same way they did in this movie.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to see how they handled the gods--for me "Troy" really suffers for their absense. Have you read anything by Neil Gaiman? His _American Gods_ has an interesting twist for the old gods in the modern world. Great stuff!
NVCC has access to a journal called _Mythopoeia_--mythopoeia being the creation of modern mythological systems (think Tolkien, Chesterton, Lovecraft, etc.)--you might find some articles of interest there. Not sure how often they cover YA fiction, but they ought to--this is where myth is perhaps most alive these days!