‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’ On Disney+ Hotstar Review: This Yawn Fest Kills A Childhood Classic

Percy Jackson became a household name alongside Harry Potter in the 2000s. The character of a demigod with magical powers was something that kids loved to read. It had the perfect combination of magic and godly beings. It soon became a fan favourite and kids and young adults started loving the books. Soon afterwards, there was a film version of Percy Jackson, which couldn’t do as well as the Harry Potter franchise. After so many years now, the book series has been once again revived by the author Rick Riordan and so has it been revived for screen by Disney in the form of a series. Here’s all you need to know about the show.

‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’: Story

The story on ‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’ revolves around a 12-year-old demigod Percy Jackson (Walker Scobell). While he is oblivious to his status as a demigod, he is living life like any other human. Things suddenly take a turn when he starts realising his powers. Things start taking a turn for the worse as evil forces start getting to him in order to kidnap him to reach his father Poseidon (Toby Stephens), one of the three most powerful Greek gods. In the scheme of things, Percy Jackson finds himself in a camp for demigods. At the same time, he also gets accused of stealing Zeus’ (Lance Reddick) thunderbolt, who is another one of the three most powerful Greek gods. Now if Percy Jackson doesn’t find who is the actual thief of the thunderbolt there might start a war between the two big gods – Zeus and Poseidon, who are also brothers by the way. The fate of all humankind and even that of the gods rests on Percy Jackson being able to find the thunderbolt and restore order in Olympus, the residence of the gods.

‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’: Performances

Walker Scobell as Percy Jackson is so clueless about things that you as an audience also get affected. In the film series as well as the books, Percy Jackson’s character is clueless only at the very start, but once he gets to know his powers, he is able to bend the rules and become the best of the demigods. Sadly, Walker Scobell doesn’t seem to have that spunk in his body language. On the contrary, he also seems a bit too young to play the character, which in the film series and the books felt a bit more elderly than Walker Scobell. Well, this is just a perception after the first two episodes. But will this change in the coming episodes? Well, I hardly doubt that. While we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but if the first few chapters don’t give you a lot about the story and the characters, you’re put off and don’t read the book further, don’t you?

Besides Walker Scobell, there is not a single other supporting cast which is worthy enough of mention as there is hardly much that’s happening.

‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’: Script, Direction & Technical Aspects

Creators Rick Riordan, and Jonathan E. Steinberg along with co-writers Monica Owusu-Breen, Joe Tracz, Andrew Miller, and Craig Silverstein have missed out on a big aspect by releasing just 2 episodes of the show. When they knew that the initial episodes would take time to set up the story, they should have at least released 4 episodes, which probably would have given the audience a bit more insight into the storyline, and keep them hooked for what’s coming next. It eventually becomes a yawn fest as you’re not able to connect to the characters. You don’t know what character does what, and in a fantasy fiction storyline you’re hoping to know that soon. Otherwise, it just drags you on for another week.

On the other hand, if they had to release just 2 episodes, directors Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson, and James Bobin should have changed the sequencing in the screenplay. They should have brought the audience right in the middle of the story, and later on told all the backstories and other stuff so as to not bore the audiences in the very first two episodes. A good example of the same is ‘Reacher 2’ on Amazon Prime Video, which gave audiences 3 episodes to begin with but as a viewer, you didn’t even have to wait for the entirety of the first episode to know what the story is about. They threw you right in the middle of things and slowly peeled off the past layer by layer so as not to bore audiences with the drab backstory.

Pierre Gill’s cinematography misses out on exploring the gorgeous exotic locales. Even though it has been shot in the beautiful landscape of Vancouver, he hasn’t used a lot of external locations. In the initial two episodes, a lot of it is indoor shots. But he did manage to use the long shots quite well, and expectantly that will be there even more in the episodes to come.

Stewart Schill and Colleen Rafferty did well with the editing as they were able to keep the episodes short. There were barely any jump-cuts as the presentation felt smooth.

The music by Bear McCreary and Sparks & Shadows was one of the best parts of the show till now. They’ve managed to give the show a good background score so as to keep you hooked and make you feel the atmospherics of the situation. The battle scenes were also given a decent score so as to make you feel the theatrics.

‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’: Cast & Crew

Created By: Rick Riordan, Jonathan E. Steinberg

Director: Anders Engström, Jet Wilkinson, James Bobin

Cast: Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, Aryan Simhadri, Azriel Dalman, Charlie Bushnell, Glynn Turman, Nick Boraine, Threnody Tsai, Jason Mantzoukas, Ryan Cowie, Adam Copeland, Jelena Milinkovic, Megan Mullally, Virginia Kull, Dior Goodjohn, Timm Sharp, Jason Gray-Stanford, Hiro Kanagawa, Andrew Alvarez, Olivea Morton, Kathleen Duborg, Garfield Wilson, Simon Chin, Manoj Sood, David Beairsto, George Moran, Athan Irinakis, Billy Christos Jr., Malcolm Clarke, Drako Cheng, Adam Gillese, Mateo Deuma, Peyton Amelia Feltham, Valencia Budijanto, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Jennifer Shirley, Jeff Sanca, Lance Reddick, Toby Stephens, Timothy Omundson, Jay Duplass

Available On: Disney+ Hotstar

Duration: 8 Episodes, 39-44 Minutes Each

‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’: Can Kids Watch It?

Yes

Outlook’s Verdict

‘Percy Jackson And The Olympians’ kills a childhood favourite franchise with its yawn-inducing sequence of events. The first two episodes take so long to set the premise that you are utterly disgusted with the show-makers. Even kids would find this boring as there is hardly any thrill or spunk to hook them on. Even if you’re a fan of the franchise from your childhood, Avoid this. I am going with 1.5 stars.

*Disclaimer: This review was done after the first two episodes were released*