My kids and I read the book and were excited to see the movie. The movie omitted most of the better scenes from the book like the water park and St. Louis. Those were probably the more expensive ones to create but would've made the movie fun. The actors weren't true to the characters either: Percy was 6 yrs too old and Anabeth was supposed to be blonde and cerebral. Clarisse and Ares never appeared and had livened up the book. The studio saved dough but lost out on making a memorable movie.