"Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"

Over the weekend I went to the movie theatre and saw the children's movie "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief". The movie is based on the children's book of the same name by author Rick Riordan. It is book one in the series.

The movie (and book) is about a boy named Percy Jackson who discovers that he is a demi-god (half human, half god) and the son of Poseidon, God of the Sea. Percy has been accused of stealing Zeus's Lightning Bolt. As a result, Percy and his two friends Annabeth and Grover set out on a quest to find the Lightning Bolt (i.e. think of Hercules and his quest, but for children).

**Warning - possible spoilers ahead**

Having finished reading the book just last month, I was pleased with how closely the movie followed the book, considering some book-to-movie adaptations that I've seen over the years. There were only a couple of things that were different that I noticed while watching the film. First, the 3 main characters were made about 5 years older than they were in the books - in the film they were teenagers while in the book they were about 11yrs old. Secondly, there was one major character left out of the film - Ares, God of War. Ares played a minor but significant role in the book, however, since his character was left out of the film, the ending was changed slightly - but it still worked. I confess that I was disappointed when Ares didn't appear, I was looking forward to seeing which actor they would have cast as a "biker God".

Rating - 3.5/5 (movie) and 3.5/5 (book)