Steal My Thunder

I was looking forward to seeing The Lightning Thief because the series of books by Rick Riordan is lots of fun. I had already been warned that Craig Titley, the screenwriter, had taken quite a departure from the source material, so I was ready for that. Besides, ever since I read William Goldman's formidable Which Lie Did I Tell?, the way in which I view adaptations of novels has changed, and I knew that, regardless of the differences between book and movie, I would be able to judge the film on its merits alone.

The movie version of TLT, directed by Chris Columbus, is true to the spirit of the book, and that's really all I demand in an adapted screenplay nowadays. Titley captured the essence of the story and the characters, and his script hits most of the beats the story requires as it unfolds. Obviously, there are changes, things he left out and things he made up from scratch, but since I'm not comparing the book and the movie, I won't comment on those. The only relevant thing to this discussion is that I enjoyed the story almost as much as I did when I first read it, because it is a cool story and an interesting mixture of Greek mythology and modern-day teenage adventure.

Unfortunately, the story and the characters, as they are taken from the book, are the only good thing about the movie. The dialogue is okay, but nothing to write home about, and the script panders to the audience and pretty much patronizes you as if you were stupid and needed a lot of exposition. The script is, in one word, a dumbed-down version of the novel, and that I didn't like, not because it's dumber than the book (a comparison), but because it's plain dumb, clunky, and hits you in the head overexplaining everything. Now, you could argue the film's target audience is young people, but so is the book, so the "let's try to make everything as simple as possible" argument doesn't really hold water. The moviemakers thought I was dumb, and they went out of their way to help me follow along. I didn't appreciate that.

Still, the movie was entertaining, and I did like the story and the characters, so I don't regret going to see it. However, I sincerely hope the second film in the series improves on this first entry.