Junior Compares Difference between Books and Movies

There is always a difference between movies and books, especially in the characters themselves. This is true in two of my favorite books. 

“Percy Jackson and the Olympians” is the best selling Greek mythology series by Rick Riordan. In the first book, the characters are described with distinct characteristics.

Percy Jackson, the main character, is described as a handsome man, with a Mediterranean complexion, messy jet black hair and sea-green eyes, like his father Poseidon. His father gifted him a magical pen that transforms into a sword.

Annabeth Chase is athletic with curly blond hair that is mid-back length along with stormy gray eyes and tan skin. Her mother Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, gifted her an enchanted cap that turns the wearer invisible.

Grover Underwood is a Satyr, a goat from the waist down and a human from the waist up. He has curly brown hair on his goat legs and wears a hat to conceal his goat horns. He has a tan complexion, wears fake human feet and uses crutches to conceal his goat legs while in public.

The storyline of the book follows Percy solving the mystery of who stole the lightning bolt.

In the movies, the three protagonists’ appearances change drastically.  Annabeth’s hair changed color, as did her eye color and she no longer had her cap.  Percy, for the most part, looks the same, but in the movies, they changed the ages of the characters by four years. The movie also completely changed and warped the storyline of the first book and ended up being a completely different story.The movie was discredited from the books by the author himself because he did not get a say in how the movie was made. The second movie completely derailed the books and was a huge discredit and disgrace to both the books and the author, Rick Riordan. 

“Harry Potter” is the best selling series by J.K. Rowling. The list of differences between the characters’ appearances in the books and movies is miniscule but drastic enough that it is noticeable in a side by side comparison.

In the books, Harry is described as being skinny with wild, messy hair. He also is well known for his scar. He jokes, loves sports, talks about girls and has a little bit of teen angst.

Ron in the books is red haired, tall, long nosed and covered in freckles. He is also deathly afraid of spiders.

Hermione is described in the books as having thick, curly long hair. She has buck teeth and it is shown In the book, her intelligence and brilliance is portrayed more than in the movie.

In the movies, Harry still has his scar, but his hair is no longer curly, instead it is shiny and straight. He is more athletically built than he is skinny. His personality also changes and is almost always focused on being angsty without any of his other qualities.

Ron is still red haired and tall, but his nose is wide instead of being long and his freckles are nowhere to be seen in the movies. He is also still deathly afraid of spiders. Luckily there is a spell that repels them that he is quite fond of.

Hermione has changed more drastically than the other two. She is raised by muggles like in the book and is still highly intelligent but that is where the similarities end. Her hair is straight and long instead of that thick, bushy curlyness. Her buck teeth are unapparent which were a major part of her character in the first two books. While her intelligence is still a major part of her and still important to the plot line, it is less touched on than it should be. Also, in the books she stalled the sorting hat for six minutes because it could not decide whether to put her in Ravenclaw or Gryffindor. She was considered for Ravenclaw because of her high intelligence, but Gryffindor because of her bravery, loyalty and empathy. After six minutes, she was sorted into Gryffindor.

The books are better. They offer better descriptions and the original storyline which movies always differ from in some way. They always bring more enjoyment and take longer to get through making it a true journey.