Ms.

Hamiltons 8th Grade Class, 6th Period

105 Ave Miraflores
Tiburon, California 94920
November 21, 2014
Chris Columbus
20th Century Fox Studios
10201 W Pico Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Dear Chris Columbus:
Hello my name is Alex and I am an 8th grader at Del Mar Middle School
in Tiburon, California. I have read the book Percy Jackson and the
Lighting Thief and seen the movie and I have some things to say about
what could have been done better. I felt like your movie could have
been a better representation of the book or a good movie overall
because the camera work could have been better, the acting didnt
portray what the characters were feeling, and the characters could
have looked more like they were described in the book.
One of the main reasons that the movie could have been better was
that the filming was not the best. The camera shook too much during
action scenes and also the quality of the movie made it difficult to fully
appreciate the wonderful work of Rick Riordan on screen. For example,
during the scene where Percy was playing capture the flag, I couldnt
focus on the fact that Percy was destroying all of the people on the
other team because sometimes I couldnt see what was happening.
Because of this, I wasnt able to enjoy the movie like I would have been
able to.
Another example about why the movie was not so good was that the
actors could have done a better job. You couldnt really see what the
characters were feeling on the actors faces. For example, during the
scene where the Minotaur was capturing Percys mom I couldnt really
see what he was feeling. His face showed that he was mildly scared
but you couldnt tell that he was really upset and scared that his mom
would be captured. If Logan Lerman had been more committed when
he was acting and had portrayed that kind of fear, the movie would
have been easier to understand and to relate to.
And last, but not least, there were some major differences between the
ways the characters looked in the movie and how they were described
in the book. Specifically, something that upset me about the way the
characters looked was the fact that Annabeth was supposed to have

blonde hair and grey eyes, but she had brown hair and brown eyes.
This was particularly upsetting because it was important that Annabeth
had blonde hair and grey eyes because they are specific characteristics
that show that she is a daughter of Athena. When she didnt, it made
the movie confusing because I had always pictured her with blonde
hair and grey eyes.
In conclusion, there were many things that could have been done to
improve the movie, but because these certain details were ignored, I
did not enjoy it like I thought I would. If the looks of the characters had
been closer to what they looked like in the book, the movie had been
filmed better, and the actors had done a better job, the movie would
have been good, but because they didnt, there are many things that
could be improved next time.
Sincerely,

Alex M.