JIM reviews film "PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF"

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Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

MY Rating: 8 of 10 stars (based on a regular screening of the 118-minute film).

Can a Bolt of Lightning Cause all these PROBLEMS?!…

Who took it?!… Someone has stolen the powerful Lightning Bolt that helps give power to chief god Zeus (Sean Bean), & he blames his co-god Poseidon (Kevin McKidd) for the situation. Poseidon denies any involvement, but Zeus suspects his 21st Century son Percy (= Perseus, played by Logan Lerman), & gives him 2 weeks to get the object back in his hands “or else”…

… Down on earth, Logan has no idea “why” he tends to love being around water, & impresses his crutch-using best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) with how long he can stay underwater… Brandon is a very “jaunty” talker, always eager to try to impress the girls in high school, while Logan is somewhat “laid back” as he tries to deal with his bothersome DYSLEXIA & ADHD…

… Back at home, Logan is bothered by the disrespectful way his stepfather Gabe Ugliano (Joe Pantoliano) treats his mother Sally (Catherine Keener), & there’s always lots of tension between him & Joe…

… Logan joins his class on a special trip to a New York museum led by wheelchair-bound teacher Mr. Brunner (Pierce Brosnan) who regularly encourages Logan. Logan is surprised he’s suddenly able to read Greek inscriptions on artifacts in the Museum. Pierce speaks of mythology including remarking how the Gods would often “hook-up” with mortals, which thus created demi-gods that the Gods were not supposed to speak directly to after they were born…

… At one point, Logan is disturbed when he’s called into a closed-off Museum room by a woman teacher who suddenly turns into a monster & demands he “return” the Lightning Bolt he knows nothing about. Brandon helps him, & says he’s Logan’s “PROTECTOR”. Pierce also helps him in the conflict…

… Back at Logan’s home, there’s another blow-up between him & Joe, & his mom takes him & Brandon away from their apartment to try to transport them in her car to the safety of “Camp Half-Blood”. On the way, they’re attacked by a Minotaur who “dissolves” Logan’s mother because Logan won’t give back the Lightning Bolt that’s wanted by its god Hades (Steve Coogan)…

… In the Camp, Logan learns that it’s populated by a bunch of demi-gods and special creatures, including Counselor Chiron (Pierce) who’s a centaur (a horse with a human head), & Brandon is suddenly able to walk because — as a Satyr — he has the legs of a goat…

… Logan is quite “taken” with the looks of a warrior girl called Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), who it turns out is the daughter of Athena, goddess of Wisdom. He’s befriended by blond-haired Luke (Jake Abel), the estranged son of Hermes, who eventually gives him winged shoes & a special shield to help in his warrior training (where Logan learns he can be healed & given special power by water)…

… After a confrontation in camp with Hades who suddenly appears, Logan, Brandon & Alexandra set off on a quest to find 3 special Pearls that can magically transport them up to Zeus… They take the “Highway to Hell” (leading towards Atlantic City, oddly enough)…

… The first pearl-searching stop takes them to an antique shop of garden statues called “Auntie Em’s” (a name which harkens back to “The Wizard of Oz”)… There, the group has a very stressful run-in with the proprietor, who eventually turns into snake-haired Medusa (Uma Thurman), whose gaze can turn people into stone… Eventually, they successfully fight their way out of there, with the first Pearl in hand…

… Their next stop is the replica Parthenon building in Nashville… They see the pearl atop the head of the statue of Athena inside the structure, but have to delay their attempt at getting it. That eventually gets them in a battle with the fire-breathing HYDRA protecting the pearl and trying to destroy them (seemingly at Hades’ command, since he wants the Lightning Bolt to increase his own power)…

… That sets the group off to their third stop on the quest, the Lotus Hotel in Las Vegas— where they’re sidetracked by an Alice-In-Wonderland type obstacle in trying to get the third Pearl… As they travel, there are numerous funny “asides” & comments by people, especially free-wheeling Brandon who’s regularly trying to get with the pretty ladies around them…

… As usual, there are a bunch of SKIRMISHES with creatures sent to stop them, all done with typically enjoyable SPECIAL EFFECTS… The group then sets off to the lair of HADES (in an apropos location in California), with Logan hoping to rescue his mother… There, they encounter Persephone (Rosario Dawson), associate of Hades and keeper of the Hell Hounds…

… The LIGHTNING BOLT suddenly appears, & there’s a solid conflict to gain possession of it… The question is— WHERE did it come from?! Who really STOLE it?… You’ll see who, & there’s a big FIGHT between that person and Percy (Logan) for final control of it…

… I quite ENJOYED this movie, with its good-natured, “breezy” attitude in a world of Gods & demi-gods, humans and monsters, and fights between “good and evil”. It didn’t take itself too “seriously” (offering a “relaxed” camaraderie between the main characters), yet it told the basic story effectively (mixing Mythology with Modern Day)…

… In addition, the film sports some impressive (even if not state-of-the-art) SPECIAL EFFECTS (which reminded me a bit of the great stop-motion effects done by Ray Harryhausen in the 1963 film “Jason & The Argonauts” & 1981’s “Clash Of the Titans”)…

… The young people in the audience enjoyed the antics of Brandon, & I thought Logan (so good as the younger brother in “The Squid And the Whale”) was unusually “BELIEVABLE” in a role that was difficult to “come across” that way…

… Some people have complained that this movie didn’t sufficiently “approximate” the BOOK on which it was based. I didn’t read any of the books in the series, & am judging the film on what it is in itself. Yes, it’s sometimes purposely “silly” (such as a piece added-in during the credits), but it was good-natured FUN at a time when far too many films fail at achieving that (no matter their type)…