EntertainmentPercy Jackson and the Olympians is a faithful adaptation, but it is difficult to excite The first episodes of the Disney+ series have a rushed story and exchange action from the books for boring talk; read the reviewtoday at 2pm

The biggest fear of fans of literary sagas is the announcement that the story will be adapted into a film. At first, it may even come as positive news, but soon there is concern about how it will come to life.

In the case of fans of Percy Jackson and the olympiansseries of books written by Rick Riordanthe dream has already become a nightmare on two occasions, with the launch of Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief (2010) and Percy Jackson and the Sea of ​​Monsters (2013), which did not remotely live up to the expectations of devotees of the story about Greek mythology.

Now, the saga gets a third chance to do well for fans through a series for Disney+, which arrives on the streaming platform on December 20th and features “Uncle Rick” – as fans affectionately call him. the author – directly involved in the production of the series.

The good news is that, in fact, we now have an adaptation that is much more faithful to the books than before, from the casting of actors of appropriate age to play Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase It is Grover Underwood, among other classic characters from history; up to the faithful reproduction of scenes portrayed in books, with the help of Riordan on the writing team.

However, the bad news is that, in the likely attempt to keep up with the growth of fans of Percy Jackson and the olympianswhose first book was released in 2005, the series took on a more serious and monotonous tone, without the rhythm, emotion and magic characteristic of the text on which it is based and was responsible for enchanting so many young people over the years.

What is the story of Percy Jackson and the olympians?

Trying to be as faithful as possible to the work of Rick Riodanthe first season of Percy Jackson and the olympians adapt The Lightning Thief, the first book in the saga. In history, Percy Jacksonlived by Walker Scobell (The Adam Project, Secret Squad), is a boy with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Dyslexia, who can’t do well in any school and always ends up expelled for getting into trouble.

However, his life changes completely when he discovers that he is actually a demigod, son of Poseidonthe God of the Seas, and needs to be sent immediately to Camp Half-Blood, a place intended for demigods, to escape attacks from monsters, which he always believed only existed in the pages of Greek mythology books.

However, upon arriving there, the boy discovers that the Master Ray of Zeus it was stolen and he needs to go on a mission to find it and return it to the God of Heaven before he is blamed for the crime and suffers the consequences. Watch the trailer:

So, is the series good or not?

You can call the films Percy Jackson and the olympians anything, but not boring people. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the Disney+ series. Quite surprisingly, the new feature speeds up the story while building a slow, drawn-out narrative that doesn’t make you want to keep following it.

It doesn’t take long to discover that Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon, but everything exciting up until this point is drastically cut. The fights against the Greek monsters, who begin to cross the boy’s path when they realize that he is a demigod, do not exist or are reduced to one or two minutes of scene, with unsatisfactory outcomes, leaving only endless sequences in which someone explains the Percy everything about the universe that he – and the public – is entering from that moment on.

The situation worsens with the addition of Walker Scobell to the mixture. Unlike the promising little boy from The Adam Projecta 2022 Netflix feature, the actor brings Percy Jackson to life on a single note, without any emotion. The boy is extremely expressionless and seems to be indifferent to everything that is happening around him, no matter how surprising the news may be. My dad is Poseidon? Oh, big deal. I am a demigod? Well, who cares. Is the Minotaur trying to kill me? All is well then.

This is a big problem if we consider that it is Percy who represents us on this journey. He is the figure, on stage, who will enter this fantasy world and open doors for the adventure to continue, as Harry Potter It is Kat niss ever deen did before him, in their respective franchises. The performance of Scobell makes us believe he would like to be anywhere but not there. And how can you continue watching if you don’t even Percy Jacksonthe protagonist of the story, seems interested in that?

To balance the monotonous tone of Scobell, Leah Jeffrieswho suffered from racist attacks when she was cast as Annabeth Chaseincorporates every last strand of hair of the character, giving life to a heroine eager to prove her worth to her mother Athenawho always neglected her, and herself. Aryan Simhadri it doesn’t look bad either Grover Underwoodbut it helps to put the Percy in Scobell in an even worse situation, showing that the character is only at the forefront of the story because his name appears in the title.

I speak as a person who has read the books of Percy Jackson and the olympians, but even those who have never had contact with the work must recognize the series as an attempt to make something happen, which never goes anywhere. It’s like a car with an engine problem that you try to start over and over again and, just when you think you’ve done it, it stalls again and you have to start over again and again and again.

There is no point in creating a faithful adaptation, reproducing scene by scene from the books, but without the emotion and magic that won over so many fans. My hope, as someone who has followed the saga since I was a teenager, is that Percy Jackson and the olympians pick up the pace over the next few episodes and really do justice to the original text, because it would be sad to see such an incredible work, full of teachings, fail for a third and, possibly, last time.