Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-24 20:28:47

Current take on mythology

Interesting take on ancient mythology put in current day time. Some parts were done really well, while others needed a different take. Overall, an enjoyable movie.

chrismsawin 2012-05-24 07:47:35

Promising, but comes up short

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief managed to surpassexpectations and defy first impressions right from the opening scene.For some reason, I was expecting more of a cutesy version of HarryPotter or something. All of these movies being released lately withrather large sized budgets and extravagant special effects usuallyfeature a fairly young cast and fall victim to typecasting. TheLightning Thief was like that for me. While the movie is able to offeran at least somewhat entertaining experience, it still isn't quite goodenough to be considered great.Once Sean Bean was shown as Zeus, I knew this film would at least besomewhat decent. Sean Bean is one of the greatest underrated actors ofour time and even though some of the projects he chooses to be in turnout to be more than a little weak (like The Hitcher remake), hisperformance is usually still worth sitting through mediocrity for. Thelook Zeus gives Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) right after he opens the doorto Olympus when they speak at the beginning is crazy amusing like Zeusis just begging for Poseidon to start a fight or something. The castfor The Lightning Thief was actually really surprising. Turns out a lotof fairly big named actors were attached to this movie; Pierce Brosnan,Rosario Dawson, Joe Pantoliano, and Uma Thurman. All of them put inpretty solid performances, as well. So the strong, recognizable castwas an enjoyable surprise.The visual effects are also one of the strengths of the movie. Grover'sgoat legs demonstrate that fact rather well, but that's only scratchingthe surface. The effects soon become more detailed during the minotaurfight and as we see Percy (Logan Lerman) learn to use water to hisadvantage. If there was such thing as a main event featured for thespecial effects, it would be a tie between the hydra battle and theintricate details of the underworld. Monsters are incredibly detailedand their motions have a natural flow to them while the underworld andOlympus are established well enough to feel like entirely different,majestic worlds than the one you started in.That's when the movie begins to hiccup and its flaws slowly evolve intogaping wounds. The dialogue is really atrocious at times; likecringe-worthy. Most of it falls on Grover's (Brandon T. Jackson)shoulders as it seems like he spends the majority of the movie saying,"Come on!" over and over more than anything. When he finally does saysomething else, it's typically something really obvious (after a carcrash, he gets out of the car and says, "Watch out! There's glass!") orextremely corny (when they arrive to the location of the first pearl,Grover eloquently adds, "This place really needs an extrememakeover!"). Uma Thurman even falls guilty to having terrible lines.She fits the Medusa role particularly well, but once she meets PercyJackson she has to throw in, "I used to date your daddy!" It probablywouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't tried to sound menacing at thesame time. It just...didn't work.There seemed to be one detour too many from the simple storyline, aswell. There's a scene where Grover is driving while Annabeth and Percyare asleep. Grover falls asleep at the wheel and they almost crash, sothey decide to stop at a hotel. They never sleep though. Percy goes fora swim, Annabeth talks to him, and Grover watches TV. Then they getback on the road. The entire hotel scene could've probably been cut, aswell. Did we really need to see Grover dance or the kids experience awatered down version of The Hangover? It was almost like a familyfriendly version of Fear and Loathing when they bit into those Lotusflowers and nobody who's a fan of Terry Gilliam's film wants to seethat. Is anyone else starting to think of Grover from "Sesame Street"whenever you read that name yet? The story felt simple, but it unfoldedas if it was trying to be more complex in its execution.There was one scene near the end of the film with Poseidon talking toPercy Jackson where he tells Percy, "If you ever need me, I'll be therefor you...in your thoughts and in your dreams." What kind of crappyparenting is that, man? I won't actually be there in person, but youcan think about me or dream about me and that'll be close enough. Ohand I hope you don't mind me not paying child support all these years.I am a god after all. Seriously, Poseidon? Weak sauce.Lastly, the splendid special effects were a little precarious at times.The scene with the centaurs running, where you first realize Mr.Brunner (Pierce Brosnan) is a centaur, is probably the best example. Itjust looked sketchy, unnatural, and off-putting. There are moments likethat scattered throughout the film. The computer generated effects aremostly top notch, but every once in awhile you stumble onto somethingthat doesn't look quite right that sours the whole thing.Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief is a mostlyentertaining fantasy adventure effort with spectacular effects and amostly solid cast. Its semi-erratic storyline and weak dialogue ruinwhat would otherwise be a fantastic experience. Brandon T. Jacksondoesn't help matters, but the movie does show shades of Narnia which issomething to be proud of. In the end, The Lightning Thief falls shortof achieving greatness and has to settle for being shelved somewherebetween disappointment and ordinariness.

2012-05-22 19:02:29

I'm only giving it one star because i have to to rate it

i'm only giving this movie one star because i have to to rate it.-the actor who played percy was 18 years old and annabeth was about the same, if not older.-percy, annabeth, and grover sneak out of camp without asking chiron and get help from luke who sends them on some stupid mission to gather pearls. also, in the movie, luke hides the bolt in a shield when in the book ares hides it in a backpack.-i have big-time issues with annabeth: 1)like i said before, she is way too old. 2)her hair is brown and straight in stead of blond and curly. 3)she is way too mean to percy on the first day.-there are some serious things they left out in the movie:1)percy and his friends didn't blow up the bus.2)they do not meet echidna.3)they don't meet ares either.if you are going to watch the movie i can't stop you but PLEASE READ THE BOOK FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

songbird21 2012-05-22 14:46:32

I wanted to vomit

I am SO beyond glad I missed the movie in the theaters. I would havewalked out halfway through. Honestly, the movie was so unlike the bookthat I swear all the director did was look at the summary on the bookcover and make the movie from that. It's completely awful. Theyabsolutely butchered it. My eyes literally misted over in tears ofanger.Some of the changes are (Spoilers here): 1) Percy does NOT kill Mrs. Dodds in the museum.2) They don't go to the beach house.3) Percy doesn't rip off the Minotaur's horn. It comes off aftergetting stuck in the bark of a tree.4) Chiron knows who Percy's dad is from minute one. And none of thecampers even bat an eyelash when they are told Percy is the son of thesea god.5) No Clarisse. In fact, Annabeth is the one that wounds Percy near theriver.6) Annabeth has been made a brunette! WTH??? Her eyes were also thewrong color. I mean how hard could it have been to give the girl somecontacts and a wig? 7) The only cabin you see at all is Percy's 8) Mr. D is not in the movie AT ALL.9) Annabeth doesn't have her magic cap.10) Hades appears as a demon in a bonfire near the beginning of themovie and tells Percy that his mom is alive.11) No oracle at all.12) Percy doesn't get a quest to go out, he SNEAKS out.13) Luke tells Percy that in order to get out of hell alive he needs tofind the pearls that the water spirit gave Percy in the book. He's noton a mission to get the damn bolt. He's on a mission to get thefricking pearls. UGH! Luke also gives Percy a magic map that tells themwhere to find the pearls.14) Grover was changed to be black! Wth?? You do NOT change the race ofa major character to pander to minorities. I believe in equality butaccuracy is important, d*mn it! 15) Percy is TOLD to go to Medusa's place (Although he doesn't knowshe's Medusa) as a pearl location. Medusa's doesn't even feignkindness. And they even threw in a female civilian into the mix just sothey could turn someone to stone.16) You don't get to see the water sprite.17) Ares isn't in the movie.18) Kronos isn't even MENTIONED! 19) Percy and company have a fight with the hydra! Which I'm toldhappens in book two. So they skip the arch with the chimera to have abattle with a monster that isn't even IN book 1!! 20) Percy can use the flying shoes! 21) Gabe isn't turned into a statue. :( 22) Grover is left in theUnderworld and only gets out after Percy brings the bolt to Zues andasks him to help Grover.23) Percy has a battle with Luke who uses the lightning bolt!!!!! O_OThere's more, but honestly, I haven't got all night. Bottom line: Ifyou have never read the books you may enjoy the movie. If you have readthe books AVOID THE MOVIE AT ALL COST!!!!

foxcub-658-434929 2012-05-20 04:03:14

Wow.. nice movie but not the book

Take the book.. rip out several main characters, take out most of thedepth, and simplify the story to an insulting level... While the movie was fun, it is not even close to what it should havebeen. Shame on the Director and screen writers for destroying such agood source material.The good parts are the art direction, visual effects, and cast.The bad is the loss of story.This could have been a real good film if it had stuck closer to thebook. There is no reason to simplify a children's book for kids toappeal to kids. This series has a large fan base which I am sure willbe disappointed with this rendition.

2012-05-19 17:53:41

10 year old Chris thinks it's... Amazing!

I really liked this book because there were so many adventures within the story. The author did such a great job describing the story and action that I could feel the way Percy felt when he was having trouble in classes and how he felt when his step father treated him so bad. I also liked when Percy made new friends at summer camp.I would recommend this book to anyone who likes action and who has a good imagination.

Bojidar Danchev 2012-05-17 22:08:39

This movie looks...familiar...

Hmm... Where should I begin? Percy Jackson & the Olympians: TheLightning Thief is a great movie. I really enjoyed every single secondof it. The effects were awesome, the story was good, the idea of usingthe Olympians in such a movie was fascinating. But all the time Icouldn't get away from the feeling that I'm watching a Harry Pottermovie. We had Percy - a kid, who has huge powers, which he doesn't evenknow about. One day he's just taken away to a camp to train himself inusing those powers. We also have Grover who represents Ron Weasley &Annabeth - awesome battle strategic & great fighter, which makes herthe great "student" in the camp, which Hermione used to be in Hogwarts.And on the top of it we have Chiron, who could easily be Dumbledore.Yes, the story in this movie is completely new & unknown to us, butmost of us already know the characters, & I didn't really like that. Iwant to see a whole new group of characters, not just the old ones innew clothes...

2012-05-17 08:58:06

Don't read the book first!

I'm a huge believer that the book is ALWAYS better than the movie. That remains true in this case. The movie is good, but my advice is DO NOT read the book first.

2012-05-16 14:47:10

Great visual effects; crappy story

This review is from: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) Like many others, I read the five books before I saw the movie. (I'm an adult, but my nephew was reading them at the time.)My biggest gripe is the age difference. In the movie version, Percy is older at the start of the series than he was at the END of the fifth book.I don't really miss Dionysis or Ares, but I think Clarisse (daughter of Ares) was too important a character to be left out. I also don't like that the heroes weren't sent on a quest. Excuse me, but going on quests is what heroes do.Despite the fact that I would rather have seen a much younger actor play the lead, Logan Lerman was very good. Kevin McKidd's opening scene was much better than his closing one. Brendan T. Jackson, as Grover, also gave a good performance, but I didn't care for the sexualization of his role.The special effects and computer graphics were the movie's strong points.It wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't a good movie, either.

laurieclooney 2012-05-16 12:28:06

Nothing like the book!!

Last night I took my 2 daughters and a friends to see the movie. All ofthe girls had read all the books in the series (including me) and hadbeen anticipating the release of the movie for over a year. The book isfabulous!! I taught 4th grade for 4 years and read it to all myLanguage Arts classes every year. I never had a student not like thebook. It contains humor, action, friendship themes, and characters thatcontain quite a bit of depth and growth throughout the 5 books in theseries.The movie was nothing like the book. The characters in the book are 12years old. How are the next books to be made into movies if theculminating event of the series happens when Percy turns 16? The plotwas totally changed. In the book the quest that Percy, Annabeth, andGrover embark on IS NOT to find 3 pearls so they can escape from theunderworld after rescuing Percy's mom. In the book, he doesn't evenknow that she is alive. It is understandable that not all theadventures on the way to the underworld could be put in a 2 or even 3hour movie, but don't make up new adventures that aren't even in thebook.The true villain in the book is not even mentioned in the movie andseveral main characters vital to the plot and character development ofPercy and Annabeth are missing. My 13 year old daughter-who waited inline for hours to get Rick Riordan to sign her book- wanted to leave inthe middle of the movie because she though it was the worst movie shehad ever seen. If the director had stuck to the book, it could havebeen an amazing movie and people would not be comparing it to HarryPotter want-to-be.

2012-05-14 22:45:11

Fun ride but not a family film

I enjoy the young actor from Jack and Bobby which used to come on th WB. it was cancelled too soon. Logan Lerman has since done HOOT which was a lot of fun..and this. Percy is a good character. I never read the books because they seemed Harry Potter from the cover....not at all. [h efirst movie was violent and racy at points. Enjoyable but PG SHOULD BE PG13.

Sirus_the_Virus 2012-05-14 14:36:21

Flawed, but I have hope for a sequel.

Nowadays, it seems to me like it's hard to find a film that's not basedon a novel. There are so many. Not only is it based on a novel, it'sbased on some kid's fantasy story. Those can be good sometimes. Well,really, most of the time. Really, i'm not up for team Edward or teamJacob or any of that stupidity. I'm for team Harry Potter. Some filmsthat have been based on a children's novel never got a sequel. A seriesof unfortunate events never got one. I loved that movie. I hope PercyJackson does.To start off, I will say that I didn't love it. I think it has it'sflaws, but really, it's not great. There is stuff to admire here. Suchas the cast. I will admit that I liked this film more than the originalHarry Potter. But I didn't love it.Logan Lerman, a likable actor, stars as Percy Jackson, a kid with atroubled life. He has dyslexia, and his mom(played by the always greatCatherine Keener)is married to a slob(played by the always great JoePoli- something. I've never been able to spell that last name.)One day,after an attack at a museum, things start to unfold. Percy realizesthat his friend Grover(played by Tropic thunder's Brandon T. Jackson)isa creature and so is one of his teachers(played by the always likablePiece Brosnan). Him and his mother escape and eventually she iskidnapped. He is eventually taken to a camp where he trains and eventually meets afemale who they at first attack each other and predictably fall inlove. Eventually, Percy finds out that his mother is in the underworld.So Percy and his friends set off on a quest to find his mother.There are some neat special effects here and some cool actionsequences. At one point the movie is kind of trippy. I found there tobe a lot of wit involved too. Trust me you won't be bored by thismovie.But like most movies, there is flaws. One problem was that some of thedialogue is kind of cheesy. Another is that the film is a little long.But the main problem is that there is a big cast, a great one too, butmost of the actors don't get enough screen time. I mean here we havePiece Brosnan, Uma Thurman, Rosario Dawson, Sean Bean, Steve Coogan,Catherine Keener, and others and only like two of them are in it formore than a scene. That was my main flaw. But if you couldn't care lessabout it, then ignore what I have to say and indulge yourself in thismovie.Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief: B+

2012-05-13 16:27:04

An origin story a little too close to Harry Potter, but fun for most ages

1 Disc Widescreen DVD, being released June 29, 2010"Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" besides being a mouthful was directed by Chris Columbus with a screenplay by Craig Titley based on the novel by Rick Riordan. Riordan's books much like the Harry Potter series, have really taken off particularly with the middle school age crowd. His stories follow Percy Jackson named after Perseus who discovers he is a demi-god, son of Poseidon and that there are other demi-gods living among them. Once thrown into this new world, he is wrongfully accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt and has to find a way to rectify the situation to save his mother being held hostage.The story itself is charming and empowering much in the same style as Harry Potter. Just like Harry, Percy discovers he has powers, that there is a place he can go to train and learn more about his past and his abilities with other children like him and also like Harry, someone out there resents him and is setting him up to take a fall. For heaven's sake, Harry even has a lightning bolt scar on his face! Despite all these similar factors, the story works and is appealing, particularly to children with dyslexia like Percy has. Of course, his turns out to be a special ability to read ancient Greek so good for him.Percy is played by Logan Lerman whom you might remember from "3:10 to Yuma" looks like an up and coming Zac Efron with almost Elijah Wood caliber blue eyes so holds his own pretty good appearance-wise and emotionally as a lead in this series. Catherine Keener lends extra star power by playing his mother, Sally.His sidekick or "protector" has he prefers to be called is Grover played by Brandon T. Jackson. Grover is a Satyre whose first priority is to look out for Percy (second priority to find hot chicks). Percy's love interest is Annabeth, daughter of Athena, played by Alexandra Daddario who is very intense with a sword and even more so with her piercing blue eyes.More stars clocking in here are Pierce Brosnan in a too-short stay as a Centaur professor, Uma Therman as a wonderfully hypnotic Medusa, Sean Bean as Zeus, and Rosario Dawson as the very seductive Persephone, wife and hostage of Hades.The story is fun and exciting, not as much as the more popular Harry Potter series, but a good one for kids to jump into since Harry Potter's movie run will be ending soon and this Olympians series is just getting started. Hopefully as the characters age, the intensity will as well following the pattern set before it. I highly recommend checking it out. It's young, cute, adventure-y, and brings in all that fun Greek God mythology. Heck, I liked the Medusa in this film better than the one they came up with for the "Clash of the Titans" remake which is saying a lot since they went a different route and made her all modern here. Gotta love exciting times and mutant-like abilities!Bonus Features:In the deleted scenes, Grover takes pictures on his cell phone of one of the naked Greek statues, gives some back story on a failure in his past being a protector, dances and fights more at the Lotus casino, and Hades laments how miserable his life in hell is making a good argument for letting him have the power to overthrow his brothers which is probably why it was cut.There is a Powers Quiz that poses a series of statements asking you to choose how you feel about it with happy/sad/mad/indifferent faces and apparently matches you to the most likely God who would be your parent."The Book Comes to Life" is a featurette where the author Rick Riordan talks about having his kids and his students read this book before he sent it off to a publisher and how the grassroots phenonmenon of popularity started for the series. Chris Columbus was attracted to the project because his daughter was listening to the book on tape and she is dyslexic just like the main character so he loved how empowering this was for kids with dyslexia to dream of being a demi-god. Of course there is a trailer in the extras too but that goes without saying.I did not get to review the Blu-Ray edition, but it apparently has twice as many deleted scenes and four more featurettes about Greek Gods and being on the set with Brandon T. Jackson.

2012-05-13 07:53:27

Too Scary for this 34 year-old kid

I have never read the books, and have only one comment. To me a PG movie should not be this scary. In my mind. PG means most kids ages 8-12 should be fine watching it. I personally found of so scary in the first 20 minutes that I turned it off. Maybe I'm just wierd, but I thought this review ought to be in here, in case other parents are as protective of their children (or themselves) as I am. I thought it should have been rated PG-13.

jin4739 2012-05-10 11:28:41

Disappointed

Here's the deal. I read the first book, I'm currently reading thesecond... I loved the books, the imagination, the way it ties themythology with the 21st century, all great. Now, the movie... the onlything I really have to say is PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE give me back the 2hours you just unmercifully wasted in my life. I saw this flick with myfiancé on Valentine's Day, my pick. It was so bad even I nearly fellasleep. They changed major plot lines in the book, took out some of thecharacters that I really wanted to see, added a few that didn't existin the book, and it was overall just kind of boring. Big effects don'tdo enough to keep me awake when I was really looking forward to knowingwhat would happen next in the movie and how it would be made. Instead Ijust sit there mindless, wondering if it wasn't too late to sneak intoAvatar instead. If there is a movie made from the other books in theseries... I'll probably download it online, but I won't spend money tosee it. Huge, huge disappointment.

headphonelistener 2012-05-10 02:25:33

Like watching a bad "Dungeons & Dragons" ripoff

Have you ever seen a movie that was SO bad that it prompted you to signup an account on IMDb and try your best to warn others not to wastetheir precious time sitting through this "Dungeons & Dragons" ripoff?This is the movie. "Dungeons & Dragons" was probably my standard for"Worst sci-fi fantasy movie", but this takes the cake by far. Firstly, none of the characters are likable in the least. From thefirst 5 minutes, I was hoping beyond all hope that they would all dieoff soon. I knew this wish would never be granted, but it kept me goingto the bitter, bitter end.. This, by the way, is not a good way tostart a movie. It makes you hate the movie the more you watch it. Let'sstart introducing our lovely characters, shall we? First, there's thecocky, douchebag main protagonist with not much of a personalitybesides that he's trying way too hard to be cool. There's the boring,not very attractive girl who likes the hero, but the hero is obliviousand/or uninterested, or maybe he's just a douche. She's basically theinvisible character that nobody cares about, but they felt they neededa girl in there somewhere, otherwise all the little girls who weredragged to this nightmare wouldn't like it. And of course, there's theannoying, stereotypical black comic relief character with cheesy oneliners. His catchphrase is "Oh, that's nasty!" Come on.. COME ON! Allthose people on a 95 million dollar budget production, and this is whatthey produce? "Ohhhh, that's nasty!" Here's a tip if you're planning tomake a movie, don't rip off your characters from the Dungeons & Dragonsmovie. Nobody will like your movie. Actually, in comparison, theDungeons & Dragon character's are freakin' awesome! So I should stopdisrespecting Dungeons & Dragons, because it has become a beautifulwork of art compared to this hot bag of gas. At least we could lookforward to Snails dying in D&D, we don't even get that kind ofsatisfaction in this piece of garbage. And hell, D&D was made 11 yearsago. People have always hated it. If I told you Columbus directed it, Iguess people would start loving it. This movie had 3 times the budget,and is 3 times as bad. Seems a big budget is all that counts to make amovie popular these days. Size matters, kids.The most astounding thing is how popular this movie is and how manypeople loved it. I'm convinced that those 2,300 people who voted thismovie 10 stars are Christopher Columbus' extended family, or that he'ssitting in front of his computer, registering duplicate accounts andvoting it up himself. He obviously doesn't have anything else better todo if he's spending his working time directing stuff as bad andbrainless as this. I watched this movie twice, actually, hoping that Imisjudged it. Giving it the benefit of the doubt, hoping that perhaps,just maybe, I was being to critical... Nope. It's much worse the secondtime. You'll notice all the cheap theatrics that go into a low budgetstudent film. The CG is cheap, the script is forgettable, the actorswho are actually somebodies are completely wasted, the sound effectsare all public domain sounds that you can download for free just aboutanywhere. I suppose most of their 95 million dollars budget went topromoting the new iPod. This whole movie was like watching a cheapcommercial. It's completely laden with advertisements and cheapclichés. Just watch the trailer, and you'll see several closeups of aniPod. The only reason I can find for this movie becoming popular isthat Christopher Columbus is riding the coattails of the Harry Potterseries. How else better to promote his trash than pinning HarryPotter's name on it? Now I wonder how much better the Harry Potterseries would have been if that slimy, ugly little rat man hadn'ttainted it with his greasy clutch. The only good point I can see inthis movie or any other catastrophe that Columbus has anything to dowith is that they're children's movies (probably because he knows hecan only make small, preoccupied children think his horrible movies areany good) which generally don't have any vulgarity, which is a veryrare find these days. I suppose it's slightly more intelligent thanBeverly Hills Chihuahua and other god-awful trash they're feeding tochildren these days. Only a SLIGHT step up. I will, however, make apoint to avoid Columbus' future films at all cost. I understand this isa movie directed towards children, as all Columbus movies are. That'sno excuse. This movie is terrible, any child can see that. I understandthis was based on a book, which I have not read. But if the book isanything like this piece of commercial trash (which apparently wasnot), I'd burn as many copies as I could get my hands on. And if theauthor approved the script, he's an idiot. No doubt a rich idiot now,unfortunately.Go watch Dungeons & Dragons and you can at least have a good laugh andstill walk away feeling human and alive instead of feeling like a sheepwho's just gotta dish out their paycheck on a new iPod. This movie isbeyond bad, beyond pity, beyond even making fun of. It's about aspathetic as The Stupids or McHales Navy. If Tom Arnold wasn't so old,they would have undoubtedly casted him as the leading role, he wouldfit in this movie just fine. Nothing about this movie is enjoyable.Anybody who's suffering enough brain damage to vote this movie 10 starsshould be put in an assisted living complex to help save unknowingvictims from suffering through this monstrosity of mass human torture.

lopcar1993 2012-05-08 09:24:41

Chris Columbus takes the bold outlines of Greek Mythology and turns it on it's heels......

For teenagers they all think that life is going to be simple and easy,some of them find out the hard way that is not so while others lazilygo by doing what they do everyday. For High Schooler Percy Jackson thisis so, Percy thinks his only purpose in life is to just survive HighSchool, barely, while dealing with his slob of a step-father. Battlinghis troubles with dyslexia, ADHD and all the while trying to make hismother proud of him. For a teenager this is no easy feat especiallywhen you're trying your hardest but while on a school trip to TheMuseum of Metropolitan art he discovers that he is destined forsomething more than a normal hum drum human existence, he is destinedto become something more than he could have ever imagined.Chris Columbus' "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" isnot a teeny bopper exploitation flick like Catherine Hardwicke's"Twilight" or Chris Weitz's "New Moon". "The Lightning Thief" is afairly well scripted, well acted and well thought out fantasy adventurefilm, it's kind of like "Lord of the Rings" for teenagers it doesn't goover your head and it doesn't leave you cringing while watching, makingyou wish you had gone to see something else instead. It's aninteresting film as it takes liberties with Greek Mythology turning onit's heel everything we know about and creating a whole new andenthralling world for fantasy lovers, film lovers and history loversalike to enjoy. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"may not be exactly like the novel it is based upon, it's not fantasticor phenomenal but it is very, very, very enjoyable and is one of thebest fantasy films of the new year. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: TheLightning Thief" will deliver the action, humor and mysticism you arelooking for.Logan Lerman I have always had faith he would become a great actor andI still do, while this film is not one of his better performances it isone of his good ones. It shows that Lerman is skilled in both being aregular teen and still maintaining the appearance and skill of aseasoned actor. Lerman doesn't try to be the next Al Pacino or the nextRobert DeNiro he tries his best and succeeds at just being a truerising star amongst other unworthy competitors. Brandon T. Jackson isfantastic as the satyr Grover Underwood; he's funny, witty and justgives an all around great performance as Logan Lerman's number 2 man,Jackson is natural and doesn't try to be serious as he doesn't need tobe, he playing a mythical creature mind you being serious is not neededfor the part. And he's playing a satyr no less they have a reputationfor being a little more impetuous than serious and Jackson plays thepart well. Alexandra Daddario is neither great nor good she is inbetween, sometimes she is very serious and also very convincing as thetough girl amongst the guys and for that I commend her for beingbelievable. But There were also times I just didn't think she was theright choice for this picture, but then again she is better than mostof the other 20 something actresses out there. Daddario is not the bestof the best but she has potential to be great and for this I tip my hatto her. The rest of the cast including Catherine Keener, PierceBrosnan, Sean Bean, Steve Coogan, Melina Kanakaredes, Joe Pantoliano,Rosario Dawson, Kevin McKidd and Uma Thurman all turn in stellarsupporting performances in one of the best fantasy films of the newdecade."Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" is not thegreatest of it's genre but it certainly is better than most of its kindthat have come out in the last few years. "The Lightning Thief" won'tlet you down it gives you what you want an outrageously cool and hipthrill ride with a little bit of a history lesson tossed up in therefor good measure, it doesn't patronize you like most fantasy/adventurefilms, it doesn't make you feel like a three year old while yourwatching it. It meets you at it's own level weather you be an adult, atween, a teenager whichever it looks you in the eye and tells you notto expect anything great but to expect something enjoyable and worthyof calling good old fashioned entertainment "Percy Jackson & theOlympians: The Lightning Thief" is just that and maybe a little more.

skoyles 2012-05-07 21:55:50

A Romp, A Riot, A Triumph

Two matters first: 1) I have not read the book, nor even knew itexisted; 2) I seem to have seen a different motion picture from most ofthe reviewers here. I loved it! I cared about the characters and couldidentify with their plights and problems. The special effects, CGI andotherwise, were superb and yet not intrusive. Unlike some recent motionpictures the CGI did not scream "I am made in a computer and do notexist!" Perhaps it is the fantastic nature of the world of PercyJackson but I found that the effects were spot on. Then there is thecast - uniformly excellent from the young actors to the old pros. I wasenchanted by the story, the beauty of the settings and the struggles ofthe all too human demigods. There is heart to this film that wouldcover many sins but I found no sins to cover. A most enjoyable movie.

Robyn Gall 2012-05-04 23:22:29

Oh Zeus, Poisidon, Hades, Hermes... Help us all...

Christ... The film scriptor, editor, director, and near to, if not all, otherstaff and actors and actresses need a good firing...To be honest, I did not think that the film was going to be the best...Especially because I had read the books and Absolutely loved them, butthis! This is tragedy in film form... As I was walking into the cinema,I had someone comment that the main character seemed very pretentiousand that it was unlikely he was chosen for his acting talent, whichturned out to be exceptionally true. Logan Lerman just did not cut thePercy Jackson role and left out a huge proportion of awe and "OH MYGOD! I'M THE SON OF POISIDON!" and instead cut straight to the bad punsand obvious brand advertising! Great... A new generation of idiotsthinking that the iPhone will defeat Medusa/Urma Thurman. The film effects were mediocre, action-style we've-seen-it-all-before.The acting from almost everyone with, maybe, the exception of UrmaThurman who was the only actress with any kind of strength to heracting, either exceptionally weak or the actor/actress were wronglycast, such as Pierce Brosnan. Lots of plot and characters were eithercompletely changed, or just simply missing... I miss Dionysus T^T. Whathappened to Percy not finding out his powers as soon as he arrives?Nearly the whole of the Camp Half-Blood scenes were useless or wrong.Where were the days and months spent there? I understand that theywanted to make the film shorter, but they are just cutting plot andit's WRONG! What about Luke? He had some REAL background and was a muchmore interesting character, although, Jake Abel plays his partreasonably well considering he doesn't really have ANY reason to hatethe gods... Okay, he doesn't really like them and wants to overthrowthem... WHY? It's explained in the book and just left alone in the filmand how is he playing COD on PS3? It doesn't happen! Surely they couldhave just given him a 360 controller? Nope... Guess what... It's MOREbrand advertising! Yay...I apologise for just slagging this film off, but not only did theymanage to create a film tragedy that is nearly on par with the pile of*$%!£ that is named Eragon, but they managed to ruin ANOTHER greatbook...Still... Good points! Let's be positive... Humm... This may take a minute...Well, it was good as a stand-alone film, if it had nothing to with thebook and was called something completely different. I'm sure there area few more positive things about that film, but I don't rememberbecause I was too busy trying to ignore the awful parts.I'm sorry if I have upset and depressed you all with this review, maybeyou should put down all Percy Jackson merch. and film and go seesomething less... Bad...

ula_teava 2012-05-04 08:31:33

Bad movie, in every way!!!

When i first saw the trailer for this movie i automatically knew itwould not be a masterpiece but more of a funner, more action packedharry potter, and yet i had a feeling that a nice afternoon spent ongoing to see this movie would be a relaxing experience.Well I could nothave been more wrong.Lets start with the begging shall we ? The script, story and ideas,well the script has a very poor continuity, with everything happeningvery fast, with absolutely no profoundness neither in the charactersfeelings nor the actions themselves. It simply is a giant mixture of"things" happening, a giant mix-up of events with the continuity thatonly a 2 year old could possibly create. The story itself is a giantcliché of course.OK so we've cleared out the fact that the script is bad do to 0continuity, lack of dialog, lack of profoundness or meaning, now comethe characters, i have rarely seen such bad acting in my life. First ofall let me just say that at 1 point Percy's mother is believed to havebeen KILLED BY A MINOTAUR an yet he sheds no tear and seems to not feelany emotions about that, he simply carries on and shows not 1 drop ofemotion, that and the fact that his best friend, is a satyr(half manhalf goat), O and of course do to political correctness, the satyr isan African-American (an African-American,hip,cool, "gangsta"-talkingsatyr?!... please...). His love interest is nothing out of the ordinarywith the same acting skills as her "counterpart".Now back to the story, the plot is simply childish, and on almost everylevel it seems to much, even for a fantasy film. Let me just ask how inthe world does someone steal Zeus' Lightning Bolt, he most probablyholds it in his sleep. Now, after escaping a minotaur and having hismother seemingly killed (thing for which he sheds not 1 bit ofemotion... lame) he reaches a camp were demi-gods train, all thedemi-gods of world, or something like that.There the stupidity of thestory/script will astonish you again. First of all Percy is a city kidwith no fighting skills whatsoever. There he at 1 point fights the verygirl which consists of his love interest, she has been training foryears at the camp and still he manages to combat her at first, HEALSwith his "water powers" and then he manages to defeat her and otherdemi-gods ?! come on ....they were ALL demi-gods, the others hadfighting skills, he had zilch, yet he beet them. Now thats what i callchildishness, and stupidity on the director, writer and practicallyeveryone's part.OK the script is awful, the story is childish, devoid of emotion andlacks any kind of intelligence, characters that do not evolve in themovie in any way, OK maybe the cool effects help the movie?.No, eventhe special effects and costumes are simply ... bad. The costumes andeffects look like they were taken out of the 90' Xena and Herculesshows. Which frankly for a 2010 movie that anyway is bad in every otherway, this simply makes the movie unbearable.All in all, i simply cannot understand how anyone could like thismovie, it simply has nothing to offer, no story, bad script, awfulcharacters, and same with he special effects, and depth of the plot andemotions. I seriously suggest that you DO NOT watch this movie, it willsimply be a waste of your time. Other than laughing at the moviebecause of how bad it is (thing which i have done) you simply havenothing to gain from watching this peace of garbage.