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S4:E10 Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013 Film)
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We’ve finished breaking down Season 2 of Percy Jackson, but now it’s time to travel back to an earlier era of demigod adaptations. This week, we’re revisiting Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, the sequel to The Lightning Thief movie starring Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, and Brandon T. Jackson. We talk about how this movie stacks up against the book, what changes we liked or disliked, and whether the sequel deserves more credit.
Hosted by Keri with co-hosts Crystal and Lindsey.
Books & Adaptations Mentioned:
- Percy Jackson & The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
- Percy Jackson Disney+ Series
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013 Film)
- Van Helsing (2004 Film)
- Eragon (2006 Film)
- Shadowhunters TV Series
- Divergent Films
Listen to The Sea of Monsters on LibroFM with Our Affiliate Link!
Question of the Episode:
- What is your favorite bad adaptation?
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Thanks for listening to Based on a Book—see you in the next chapter!
Chapters:
(00:00) Introductions
(02:55) Movie Comparisons
(05:38) Character and Cast Breakdown and Dislikes
(23:00) What We Liked About the Movie
(42:38) Final Verdict and Question of the Episode
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:07
Speaker
Welcome to Based on a Book. Today our travels take us back to Camp Half-Blood, where the only thing worse than an unclear prophecy is a questionable adaptation of your favorite book. I'm Carrie, and I'm pretty sure this is not the same crew.
00:00:25
Speaker
I'm k Crystal, and I'm seriously not interested in adventures. And I'm Lindsay, and I make my own destiny. Okay.
00:00:37
Speaker
Did you get that from the Oracle? Okay. Good to know. but Last week, we discussed Percy Jackson and the Olympians book two, The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan, along with season two of its Disney Plus adaptation that was hosted by
Comparing Film Adaptations of Percy Jackson
00:00:55
Speaker
Lindsay. This week, we're diving into the franchise's earlier of franchchiess earlier era The teen movie adaptation, specifically the second film, Percy Jackson, Sea of Monsters, which honestly, when we did The Lightning Thief, I realized I don't think we realized had a second film.
00:01:16
Speaker
I knew because I like this movie better than the first one, but I still don't like it. so Yeah. I think i think maybe Lindsay and I, when we were discussing, i was listening back to our first episode, we were talking about it.
00:01:30
Speaker
And I don't think we realized that there was, they did the Sea of Monsters, which was making me laugh. Yeah. but But like I said, we've been here before where we did cover the first film. So be sure to check out that episode. It's pretty funny. This is the last film they made in the franchise before they eventually started the series on Disney Plus.
00:01:54
Speaker
Since the main characters got a little too old.
Spoiler Alert and Personal Experiences
00:01:58
Speaker
which we kind of discussed in the previous episode that we would be concerned about. They got a little too old for the films. So we're going to dive into all of our opinions and thoughts about this movie. Since we already reviewed the book in the previous episode um when we covered the Disney Plus adaptation, And if you haven't listened to that episode yet, go check that out. We're jumping straight into the movie today. So this episode will be full of spoilers. If you haven't read the first two books or watch the show or movies, I recommend doing that first. So you can come laugh at this movie with us or just stick around and we'll tell you everything. So you don't have to suffer through it yourself.
00:02:43
Speaker
Also just to say out in the open Lindsay and I, and kind of Crystal, because she doesn't remember the rest of the series, we've only read the first two books.
Preference for the Second Movie
00:02:56
Speaker
So please don't spoil us in the comments because we are very excited to read the rest of the series.
00:03:02
Speaker
So overall, Crystal, you kind of indicated this already. um Do you like this movie more than you liked the first movie, Lightning Thief? I like this more than I liked Lightning Thief. Yes. Okay.
00:03:14
Speaker
All right. What about you, Lindsay? I also liked this more than Lightning Thief, and I'm really glad Crystal said that because I was very conflicted. I didn't know what to think, but yes, I did like this one more than Lightning Thief. Okay, yeah. I totally agree. I feel like you can tell in this second movie, they're trying a little harder.
00:03:35
Speaker
ah They're trying a little more with this one to align with the second book. Obviously not completely. There are some major changes, specifically at the end that we'll get into in a minute, that go a little off
Impact of Director and Actor Changes
00:03:51
Speaker
the chain. Okay, but this... I really feel like there was a lot more work put into to kind of extend this a little bit.
00:04:02
Speaker
I don't know if you guys agree with that, but there was... i feel like they got feedback from that first one a little bit. i think so. I think so. Yeah. there and I think there was feedback of how bad the first one did.
00:04:15
Speaker
I think so. And honestly, this cast doesn't have quite the big names that the first one did. it still has some really big names.
00:04:29
Speaker
But... i well I like this cast way better. i like this cast way better. i think we instead of it being ah Pierce Brosnan, you know, being James Bond with four legs, we actually have a real Chiron. You know what I mean? i yeah I feel like we really get to see...
00:04:56
Speaker
the characters instead of the actors in this one. Yeah, I could see that for sure. but To give a little background on the movie, it was released in 2013, which is three years after the first one. it was still distributed by twentieth Century Fox, ah but it got a new director, which I think might be reflected the Kind of like the change of pace, possibly how close it was to the... I'm not saying that... When I say that, I'm not saying that it's actually close to the book. I'm saying that it's closer than the first one. Like, it is aligning a little bit more to the second book than how the first book aligned to the first movie, if that makes sense. ah But we have like a new director, new writer. I think the director's name is Thor Frendenthal.
New Characters and Their Influence
00:05:49
Speaker
First one was directed by Chris Columbus.
00:05:53
Speaker
Like I said, new writer as well. But digging into the characters, um Crystal kind of touched on this already. New Chiron. Anthony Head.
00:06:05
Speaker
New Kyron Giles, another Giles appearance on the podcast. Last time i saw him on Persuasion, a personal favorite from Buffy. Previously, Pierce Brosnan. When he appeared as Kyron, was a little shook.
00:06:23
Speaker
Like I said, we've got a lot of new faces here. um They replaced a lot of characters, which I think is very interesting. Like you said, her first movie had a lot of very... I mean, there's still big names here, but it was like an insane cast where it was almost kind of ridiculous. Yeah.
00:06:44
Speaker
But... Like I
Character Portrayal and Comedic Elements
00:06:46
Speaker
said, new current new Dionysus was, I think he was in the first movie for maybe like a split second. Remember at the end of the first movie, there was like a big meeting situation happening.
00:06:58
Speaker
Yeah. So every one of the gods was there. Yeah. Yeah. I think Dionysus was there you for a second. i I don't remember for sure. But we have Dionysus in this second movie, even though he should have been in the first movie a lot more.
00:07:16
Speaker
He was fully in the second movie. And it's Stanley Tucci, which is so funny. Perfection. It's so good. We have a different Hermes. Like I said, Hermes is was in the first one, but it was in that like big weird meeting situation happening. Nathan Fillion. love Nathan Fillion. Yeah. yeah that was a That was a funny Hermes. That was a good one. Tell me, Lindsay, you caught the line that he said at one point there at the UPS store or whatever in the factory and he's giving them the thermos and he was talking about like, it's like,
00:07:55
Speaker
Yeah, he was and he was like, yeah, it was the greatest show ever. He was talking about some, like, I don't know, Zeus. Hercules. Yeah, whatever. he was like, best show ever. So, of course, it was canceled after the first season. Just like Firefly.
00:08:09
Speaker
I died. cracked up. i was like, I didn't remember this part. oh it was so perfect. There was also another line where he makes a comment about Percy and Annabeth finishing each other's sentences and in the TV series Castle.
00:08:24
Speaker
He does that with the other main character too. So yeah. Yeah. Cute. I love him so. I love that they they threw that in there. Because that's so that's so Nathan Fillion, number one. Yeah. And it honestly kind of is perfect for Hermes. So.
00:08:39
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and then we also have ah two additional characters, Tyson, Douglas Smith, and then Clarice is added into this, which I don't believe was in the first movie, which is ah Levin Rambin.
00:08:57
Speaker
Hopefully i're pronouncing that correctly. um Yeah, so we have a new edition of Clarice, who is obviously very present in the second book, also present in the first one.
00:09:08
Speaker
We're not going talk about that, but they're trying. They're trying their best. Okay. Same characters for Percy Jackson, Annabeth, Grover, Luke. um There is no Tantalus in this.
00:09:23
Speaker
Talia is in it. Not as present as we're seeing that we saw that we talked about in the previous episode in the Disney plus series. I think Talia is more aligning with the book in this movie than she was in the series but i think because the series is trying to push for the long run that makes sense yeah you talk about that tree though yeah yeah wait did you not like the tree in the movie
00:09:59
Speaker
I thought it was creepy. thought it was creepy. There's her like her face and her arms. and like I have a note here it saying I like the tree more in the movie than I do in the series. I really do. oh i thought it was still cool.
00:10:13
Speaker
oh god i thought it was the creepiest thing ever. i I thought it was really neat. I liked how they did that. I can just imagine Annabeth going to talk to that tree, her best friend, and there's her face right there, her covered in bark, laying on the ground, terrified. Like, okay, that's the face I want to talk to when I go hang out. like, that's Fred? What?
00:10:35
Speaker
No, I was i thought it was creepy and cool. it I did. I thought it was neat. So how are how do we like the characters overall? How...
00:10:47
Speaker
I think for me personally, the one that will always bother me the most in this movie is Annabeth. Yes, absolutely. a thousand percent.
00:10:58
Speaker
I just can't stand how useless she is. Yeah. And then once, like, I don't know maybe like twice in the whole movie, she comes up with a good idea and she's like, daughter of Athena, remember?
00:11:12
Speaker
what
00:11:16
Speaker
It's so bad. They're so, they do her so dirty. they They really do. And i honestly, I didn't like Grover. Grover is very like, I'm going to be the cool dude and I'm the cool guy and check out, like, I'm so cool and you want to be one of the cool kids, right? And it's very...
00:11:35
Speaker
weird like Grover even in the in the book is very kind of awkward Grover in the series awkward you know Grover in the movie ocular kid yeah like that's weird Yeah. It's very weird. Don't like that.
00:11:55
Speaker
I think we talk about it like re-listening to our episode for the Lightning Thief movie. That was one of our biggest things that we really hated about the movie is how they push Annabeth's character to be like this damsel in distress a lot.
00:12:17
Speaker
Which is so not Annabeth. If anything, the damsel in distress is Percy most of the time. Okay. And Annabeth is the hero constantly having to save Percy's ass.
Teen Drama and Prophecy Changes
00:12:30
Speaker
All the time. yeah So it is so frustrating. I think it was this moment in the very beginning of camp where they have like this bull character, like this bull monster character. Like it's like a person that we're going to see later. but This bull monster coming into camp because obviously the barriers like, you know, falling apart and these monsters are coming in. And it comes into the camp and attacks everyone in camp. And it's, I think Annabeth falls down and she's like, help me, Percy, help.
00:13:07
Speaker
I was like, are you serious right now? And then after that whole thing, she like runs to him and jumps into his arms and like, hugs him like I'm so glad you're okay kind of situation. Yes. It was very you know and and i I talked about this in our last episode that I was able to watch the series with my son because although the subject matter was a little over his head there was nothing inappropriate.
00:13:28
Speaker
This movie ah like I don't know if there was anything technically inappropriate but it wasn't a comfortable watch for me to share with him. that It completely Like hardcore on the romance angle, hardcore on the, you know these are the cool kids kind of like almost bullying a little bit ah each other around. like part Like the good guys were being kind of bullies. And that's, it was just just weird. It's just weird.
00:13:59
Speaker
Yeah. Lindsay, what did you think about um Annabeth? Yeah. I hated that every other character was either just as smart or smarter than she was. Yeah.
00:14:12
Speaker
yeah I think what really bothered me was that Tyson, because we do have Tyson in here, like I said, um was the one that was being like the revealer of information when Annabeth is supposed to be that person.
00:14:30
Speaker
Yeah. And I was like, why is Tyson being the one taking over all those parts in this story? He was the one that knew the story of Odysseus and was able to use that connection in the story. Going back to Hermes and the UPS store, but he Hermes gives them the thermos from the Hercules show or whatever. And Annabeth almost immediately opens it in the store. And he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, don't open it here.
00:15:00
Speaker
Not my Annabeth. My Annabeth never would have done that. No. That's a rookie mistake. Yeah. Yep. Never. Never. And even whenever she, I think, you know, they're trying to figure out how to fix the tree and stuff like that. She's looking through like an iPad almost. Because yeah there's like a specific approach to this movie versus the series. Like thinking, comparing the adaptations.
00:15:26
Speaker
The approach to this adaptation is definitely like a comedy forward. Versus like balancing between coming of age in like an epic fantasy kind of thing.
00:15:38
Speaker
So they definitely have a comedy approach to everything that they're doing. And so like they have this moment where she's like kind of what looks like a tablet or like an iPad where she's like going through instead of what you would maybe would think would be like a book or something. Right. um To look through ah to see what would help the tree. and it's like.
00:16:00
Speaker
I feel like Annabeth would know these things because she's already studied this information. yeah You know, like she would know this stuff on the top of her head immediately. Kind of like how she does in the book. Kind of like how she does in the series. So i really think they do her so dirty and it freaking sucks. And I, it doesn't surprise me for this time, know, 2010, 2013. I'm not shocked.
00:16:30
Speaker
But I'm disappointed. They were just trying so hard to push the romance angle with her and Percy. And it just. I don't know. it just really makes me mad for, again, that time frame. That time period.
00:16:45
Speaker
That, like, a woman had to make herself dumber to be wanted by a man, ma almost. Like, they had to make the men superior to her in some way.
00:16:56
Speaker
In order for there to be a love interest. I don't know. it just. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Yeah. And then we have Clarice kind of taking over this like typical girl bully position.
Annabeth and Tyson's Adaptation Issues
00:17:13
Speaker
Very like stereotypical in here, which like kind of suck. Like we don't get to see any type of like we do get to see a little bit of growth from her, but I don't know. i just didn't love it. Also, I'm curious what both of you think of Tyson. Like, Lindsay, what did you think of, like, his character and in the movie?
00:17:36
Speaker
Tyson was okay. i mean, it's... Overall, it's just really hard to dislike that character anyway. Yeah. But... They used the mist to physically give him two eyes. Like we weren't smart enough to figure out that there's this mist and humans can't see monsters.
00:17:58
Speaker
I don't know. I didn't like the way they portrayed him in the movie. Yeah. i I really hated that they took away the like his ability to make things to like, um,
00:18:12
Speaker
fidget or tinker or, you know, like come like build and his like mechanical mind. Like I really liked that about his character in my mind. it was very much a, every everyone has value situation. Like, okay, we know that the Cyclops isn't necessarily as socially, know, well,
00:18:37
Speaker
you know you aware. He's not necessarily a great communicator. They're not necessarily great speakers, but they still have skills. They still have something to offer, something of value, something to contribute. And again, back to what you were saying about how Tyson got all of Annabeth's kind of giving the answers, but we lose...
00:19:08
Speaker
what he actually did have in the story, which was his mechanical ability. You know, i don't know that made me really sad because Tyson is one of my all time favorite characters.
00:19:20
Speaker
home And to see him kind of reduced to just like, he's my Cyclops half brother. And that was it. Kind of made me sad. Yeah, I also totally agree with Lindsay. The mist thing really bugged me because it kind of took away like the purpose of the story where especially like Annabeth's specific relationship that develops with them. Like she's kind of like spray this on your face to like make it go away so you look like us kind of thing.
00:19:55
Speaker
And that doesn't happen in the book where like, I understand if they're like around, you know, other, like if they're around humans that aren't demigods, you know, and they have to like,
00:20:06
Speaker
you know, fit in. Like, I understand that portion of it But the fact that it was just them three and forcing him to do that wasn't really Annabeth's style. Like, yeah, she was going through something because she had a personal experience with a Cyclops that upset her.
00:20:30
Speaker
But she wasn't being like, you need to change your appearance to make me feel better. Like, she was smarter than that. Well, they also made her issue with Tyson, with Cyclops, is his appearance. Like you said, it had nothing to do with her trauma. It was what he looked like.
00:20:49
Speaker
Yeah. every every And that's, again... It just, they were the bullies. They were the bullies. They didn't like him because he looked different.
00:21:00
Speaker
Not because he was different, not because she had trauma, you know, experience a traumatic experience with people like him, but simply and only because he looked different.
00:21:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:21:15
Speaker
How is that ever okay? Mm-hmm. You know, and these are supposed to be the good guys? Mm-hmm. These are supposed to be the good guys. Yeah. i It felt just like typical, like, teenage drama.
00:21:30
Speaker
ah Again, teenage drama. We're not even talking middle school. It aged up the storyline. Yes, absolutely. Even the prophecy got aged up instead of, like, when they turned 16, it was when they turned 20. Mm-hmm.
00:21:44
Speaker
I don't know. It just... The whole storyline.
Tone and Monster Design Critique
00:21:48
Speaker
The fact that they changed the prophecy to that, like the great prophecy to that, I think their intention was to continue in this movie series and make them so much older. But I don't think...
00:22:01
Speaker
it would have worked out. Obviously didn't work out because there isn't another movie, but it just, I don't know. i it just puts a really bad taste in my mouth. Um, but yeah, definitely feels like high school drama for 2010, 2013 vibes. It doesn't surprise me, but like I said, disappointing. it,
00:22:21
Speaker
Kind of back to like the beginning scenes. Another thing is the monsters. Like I said, the bull having this weird like Transformers effect to them. Yeah.
00:22:35
Speaker
Like it felt like the movie Transformers. It did. It really did. And I was like, what is going on here? Like this isn't like...
00:22:47
Speaker
mythology i mean that is like i kind of like looked into it like what like the bull like really is and stuff but like having it to where it's mechanical this way yeah was bizarre to me and the like ejector seat it had an ejector seat and a flamethrower and a drill and like okay yeah yeah that was interesting it was very dramatic Super dramatic.
00:23:13
Speaker
But, you know, we talked a lot about things that we really disliked about the movie. So I think we should talk about a couple of things that maybe that we did like about the movie, um because we did say, you know, it was better than the first one.
00:23:27
Speaker
It did improve. you know There was improvement. um Personally, I liked like right in the beginning um because we're not starting out at you know with Sally or whatever. We're not starting out in high school. We're immediately at Camp Half-Blood. where it's just like super extra we're doing like gladiator type training and with everyone i think he's like percy's like going against clarice we got fallout boy in the beginning you know but we're having a time and i honestly thought that was really fun i did too i liked that i liked the like weird obstacle giant contraption thing that they were climbing up i thought that was fun
00:24:13
Speaker
And to me felt a little bit more camp-like than chariot races would have. Yeah. I like chariot races. I like that. But I feel like that...
00:24:26
Speaker
You know, this big, giant, huge obstacle climbing thing was really cool. It did remind me of American Gladiators, though. Yeah, because there's like a little tiny like stadium, like almost like around them, like launching. um But yeah, there are no chariot races, um like you said.
00:24:45
Speaker
I like how they bring in the element that this world, I feel like more so than the series, like, ah the Disney Plus series, I like that they bring in this element that this world is within the human
Entertaining Elements and Improvements
00:25:01
Speaker
world. I think they bring it almost more in the movie, like where they're at the UPS store and it's like within, you know, Hermes world, you know, the coffee shop, like yeah anything that you go to. And there's like this guy with like a bunch of arms and stuff, but it's like the mist is covering where like humans can't see.
00:25:23
Speaker
that this person is back there. and That's obviously like part of their demigod world. I like that it kind of brings in this element where like you could go to like any store, any shop or anything. And like these people could be like incorporated within this world. I think that's like a really cool thing. What about you, Crystal? What's like some things that you really liked about it?
00:25:48
Speaker
um I really loved, honestly, how they pared down some of the characters this time around. i feel like in the first movie, in they really almost forced...
00:26:01
Speaker
as many characters into it as possible, like with the meeting of the gods at the end, just to get like more names, more stars into the film. I think this was a little bit more streamlined. So we didn't have a bajillion characters we were trying to keep track of. It was just the main storyline. um And I really kind of liked that not being distracted by a million You know, like, oh, I know that guy. He's from that movie or whatever. i kind of fell into it.
00:26:31
Speaker
um I also really liked the casket at the end that they are towards the end that they have the pieces of Kronos in. That seemed more fitting for a Greek style.
00:26:44
Speaker
you know, like these are supposed to be gods. This is a Titan in this casket. I liked this one better than the one in the show. I feel like the one in the show was uber dramatic in a way.
00:26:59
Speaker
And kind of lost the whole vibe of this potentially being a Titan. Greek Titan. Yeah. Yeah. So I really liked that.
00:27:11
Speaker
Yeah, there's just a few like smaller things like that that I was like, okay, I like the look of this a little bit better. I feel like that's a little bit more fitting. That makes sense.
00:27:24
Speaker
What about you, Lindsay? I did like. some of the humor like some of the moments where they brought in the comedy I felt like it still worked it was very over the top like 99% of the time but going back to the the coffee shop and the coffee scene Grover orders coffee and he gets extra shots of nectar and Tyson's like oh what's nectar and Grover says you haven't lived until you've had nectar and Tyson tries it and immediately he's like I've lived
00:27:55
Speaker
Yeah. like Small moments like that were really funny and made it much more enjoyable. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I like, like I said before, like the comedy that's brought into it. That's a little extra into the movie to make it a little more entertaining.
00:28:15
Speaker
But I think some other elements that I don't like it, but it does make it a little more fun. To watch, Percy is using a lot more of his water, sea power. Does it make sense for the story?
00:28:35
Speaker
Probably not. But is it fun to watch? A little bit.
Plot Deviations and Setting Choices
00:28:40
Speaker
Okay, so whenever, you know, they're on they're on a yacht. They're not on this big cruise ship. There's no cruise ship in this one. They're on, like, Luke's yacht with all of his people on it. His crew.
00:28:56
Speaker
And the way that they escape, you know, Percy is using his, you know, water power to help them escape. You know, he's like surfing on this giant wave to get away. Like, it's so stupid.
00:29:10
Speaker
but But kind of cool. But kind of fun. And, you know, and it's like kind of ridiculous. Like, I'm getting like Spy Kids vibes. Like, it's just stupid. Yeah. I'm just like having a great time. And like.
00:29:25
Speaker
Not necessarily like rewatchable. like Honestly, i would I could rewatch this second one. Just as like almost like a background type thing. like I wouldn't mind having it on. The first one, I wouldn't mind having on.
00:29:40
Speaker
like I don't want that on. The second one, I wouldn't mind. But I i like seeing that part. Also, i will say, i really loved this Charybdis scene.
00:29:54
Speaker
I actually thought this was really cool. So whenever they escape the yacht, and they're on like this little lifeboat from the yacht, and they basically get caught up where they never meet Clarice until they get caught up in Charybdis, which doesn't really align with the book whatsoever.
00:30:20
Speaker
They get caught up in Charybdis and get sucked into like the stomach of Charybdis. And in the stomach is Clarice in her ship with her crew.
00:30:36
Speaker
And this scene is very like, i don't know if cinematic is the right word, but like, just like,
00:30:48
Speaker
a really like fun one to watch in my opinion of them trying to escape where it like doesn't really make sense it's kind of silly but it's just like very entertaining what do you guys think I agree.
00:31:02
Speaker
What about you, Crystal? i hated that scene. No! I know you kept making faces and I knew it. I knew it. Honestly, it was just like so, ah i don't know, like campy and predictable. think that's why I liked it. I like the campiness. I see why you would probably like it for the campiness. Yes. I get that. But yeah, I guess...
00:31:26
Speaker
I was just kind of done with camp at that point. Yeah. It matched the whole rest of the movie. It sure did. It sure did. Yeah. I liked it because of the campiness. Like, I understood it was campy, and I think that's why it made it fun. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. It had to be in that movie. I mean, yeah. I will also say that, like, that is...
00:31:49
Speaker
potentially one of the like any any film genre at any story if you end up in the stomach of something i'm just instantly like done and i don't i i'm on board don't want to do this i'm not gonna pay attention i don't like it out of the stomach pretty much because i because like my science brain is like that's not how stomachs work Oh, yeah. You know, like, I instantly am like, that is not how the inside, there's not that much air inside of a stomach. That's not how that works. They wouldn't be able to breathe. There wouldn't be any room. Like, that what why isn't the stomach, like, that's where my brain goes instantly. And so it just takes me out of the story. I'm like, no, done.
00:32:29
Speaker
Done. Yeah. yeah i I just thought it was just, like, so ridiculous and fun and silly That's fair And I also like, i think I really like scenes that have like this escape part of it where things are escalating really quickly and you need to escape somehow, some way.
00:32:54
Speaker
so I really like that about it. But obviously very different from the book. There are tons and tons and tons of differences between the book and in the movie to the point that we probably need like an hour to talk about it. um But they are, you know, speeding through this story, basically making Luke the main bad guy for most of the story.
00:33:26
Speaker
Like he is the main villain. Yeah. Obviously being controlled by Cronos still, but he's mostly the main villain in this story. We have no Cersei.
00:33:38
Speaker
No, but I like how they did it because they didn't just ignore her. Yeah. they they We don't have her spa. Yeah. We have an amusement park. Yeah, Cersei Land.
00:33:50
Speaker
and And so they mention her. They're like, oh, yeah, she was trying to attract more people to the island. And what happens when you get that many demigods all in one place? The monsters showed up, you know, so it made sense. They kind of paid tribute to that part of the story.
00:34:05
Speaker
Without dragging us down another storyline and adding another half an hour to the film. Yeah. Yeah, I was wondering because Crystal, you said that from the book, something that kind of tore you away from the book was the jumping between so many settings.
00:34:20
Speaker
Did you kind of like them taking out how many settings from jumping between settings in the movie I mean, kind of, yes. i like...
00:34:32
Speaker
Because if they had, this wouldn't have been a movie. It would have been a series. yes You know what i mean? um They would have had to. but i like i Because I usually hate it when they take big major scenes out of books.
00:34:44
Speaker
But I think that they did it in such a way as to still pay tribute to that part of the story. And so i did like that, you know, without ignoring that part of the story.
00:34:55
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And we don't have any like sirens in this as well. I think. The sirens are one of my favorite parts too, though. I know. That's how I feel. I feel that too. i really, really love that part.
00:35:10
Speaker
Also, I think that the Cersei Lann part was filmed in Six Flags.
Movie Ending and Spoiler Discussion
00:35:15
Speaker
yes ah which I think is pretty cool. That is funny. It was a Six Flags that um had to be shut down due to damages from Hurricane Katrina, I think. Yeah.
00:35:27
Speaker
Yes. I've still never been to a Six Flags. Do they even still have those? I want to go to one. Oh, yeah. Next Based on a Book retreat will be at a Six Flags. We're on the roller coaster.
00:35:38
Speaker
We're going down the first hill. This is Based on a Book. Yeah. screaming oh bye as we loop oh man but so let's talk about this ending okay this absolutely insane ending so i almost feel like we got spoiled Yeah.
00:36:05
Speaker
Which I think that I'm... Obviously, we can all assume that this is what's going to happen. I think it's pretty obvious. But I feel like we got spoiled of this whole book series in this movie ending. Because at the end of the movie...
00:36:24
Speaker
I almost feel like they fast forward what I assume is going to happen in the last book of this series ah where Kronos is put together and wakes up and he becomes this big giant thing.
00:36:41
Speaker
Transformers, Optimus Prime awake and starts attacking everybody. I, it's like the main obstacle at the end of this film, which I'm assuming was supposed to be the main obstacle at the end of like book four or something.
00:36:58
Speaker
And we're facing it right now. And Percy ends Kronos at the end of this movie. I'm curious, Lindsay, what your reaction was to it.
00:37:12
Speaker
My first comment is we really got to see percy Get the crap beat out of him. This entire movie. Oh yeah. He was taking punches and getting knocked around. And that was interesting.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah. Seeing Kronos... Yeah, I felt like it spoiled something from the book. I try not to think about it too much. Obviously, like you said, we're going to get there. that Kronos is like one of the main bad guys. He uses other people, but he is a continuous bad guy. I did like the way he moved in the movie.
00:37:51
Speaker
I thought that was interesting. It was like a cool special effect, but it was over the top. It was very Transformer-y. Yeah. Transformery. I feel like that's a good way to describe That's the only way I can see it for some reason. What about you, Crystal?
00:38:09
Speaker
i I'm not like too super worried about it being spoilery because i know enough Greek myths to kind of know how Percy Jackson is going to play out, even though I don't really remember how it plays out.
00:38:22
Speaker
So seeing this part, I feel like didn't really ruin anything for me. Because ultimately we have to know this is where it will end up. I don't remember how we get there. And I'm pretty sure this maybe didn't do it.
00:38:34
Speaker
And I just wasn't ready for it. Yeah. Because it was felt so rushed and forced. Yeah. Really like we jump from like okay we're going to get Luke and we got to get the fleece back to help Annabeth and take it back to the tree.
00:38:48
Speaker
and here's Kronos. like Yeah. I mean, if you guys were, like, thinking that this was going to continue and you already had Kronos up and alive walking around for a second, and then you went and healed the tree where Talia, like, woke up at the end of this movie, what'd you think was going to happen? Like, we're done here.
00:39:10
Speaker
We're done. Right. And it's revealed in the book that Talia coming back to life was part of Cronus' plan to begin with. That was all him. He planned that.
00:39:21
Speaker
what was What was the point in the movie? Yeah. I guess to prove maybe rap up how bad it could be. Like, here's a little sneak peek of how bad this is going to look when he's awake kind of thing. guess. Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:36
Speaker
yeah I don't know. I think they knew that they weren't going to be able to do the third movie. Third or fourth movies, I think. Yeah. I think their original goal was to be able to do it, and then they realized they weren't going to be able to do it, so they rushed to to make an ending.
00:39:50
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's definitely a possibility. I mean, it looks insane. it looks crazy. And also, like, back to Annabeth, because they do her so freaking dirty.
Final Critique and Guilty Pleasure Adaptations
00:40:04
Speaker
Like, she is put down as like Percy's like silly little sidekick because like Percy is supposed to like not be 100% capable of getting himself out of every situation. no Like character is not fun to watch who is just capable of doing everything and anything. And it's the Superman syndrome. You know, it's why people, a lot of people don't like Superman because Superman can do anything. So where's the conflict?
00:40:39
Speaker
yeah like I don't want to see a character winning all the time. I want to see a character struggle. i want to see a character I want to see a character be checked every once in a while of being like, hey, you shouldn't do this. Or see them fail every once in a while. like When Percy was like turned into like a guinea pig and the only person that could help him was Annabeth to get him out of that situation. Otherwise, he would have been stuck with Cersei for who knows how long. you know It's just...
00:41:08
Speaker
You have to see characters, main characters do that to feel emotionally connected to them. yeah I don't think, I think it's very, very hard to feel emotionally connected to a character who wins at everything.
00:41:25
Speaker
So I think movies like this kind of suck when you have them just like fighting and doing all these really cool things. Like they're fun to watch. That's why we call them a guilty pleasure because they're not like incredible. And, you know, we don't feel super emotionally connected to these characters. I mean, I'm sure some people do because they're emotionally connected to the book series. So like,
00:41:55
Speaker
But can you imagine reading the book series, the whole book series, and you got your first movie and it just didn't quite hit, but they're still making the second one. So you're going to watch the second one. The second one's actually kind of cool mrs until you get to the end. And then you're like, what is happening?
00:42:13
Speaker
Yeah. That's, you know, if you've read the whole series at this point and you're all excited that potentially you're going to get your whole series. Sorry. mm-hmm yeah that happens a lot yeah that happens a lot you netflix amazon prime television also it's too much if percy had been turned into a guinea pig in this movie there's no way annabeth would have saved him no not that annabeth no our annabeth she was she does
00:42:47
Speaker
So kind of coming into our final verdict, which think is pretty obvious. i don't even think we need to talk about that. No.
00:42:58
Speaker
Over book or movie. Oh, yeah. No. Yeah. We could skip that one. I'm going to say all of us say the book on this one. So speaking of bad adaptations that possibly cut off the season or just do them really poorly, let's get into our question of the episode, which is what's an adaptation that is objectively bad, but you love to just watch it anyways? What about you, Lindsay?
00:43:27
Speaker
I don't know if this one technically counts because it's technically not an adaptation not a direct one um but i'm gonna say the 2004 van helsing okay okay interesting so many people hate that movie but i really like it like it's got dracula and i know not everyone likes that dracula Mm-hmm.
00:43:55
Speaker
It's got Van Helsing. It's got, I don't know. It's got so many aspects. I really like it. Yeah. And everyone's super attractive in that movie, so. Yeah. True. That's true. That is very true.
00:44:05
Speaker
What about you, Crystal? um I could think of probably 20, but because I don't mind bad movies. Like, sometimes they're just fun. Yeah. But the one that kind of hit me right off the bat when you asked earlier, Aragon.
00:44:20
Speaker
It is a objectively bad adaptation. it is very bad. um It's an adaptation that killed the series. So yeah, but it's kind of fun to watch. And i like watching. They're talking about redoing it.
00:44:37
Speaker
I know. i know. and I'm so excited. There's another book coming out in the series too. mean, inheritance cycle. I just recently reread the whole thing. um Yeah, I'm very excited.
00:44:50
Speaker
That'll be cool. um I put, I talk about this a lot already, but I put the Shadowhunter TV series that's on Freeform.
00:45:02
Speaker
It is so bad. Like, it is terrible. it barely follows the Shadowhunter universe. Yeah. But for some reason, I think like it's probably how you feel. like If you love the Percy Jackson series so much, it's probably how you feel watching the movies before like the Disney Plus show came out. Yeah. It's just like, I like watching these movies because...
00:45:30
Speaker
It just... I just love this franchise. And I just love being obsessed with everything about it. That's kind of how I feel about the Shadowhunters series. That was off Freeform.
00:45:41
Speaker
I like... It's almost kind of how I feel about like the Divergent series as well. like I think the Divergent movies, the first two are really, really good. But like are they like good movies? like Good adaptations? Yeah.
00:46:00
Speaker
I like probably not, but like, I just like love them so much because they just give me like that nostalgic type feeling.
00:46:11
Speaker
So like, it's like that type of vibe for me. Like, they're not great. Like they're kind of bad acting. They're not amazing, but Like i I said guilty pleasure earlier. i i don't i usually don't like to say guilty pleasure because it's just like a pleasure. Like it's just like something that you like. Why do we feel guilty about it? You know what i mean? But it's like the only way I can kind of like describe it compared to like what other movies that I like. You know, that's kind of how I feel about the Divergent series. But I like covering bad adaptations. I think they're fun.
00:46:47
Speaker
They are i Honestly, I think we have more fun talking about the bad ones than the good ones. Yeah. Yeah, I think that's good. But that wraps up our discussion of Percy Jackson, see of Monsters. If you've read the book or seen the movie, we'd love to hear your thoughts. I want to hear from all like the diehard Percy Jackson fans.
00:47:10
Speaker
Like really bad. Like I want to hear your thoughts. i want to hear like what your reaction is to our thoughts as readers that haven't read the rest of the series. what you Don't spoil it. Yeah. What your reaction is to like, oh, they haven't got to this part yet. Like our predictions or anything. So I'm curious. Also, I want to hear your favorite bad adaptations to watch.
00:47:32
Speaker
um If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to follow the podcast and leave us a review. it really helps other book and movie lovers discover the show. And if you're audiobook listeners like we are, we also have an affiliate link to Libro FM for this audiobook. It's a great way to listen to the story while also supporting the podcast in your local independent bookstore.
00:47:55
Speaker
Thanks for listening. And until next time, Stay brave, trust your quest, and try not to anger any gods along the way.
00:48:06
Speaker
We'll see you in the next chapter of Based on a Book. Bye! Bye!