As a full-grown adult, watching “children’s content” can be hit or miss. My kids have watched the Adam Sandler lizard movie, Leo, ONE MILLION TIMES since it came out, and, while I appreciated it at the first viewing, I never want to hear Sandler’s voice again. Lots of kids’ shows have little-to-no story or character development, not to mention performances that fail to inspire.
However, despite not supporting J.K. Rowling as a rule, we’re frequent Harry Potter viewers around here, as well as fans of TV gems like Hilda, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Bluey, Shape Island, and more—all of which are not only delightful and entertaining, but have admirable heroes which can serve as role models. Something else all these movies and shows have in common is that they are cast with talented, often well-known and acclaimed actors—adults who, more times than not, must do their best to make up for comparably lacking performances from their younger c-stars.
The same is true for the newest, hottest kid show in the Disney+ multiverse: the live-action Percy Jackson and the Olympians. We’re watching it as a family, and like the other shows and movies in our frequent flier rotation, Percy has high production value and a great story. However, like a lot of other programming for kids, the performances are uneven. While the adult actors are chewing the scenery in a most satisfying way, the child actors come off a bit wooden, especially in comparison, which, depending on your sensitivity to acting chops, might lead you to abandon the show.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians is the story of a boy who doesn’t quite fit in. He’s always getting into trouble, though he doesn’t mean to. One day when the boy is in middle school, he finds out he’s extraordinary, maybe even “the one,” and is taken to a special educational facility where he befriends a dopey boy and a super-smart girl. Together, they have adventures and try to vanquish the big bad. Sounds like a different middle grade series, doesn’t it? The first book in the Percy Jackson series was published in 2005, eight years after we first met Harry Potter, and the comparisons don’t end with the basic plot. Like in the Potter-verse, there are some powerful adults in Percy’s world, namely the Greek gods, who are just as crucial of figures as young Percy and his friends themselves.
When it came time to adapt the Potter books into movies, back in the early aughts, casting directors made a truly brilliant choice: cast the best British actors possible. Over a decade of filming, the Potter franchise tapped just about every great actor in the British Isles who wasn’t busy in Middle Earth. The list of hugely acclaimed actors includes Alan Rickman, who won lots of awards, including a Golden Globe, Emmy, and BAFTA, and four Oscar winners, like Maggie Smith and Emma Thompson, who each have two. Eight other Potter actors have been nominated, and all have many accolades and credits to their name, including knighthoods. Having powerhouses in the adult roles meant that adults were more likely to buy into the series, and having these acting legends at Hogwarts helped elevate its tone. The young actors were cute and looked the part, but they didn’t really come into their own as performers until about the fifth movie (out of eight). That meant that, for the better part of the franchise, the adults did the heavy lifting—to viewers’ benefit.
Percy Jackson similarly leans heavily on adult talent, both now and in its previous adaptations. The movies, released in 2010 and 2013, had a stacked cast of adults including Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, and Uma Thurman. However, by aging up the characters from 12 in the first book to 16 in the first movie, plus the lackluster script, the magic was missing.
Years after the movies failed to catch on, it seems the Disney+ series’ showrunners have made similarly wise decisions as the Potter team, to ensuring a more solid adaptation for fans. The plot of the first half of the TV series thus far is very close to the book with minor changes to streamline the narrative. They’ve also cast some fantastic, celebrated adults—which is good because, while the show has actual kids playing Percy and his friends (yay!), the young actors who play the three leads are still pretty green, despite this not being their first credit (not yay).
As someone who has worked with youths, I can tell you getting a good performance out of a kid can be tricky. A lot of kids are technically very skilled, be it at memorizing lines, singing notes, or standing still where you told them to stand (the most important one). But to get a child to seem “real” on stage or camera takes Spielberg-level commitment. He famously kept puppeteers operating ET during filming so Drew Barrymore would believe he was real. I believe the kids in Percy Jackson will get there, but they’re still mostly saying their lines at each other and are now too old to buy into the fantasy of filmmaking.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is excellent as Hermes.
Disney+Percy Jackson and the Olympians isn’t a huge blockbuster film like the Potter franchise was, but Disney was able to cast some heavy hitters for the show. Jason Mantzoukas, a ubiquitous voice and live-action actor known for playing lovable, comedic schmucks, has never been better typecast as hedonistic Dionysus. Megan Mullally makes several appearances. You know her from winning Emmy and SAG awards as Karen in Will and Grace and/or as Nick Offerman’s wife (IRL and on Parks and Rec), but she is also a leading lady on Broadway (Young Frankenstein, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying). As Alecto (a Fury), she’s a balanced mix of highly dramatic and fully committed. Jay Duplass, filmmaker and actor who has been profiled by The New Yorker, and who produced Wild Wild Country and Somebody Somewhere, may seem like an odd choice for Hades—due to his mild-mannered demeanor—but it works with the story. And while it’s not my scene, the guy who plays Ares is wrestler and Vikings’ Viking Adam Copeland. The casting directors covered a lot of bases.
Then there’s actor and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, a GET (EGOT without an Oscar—yet), Pulitzer Prize and Tony winner (plus others), and Hamilton himself, who popped up as a surprise character not featured in the first book: Hermes. He is a perfect fit to embody the spirit of Hermes, god of cunning, wit, and speed, and, as theater-folk, my household was thrilled to see him. For Season 2, which will likely be based on the second novel in the series, Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, I’m hoping the showrunners go full Gilded Age and grab hold of every possible Broadway legend.
While this is a show for kids, and the kids could use some mentoring from their adult castmates, it’s important to me to expose my kids to quality arts experiences that provide education and enrichment. We’ve all had a great time talking about the Greek pantheon and the hero’s journey as we read and watch Percy Jackson. It’s also smart of showrunners to make content for children that also delights adults, because it broadens the audience and makes for a stronger overall product. This product was almost derailed by the stuff that is otherwise aimed at the kids, namely the kids themselves. And cute as they are, the kids just can’t hold a scene together long enough to keep us hooked, no matter how engaging Percy Jackson’s story is. Letting the older, accomplished actors take the lead is better for everyone—especially the adults watching.
Adam Copeland brings his Vikings energy to Ares.
Disney+Parents of kids watching the show aren’t the only adults Percy Jackson should cater to. Readers of the book series are young millennials, the biggest demographic to watch appointment TV, and Gen Z, a group of individuals who make up an important demographic in the streaming entertainment industry. They felt robbed of their screen adaptation when the film franchise flopped and were rooting for this new iteration to succeed. The series does fall heavily on the backs of the young actors in the lead roles, so, to ease the potential frustration for viewers, boosting them up with adult actors who are beloved by these generations and who can act up a storm of Olympic proportions makes the show watchable.
