Chris COlumbus the director, why did he do so well with his two Harry Potter movies,

[Ziggy Stardust]

yet TOTALLY botched the Percy Jackson movie?!?!?

I was so excited, then so disappointed. And I figured Columbus would do great with this material.

Was it the story? Was it the source material? Was it the actors/acting?

[Impulse]

I'd lay a lot of the blame on the source material. Percy Jackson reeks of trying to be an Americanised Harry Potter. The character archetypes are the same - main lead knows nothing of his origins, female best friend is a 'little miss perfect', male best friend doubles as comedy relief. They get sent to a secret school/training academy to use their abilities and uncover a secret plot on the part of the unexpected villain to gain power. Yawn.

Audiences aren't as stupid as studios think they are, and I think those comparisons were apparent enough to put people off. Sure, Lightning Thief threw in the whole road trip angle but the small differences didn't outweigh the enormous similarities.

That's not to say that Harry Potter is swellingly original - it's not. The Olympian stuff just seems to directly riff on that particular franchise uncomfortably closely though.

[EmarAndZeb]

Purely going by his track record and which movies he's been involved with that I've liked and/or have been critically well-received Columbus's run as a director has been pretty average. A few successes, several mediocre films, a couple disasters. Personally, my favorite stuff he's been involved with is all the 80's fantasy romp stuff towards the earlier portion of his career, which usually had him as the writer rather than the director. Not that he hasn't directed some decent/good stuff otherwise, but my impression - and this is just an inference drawn from a quick perusal of his filmography and reflecting on the ones I've seen and a little research on the ones I haven't, so take it for what it's worth - is more of a pretty good director who depends a lot on the script he's been given. Given the resources, he'll make a good movie out of a good script, but he's not one of those guys who's going to elevate middlin' or subpar material with his directorial decisions. So, yeah, give him a ho-hum, cash-in-on-fantasy-trend-collect-paycheck script, and that's the kind of movie you'll probably end up with.

Like I said, this is my super-presumptuous analysis based on looking at his Wiki entry, so take this with all the salt grains.


Also, holy shit Monkeybone came out the same year as the first Harry Potter film that is coo-coo bananas.

[sk716]

The first Percy Jackson book was pretty derivative. It wasn't until the second book that Riordan got his footing and started writing with more confidence.

That said, the script for the movie had huge differences from the book and was just bad. While moments of The Lightening Thief book were a little cringe-worthy most of the film was just a head shaking mess. I'd say the blame rests squarely on Columbus' shoulders. His casting choices were questionable, which was a huge disappointment because the casting choices for Harry Potter were brilliant. He went forward with a bad script having obviously not bothered to read the whole series of books or consult his kids about them or some different choices would have been made in the film.

Columbus' films have always been uneven and I'd attribute the success of the Harry Potter films more to JK Rowling being too smart to let Hollywood have control of her story. Sure, Columbus directed Adventures in Babysitting but he's also the guy responsible for Bicentennial Man, Home Alone, and Mrs Doubtfire. FYI, Mrs. Doubtfire is the only movie available in Hell.

[Little Scandal]

I have to admit, I did like the premis of Percy Jackson - I like the 'what if' scenario's especially if it's mixed with the Greek mytho's.

I think Columbus was trying to re-create the sucess he had with HP with Percy. It's like building a nice house with the same exact layout as your next door neighboor's - just with a different shade of paint colour.

It's unfortunate - Percy could have been the next harry potter if it had been done a little differently. Maybe they could have changed the demographic a bit - made it a bit more mature.

And yes...I own the dvd...there, I've said it. Don't hate me.

[Little Scandal]

You know what's funny? I actually started a fanfic along the lines of Percy Jackson. But the only difference is, is that it's WW kid. You know, what if the amazons had kids and they had to disappear because of a mystyrious threat...blah, blah, blah...

I started writing it a few years ago but I got stuck half way through the first chapter. I gotta take a look at it again.

[Morrison_Lad]

I never saw Percy, so can't really comment on the quality or lack thereof of that.

But I've seen all the HP films, and I read the first two books. Those films were good, IMO, because Rowling wrote a really good story. And the films managed to capture most of the gist of the books.

[t.c.johnson]

I think that Chris Columbus is one of the most mediocre director making main stream movies out there. To me, they never seem to have any artistry to them, just by the numbers point and shoot filming (parts of Mrs. Doubtfire might be the exception.)

For me his two Harry Potter movies were too faithful adaptations of the book. There was no attempt to put his own stamp on them, not even an attempt to do some fancy camera work. At least with the other Harry Potter movies the directors were able to put their own stamps on them, do some creative interpretations.

[Ziggy Stardust]

See, the first two are my faves. The lighting and settings made Hogwarts seem like I pictured it in the books. And he was able to remove some of the plot points that I felt weren't essential.

For example, I found he conveyed enough dislike between Harry and Snape without it being over-the-top like it was in the books.

[Tobias M]

See, the first two are my faves. The lighting and settings made Hogwarts seem like I pictured it in the books. And he was able to remove some of the plot points that I felt weren't essential.

For example, I found he conveyed enough dislike between Harry and Snape without it being over-the-top like it was in the books.

Really? Cos I though Cuaron brought the a-game. Azkaban really impressed me, made me sit up and actually pay attention to the films.