Blu-Ray Review: Silly ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief’

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CHICAGO – The most notable thing about “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief,” now available on Blu-ray and DVD, is that it probably still holds position as the most horribly-titled film of the year. As for the actual movie, it follows in the footsteps of years of films trying to become the next “Harry Potter” franchise and, comparably, makes out much better than disasters like “Eragon” or “The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,” but that’s faint praise indeed.

Blu-Ray Rating: 2.5/5.0

There are elements of this cluttered family fantasy that work, especially with the polish of HD, but, once again, the super-dull director Chris Columbus has taken a fantasy book and done as little as possible to make it effective as a feature film. The Columbus plan seems to be to cast the right people and merely push the story forward as predictably as possible to please his demo. Young viewers will probably be relatively entertained but even they’re likely to be aware that this story could have had a bit more personality, especially if they’re old enough to drive.

The Crazies was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 29th, 2010
Photo credit: Anchor Bay

The comparisons with “Harry Potter” don’t stop at director (Columbus directed the first two Potter films), genre, or even the fact that the lead character’s names are similar (same amount of syllables and nearly the same amount of letters). Once again, audiences are treated to the story of an outsider who isn’t like the other kids that gets thrown into a major conflict but with swords instead of wands. There’s even a humorous male sidekick and a cute, strong female one to make the Harry-Ron-Hermione comparison more apt. And, just as in the first two Potter films, the biggest strength of this fantasy is in the young actors and what they bring to it, certainly not in what Columbus does by wasting a supporting cast or cluttering his story.

The Crazies was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 29th, 2010 Photo credit: Anchor Bay

Like so many fantasy stories, the tale of “Percy Jackson” is another one of those fables in which the problems of the real world become strengths in a fantasy one. What if your deadbeat dad wasn’t just a jerk but was actually a God? What if your dyslexia hinted that you were a Demigod? What if your mom (Catherine Keener) was with a jerk (Joe Pantoliano) to protect you?

The dark real world of Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) becomes understandable when the awkward kid learns that his mom once had a tumultuous affair with Poseidon (Kevin McKidd). Yes, THAT Poseidon. The God of Water has been fighting with his brothers — Zeus (Sean Bean) and Hades (Steve Coogan). When someone steals Zeus’ lightning bolt, he announced that war will come to Earth if it is not returned in two weeks. Zeus thinks that Percy stole it, bringing his protectors, a Satyr named Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) and a teacher centaur named Chiron (Pierce Brosnan), out of hiding to turn this mere mortal into the warrior that he’s destined to be.

The book by Rick Riordan detailed a world in which the Gods have always been a part of society, right there under our nose. Mount Olympus is accessible through the Empire State Building, but, for the most part, Columbus focuses on his trio of attractive leads — Percy, Grover, and the lovely Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), the striking daughter of Athena (Melina Kanakaredes). Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson steal the piece in cameos as Medusa and Persephone, respectively.

The Crazies was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 29th, 2010 Photo credit: Anchor Bay

“Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” just isn’t as much as it could have and should have been. Uma and Rosario are having a blast but the rest of the cast plays it deadly seriously. Lerman, Jackson, and Daddario are far more charismatic than many of the young leads in recent films of this ilk but that only goes so far when it’s in service of an episodic story that never develops emotional weight or even action pacing.

Films like “Percy Jackson” are naturally enhanced by an HD transfer as they’re so brazenly heavy with special effects to begin with. An English DTS-HD Master Audio track and a 1080p picture makes flaws easier to overlook. But not impossible.

Special Features:
o 10 Deleted Scenes
o “Secrets of the Gods” Featurette
o “Inside Camp Half-Blood”
o “Discover Your Powers” Quiz
o And More!

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com [email protected]