Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (2010) [Blu-ray]
Adventure | Fantasy

Modern and mythical worlds collide in this thunderous fantasy-adventure starring Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd and Uma Thurman as you've never seen them before! Percy Jackson is no ordinary teenager...he's just learned he's the son of Poseidon and is accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt - the most powerful weapon ever created! With storm clouds brewing, Percy embarks on an incredible cross-country journey to prove his innocence, recover the bolt and prevent a war amongst the gods that could destroy our world!

Storyline: When his lightning bolt is stolen, Zeus accuses Poseidon's son Percy Jackson and gives Poseidon's son fourteen days to return it, otherwise he will initiate a war amongst the gods. Meanwhile the teenager, Percy, who is dyslexic and has ADHD is visiting The Museum of Metropolitan of Art and is attacked by a Fury disguised in his teacher. His crippled best friend Grover reveals that Percy is a demigod and that he is his protector and his teacher Mr Brunner gives him a pen telling him that it is a powerful weapon. They go to Percy's house and together with his mother Sally they drive to the Camp Half-Blood. However Sally is attacked by a Minotaur and vanishes before Percy can help her. In the camp, Percy befriends the gorgeous Annabeth; when they are attacked by Hades who wants the lighting bolt for himself, Percy discovers that his mother is in the Underworld with Hades. Percy decides to travel on a dangerous quest to retrieve the lightning bolt and save his mother. Grover and Annabeth ... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Casey Broadwater on July 1, 2010 -- Who dares to stand up and have a pop at Harry Potter, reigning young adult fantasy film champ? Eragon fell under one white-hot riff from Potter's wand and The Golden Compass, which came out swinging, got K.O.'ed after a single round. The Spiderwick Chronicles will never reach its final chapter, Lemony Snicket suffered a series of unfortunate events, and The Seeker, well, that one got tangled in the ropes before it could even enter the ring. The Narnia films are currently having a go, but they're still in the welterweight division. Undefeated after six bouts—and now having raked in a combined five and half billion worldwide box office dollars—it doesn't look like anyone can even land a punch on the Potter series. Nonethelesss, fresh-faced new fighters, cherry-picked from the ranks of the New York Times young adult bestseller list, keep emerging. The latest contender was Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightening Thief, which had better odds than most. Based on an extraordinarily successful series of books and directed by Chris Columbus—who helmed the first two Harry Potter films—Percy Jackson actually seemed to have a chance. Note the past tense. Percy fought a good fight, but I don't think we'll be seeing a rematch.

Based on the first novel in a five-volume series by author and middle school teacher Rick Riordan, The Lightening Thief—like the first Harry Potter—is about a boy awakening to his supernatural powers. Right off the bat, though, the film takes some liberties with the story, presumably to appeal to an older audience. In the book, Percy Jackson is a 12-year-old tweener. Here, he's 17, played by up-and-coming teen heartthrob Logan Lerman. While this age change makes box-office sense—widen the demographic, fatten the profits—it doesn't bode well for the future of the series. Quite literally, there's no room to grow. Where could Harry Potter have gone if it started with a hero who's practically an adult? Brush aside the wizards, dragons, and magic and these young adult fantasy novels are all essentially coming-of-age stories, so it seems somewhat misguided to start the potential Percy Jackson franchise, age-wise, where the Potter series is just now ending. I mean, if they did make five PJ films—and they won't—Percy would look about 26 by the finale.

Anyway, rant over. The film begins with a bang as brothers Zeus (Sean Bean) and Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) meet for a tête-à-tête atop the Empire State Building. Zeus is practically frothing because his lightening bolt was stolen, and—for some reason—he thinks Poseidon's son is the culprit. If he doesn't get his bolt back in 14 days, there's going to be an all-out war o' the gods. Of course, Poseidon's son is Percy Jackson, a high-schooler with ADHD and dyslexia who has no freaking idea that he's actually a demigod. (Meaning, if your mythology is a bit dusty, that a deity knocked up his mortal mom.) When word gets out that Percy might have Zeus' bolt, every mythological creature from the Underworld to Olympus wants a piece of our unwitting hero, whose mind, for the first act of the film, is being continuously blown in a series of WTF-style reveals. His mom (Catherine Keener) is kidnapped by Hades himself, his best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) turns out to be a furry-legged satyr, his wheelchair-bound teacher is actually Chiron (Pierce Brosnan), a badass centaur, and he's whisked away to the secluded Camp Half Blood, a kind of Hogwarts for demigods. Here, he meets Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), the sword-wielding daughter of Athena, and together with Grover they set off for the Underworld to confront Hades, rescue Percy's mom, and hopefully find the whereabouts of Zeus' bolt.

As with Neil Gaiman's novel American Gods, the premise of mythological characters secretly inhabiting a modern world is rife with potential, and The Lightening Thief is at its best when it unexpectedly juxtaposes the ancient with the commonplace. A trip to "Auntie Em's" garden store—the kind of shack that sells stone statues—gets creepier by the minute as we realize that it's actually Medusa's lair. (Uma Thurman plays the snake-haired seductress with appropriately slithery panache.) Our heroes confront the five-headed Hydra at Nashville's replica of the Parthenon, and get foiled by the opiate-doling Lotus Eaters, who now run a casino in Vegas. In a sly jab, the entrance to the Underworld is found beneath the Hollywood sign. Here, the film takes an oddly comedic turn as Hades—previously seen as a hulking CGI demon made of molten lava—is revealed to be Steve Coogan, clad in leather and looking a bit like a Spinal Tap reject or, perhaps, the late Ronnie James Dio. His consort, Persephone, is played by the fabulous Rosario Dawson, wearing an off-the-shoulder dress and a perpetual come-hither stare.

The mythological characters are fun, the special effects are decent, and the pace moves at a brisk clip, but The Lightening Thief lacks the cinematic wizardry—the sense of awe and wonder at each new scene—that made the early Harry Potter films such instant successes with audiences of all ages. Try through he might, director Chris Columbus—whose last movie, I Love You Beth Cooper, was a total flop—can't quite recapture the magic. This is partly because in the wake of Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, all other fantasy films have started to feel like me-too productions, blatant attempts to cash in on a trend. The Lightening Thief is pure Hollywood cookie-cutter product, more of a feature-length ad campaign than a creative, risk-taking film. It's enjoyable while it lasts—and fans of the books will at least want to give it a chance—but I don't think Percy Jackson has the staying power to support a franchise.

Percy Jackson is solid young adult entertainment—it's got gods, heroes, and a great premise— but I don't think it will start a franchise, let alone go head to head with Harry Potter. While the action is intense and the characters are likeable, the magic just isn't there. Still, The Lightening Thief works well as a standalone movie, which is good considering that we probably won't be returning to this cinematic world. A rental is probably in order for most fantasy fans, but some might by swayed to a purchase by the disc's stunning audio/video presentation.

[CSW] -3.3- Although a teen movie from one of the 5 books in the series it was well paced enough to hold your interest for the full two hours plus the CG was quite impressive in many of the scenes. The CG and pacing made up for the plot holes and moved this up to a recommended great one-time-movie. Still I understand that the books are much better than the movie which is as it should be for any coming of age story.
[A4.5-V5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box motion codes were available at the time of this rental although they are available now.

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