Rating:
3.5 out of 5
Percy Jackson may not be “Harry Potter good,” but kids will really enjoy it and parents will be happy to have a movie they can bring them to that’s family-friendly.
Screen Rant reviews Percy Jackson the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Disclaimer: I have not read a single Percy Jackson book. I’d never even heard of the books until news of the movie version of Percy Jackson the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (man, that’s an annoying long title) first surfaced. I assume that since the Harry Potter franchise is almost played out on the big screen, that Hollywood might be looking for a fresh new series to pick up the baton once the Potter clan rides off into the sunset in their 24 carat gold, diamond encrusted Aston Martins.
As the film opens a gigantic man rises out of the sea and heads into the city (human size by then). He is of course, Poseidon (played by a rather thin looking Kevin McKidd). He meets with another fellow on the roof of the Empire State building who turns out to be Zeus (a somewhat miscast Sean Bean) – Zeus is accusing Poseidon’s son of being “the lightning thief.” It seems that someone has stolen Zeus’ favorite item – and if it is not returned within two weeks he will declare war among the gods.
Our soon-to-be hero Percy is played by 18 year old Logan Lerman (who does a fine job in the lead role). He looks younger and is a self-professed “loser” who pals around with his crippled friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson). Percy has some major dyslexia (hallucinogenic, even) and the only time he finds peace is when he’s in the water – he loves sitting at the bottom of his school’s swimming pool… for seven minutes at a time.
He lives in a rough inner city neighborhood with his mom (Catherine Keener) and his grubby, rude and stinky stepfather (Joe Pantoliano). I love Joe, and he seemed to be in a different movie – bringing a greater depth to his character in the few moments he was on screen than most of the other actors did throughout the entire film. The man is good at what he does.
It seems that Hades (Steve Coogan) also believes that Percy has stolen Zeus’ lightning and he wants it so he can rule over all the gods himself. All manner of mythological creatures are sent after Percy and eventually he ends up in a training camp for demi-gods (children of god/mortal matings). There he meets Hermes’ son Luke (young Kevin Bacon lookalike Jake Abel) and Athena’s beautiful warrior-daughter Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario). Pierce Brosnan (as a Centaur… weird) tells Percy he must go to Zeus and explain that he is not the thief – but first (for some strange reason) he needs to train to hone his combat skills.
Well a situation arises that causes Percy to want to go to Hades instead of staying to train and head up to Olympus to talk to the big man, and Grover and Annabeth insist on tagging along. What we get then is basically a road trip where they run into some interesting adventures where they run into yet more well-known mythological creatures – that were actually quite entertaining.
There were some scenes that were just scary enough for kids, but nothing that should keep them up at night. If you’re a parent, there was nothing that would give you pause when it comes to watching this with your children – very family friendly. There’s action throughout the film and the climax was pretty impressive.
Overall I actually found the film to be pretty good (for what it was) although it didn’t have the richness and depth that’s present in the Harry Potter films – then again, maybe in those films I’m just impressed by all the British accents… Kidding aside, there’s just a little something that’s missing here, similar to the feeling I get from watching the Narnia movies – just something that’s a little too shallow about them that doesn’t really hook you and drag you deep into the film.
Having said that, there was an audience at the screening I attended and they seemed to enjoy the movie quite a bit, especially the kids in the audience. I think Percy Jackson will do very well at the box office and will no doubt spawn a sequel or two.
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“luke having halo?”
I think the halo referred to in this post was the video game Luke was playing in his tent when Percy visited him. Although I'm almost certain it was Modern Warfare 2 not Halo. If so this is a funny FYI…Kevin McKidd who played Poseidon voiced one of the main characters in Modern Warfare 2.
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is not meant for kids in my opinion. I love that movie, but it does have a lot of deaths and violence.
I think it makes people sound wimpier, lol.
Edit in case the tongue smiley doesn't say enough: I'm kidding of course.
@Ken J
Yeah you're probably right. The DVD does have a PG rating on it, but we didn't screen it before hand. We all sat down as a family to watch it and ended up answering a lot of her questions with careful explanations during it.
We won't make an assumption like that again.
The next Batman film I purchased for her was the cheesy 1966 Batman film. I personally can't stand it, but ironically we had a great laugh watching it together and those sorts of times with the kids is absolutely precious.
I took my kids to see it and they all liked it. There is some innuendo, but being from greek myth I guess it could be overlooked.
I just want to say that I'd love to see the girl in this film play Wonder Woman in about 4 years or so.
I love Uma Thurman!
At Auntie Em's Garden Emporium she says, “Son of Poseidon… I Used to DATE YOUR DADDY!”
…Cracks me up every time
I also like the end where she is in the refrigerator! HA!!! gets him…. (crackle… crackle… crackle…)
Medusa's always been one of my favorite “baddies”
Watched it yesterday. I think it was a nice movie.
It gets a bit hard for me to be imparcial when analyzing it because it changes so much things from the book, but if I think about it as a different take on the characters I can say I enjoyed it thoroughly. Just wish they would have included some stuff that form the main plot of the series (and if they were hoping to build a franchise out of this, they should have).
Anyway, the movie was, above all else, entertaining.
i know what you mean, i've read ALL the books and this films more of an insult than a tribute!
they've cast the characters RIICULOUSLY (i mean come on an 18 yr old portraying a 13 yr old WTF???)
they've butchered the storylines SO BADLY
and i mean come on the luke/percy fight scene WASN'T meant to happen and in the fight percy deflects zeus's lightning bolt with his SWORD???? ONLY THE MOST POWERFUL WEAPON IN CREATION!!!
another thing WHERE IS CLARRISE???
i agree. and in the book, percy and annabeth are 12.
I read the book wanted to see the movie so badly but it might as well not have had a book they messed up the book so bad after i went hom i regreted seeing it. I would say how many thumbs down i give it but humans havent counted to that number yet
I read the book wanted to see the movie so badly but it might as well not have had a book they messed up the book so bad after i went hom i regreted seeing it. I would say how many thumbs down i give it but humans havent counted to that number yet
I personally think that this movie was so good! Many of the reviews are inaccurate and untrue! Seriously, take it from someone who saw it at midnight, and then saw it again the next day.
I personally think that this movie was so good! Many of the reviews are inaccurate and untrue! Seriously, take it from someone who saw it at midnight, and then saw it again the next day.
I like both the book and the movie. The reason why i like the movie is because the enemies have amazing costumes and has amazing good sound effects. The reason why i like the book is because it tells a different story than the movie does.
To Director of Percy Jackson: The Movie, Chris Columbus,
I have a few comments for Chris Columbus and his producers. All I want to say is that your movie that you have created disappoints me. I’m not saying it’s a bad movie or anything, other than it’s about 70% different from the story in the book. The actors were pretty good in the movie but the scenes and the story were way off. You also could have had better props for the scene at the camp. Also the place where Percy lives is not a cabin. It’s like a flouting house with no walls and privacy, really awkward. No wonder you got so many bad reviews. I read some other comments from other people and they said it’s “the worst book to movie ever!” And that is a pretty bad comment. You must have disappointed so many kids with your movie. You even took out some very important characters and scenes from the book. I think it’s going to be impossible for anybody to make a continuation of the movie now. My last comment to you is this “Thanks a lot!” and that’s sarcasm. From a viewer and commentator who watched the movie, and loved the books.
Kev
I’ve read all of the Percy books, and I enjoyed them. I started reading them almost as soon as I saw the movie previews, thinking “Wow! This movie looks awesome!” My friend and I just HAD to go to the theatres to watch this movie. We did, and we were watching it and asking each other, “Why isn’t this here?” or saying “This isn’t right”. Even with those feelings, we had to be the loudest ones in the theatre. (PS, that was the first time I was oboxious in theatres) It was a great movie, in our opinion. We were lauging so hard and quoting actor’s lines as soon as we exited. I mean, sure there were tons of mistakes, but the sequel could add what they screwd up…If there is one. Poor Rick, I heard you’re being sued. That really sucks and I hope that it doesn’t squash the chances at another Percy movie. It was good. And I’m praying there will be a sequel. Even better, all the books made into movies! That’d be fun.
I have to say that the movie wasn’t what I expected. If you have never read the books then I suggest that you see the movie. Over all, the movie is really good IF you’ve never read the book.
They butchered the story and I have to be honest but I was disappointed but I will still watch the serious (if their is more) but I know that I won’t expect it to be like the books.
Also, just as a side note, Logan and all the other actors did a good job, but the characters are supposed to be *12 not any older. And they messed up on Annabeth’s appearance.
I honestly hope that the next movies will at least have the same appearance as described in the books.
But over all the movie is good. And it is not another “Harry potter” as people say. It has it’s own story and characters.