PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS:
THE LIGHTNING THIEF
2 out of 5 stars

i can't help but think of this movie as a cheap knockoff of the harry potter series... i mean, think about it! there's a boy (about the same age as harry in book 1) who finds out he's half-supernatural something, and ends up in a school/camp that's like a greco-roman version of hogwarts. the only problem is that the story isn't as exciting as the HP series... :/


i've heard that the books by rick riodan are actually pretty good, so hollywood fucked things up again w/ their film "adaption". basically, percy is the main protagonist who discovers that he is the son of the greek god poseidon after he's attacked by a fury disguised as his english teacher on a class field trip to the met. turns out that someone has stolen zeus's lightning bolt, and zeus blames percy for the theft. of course, percy is totally innocent, but he is then ushered to a place called "camp halfblood" where he learns some fighting skillz as well as befriends a pretty girl named annabeth. (daughter of athena- goddess of wisdom) of course, this is a greek story afterall, so there's an odyssey-type adventure where percy and his friends come across medusa, a hydra, as well as the lotus eaters. (the last one was a clever modern adaption tho...)

there were some good hollywood names attached to this one i.e. pierce brosnan as the dumbledorf equiv., rosario dawson as persephone (wife of hades), and even uma thurman as a convincing medusa. it tells a good adventure, but the ending/revelation of the actual lightning thief is really lame. in fact, i don't understand why hollywood didn't just stick with the book! do i think this will be a multi-part movie series? probably not... even if, i wouldn't see it. this one may be a fun adventure for little kids (maybe 5-10), but i'd rather stick with my brits in harry potter or watch clash of the titans again... and i mean the 2010 version! :P (which wasn't that great BTW)

p.s. speaking of multi-part movies based on a book series: CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: DAWN TREADER...IN THEATERS SOON! GET EXCITED! :)