Review of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) by Oxana — 23 Aug 2014

Strong 3 stars.

I didn't dare to expect too many things from this movie, considering the target audience, but I was positively surprised.

The story starts out strong: we get a good look at Percy Jackson's life; his mother lives with looser of a man, and it comes as no shock that he is more at ease at the bottom of the pool than in a classroom - due to increasingly worsening dyslexia and a possibility of ADHD.

And then Percy's life changes entirely: his cripple friend isn't actually cripple, his substitude English teacher tosses him around, and the life Percy knew is obsolete.

During the first half of the movie, things manage to stay interesting. Percy is struggling with the truth and trying to adjust to his new task, but soon after that the movie falls into the same pitfalls as so many others before it: the awkward hero finds the HERO in him, and it's all off to a new, glorious adventure without fear or doubts - and with A minimum of mistakes. Almost like taking a pill and instantly becoming a capable warrior, only without the pill.

The cast was good, and Logan Lerman did well as Percy. Even Pierce Brosnan was quite good with his horse's ass. The only real disappointment was that Annabeth's character was quite unnecessary. She really didn't contribute that much to the story in general, other than being the pretty girl/heroine who is, naturally, more skilled than our clumsy hero (at least in the very beginning).

Also, the villain wasn't such a big surprise; they gave it away early in the movie, because why otherwise have a rather unimportant character suddenly help them without preamble or a real, valid reason?

Not a bad movie, even in the end. A little unsurprising, because we've seen this so many times before. Better than I dared to hope, though, and the special effects and music blended very nicely.