Chris Columbus, the director of the first two “Harry Potter” films – the man who developed one of the biggest movie franchises of all-time – is hoping to get “lightning” to strike twice.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” is based on the first installment of the popular book series of the same name.
At the start of the film, Percy thinks he’s just a regular high school student, even though he can breathe underwater for long periods of time, he can read Greek writing and he hears a voice giving him advice.
But on a field trip to a museum, Percy learns that, not only isn’t he a normal teen, but he’s actually a “demigod” – his mother is human but his father is the Greek god Poseidon. Percy is accused by Zeus, the King of the gods, of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt…which he didn’t do. And so Percy and two friends (NOT named Ron and Hermione) go on an adventure, around the United States and to the underworld, to try to straighten out the situation and prevent Zeus from waging all-out war against his brothers Poseidon and Hades.
After seeing the trailer for months before the film came out earlier this year I thought “Percy Jackson” to be much more exciting that it turns out to be. There’s much too much dialogue from the characters explaining the story, though the movie does supply you with a nice lesson on Greek mythology, even though that’s wasn’t something I was looking for when I saw it in the theater on the first night of winter vacation.
Overall the performances are not that strong. Logan Lerman, who plays Percy, sounds and acts a lot like Zac Efron. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. The other young actors are pretty bland.
Pierce Brosnan, Catherine Keener and Uma Thurman are also in the cast. Thurman is way over the top as Medusa, but I guess when you’re playing a Greek goddess with dozens of snakes coming-out of your head, that’s o.k.
The effects in the film are very well done, but a lot of the action scenes reminded me of other fantasy-action movies, including “Narnia: Prince Caspian”, “The Mummy” and, of course, the “Harry Potter” movies. Plus, there’s more than a touch of “Star Wars” here as well.
“Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” is rated PG for typical action violence and some mild language. It’s appropriate for kids 8 and up, but you fans of the series will be disappointed that Percy is much older here than in the book, where he’s only 12.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Percy Jackson” only gets a C. It’s one of the biggest disappointment of the year for me so far.
There are four more books and, therefore, four more “Percy Jackson” movies could be on the way. But don’t expect the “Percy” series to come close to the success of the “Harry Potter” films.