If you like your Greek Mythology as much as I do, you’ll love Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. And if, like my kids, you’ve never even heard of a Greek Myth, you’ll still love this movie. It’s full of plenty of action and special effects, and the characters are great.
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The film stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, the demi-god son of Poseidon, and he’s a great choice. He’s a little bit adorable, but not so over the top that the movie becomes a total drool fest. Percy must set off on a quest to find and return a very special lightning bolt to its rightful owner, Zeus, who mistakenly thinks Percy has stolen it. (Long story — but watch the movie to find out who really stole it.)
He’s accompanied by Annabeth (played by Alexandra Daddario), the demi-goddess daughter of Athena (and a terrific warrior) and Grover, a satyr who’s been masquerading as Percy’s best bud for years in order to protect him – and Brandon T. Jackson is excellent – he’s funny without becoming ridiculous comic relief, especially considering he spends the entire movie either on crutches or goat legs.
Percy and Annabeth have a little flirtation going, but it doesn’t play out as a romance, which keeps this film more appealing to slightly younger kids, like my 7 and 10-year olds.
Of course the quest takes many turns and the three intrepid teenagers must travel far and face many harrowing challenges – all the while keeping my kids’ interest and mine – AND keeping a PG rating. It’s very exciting and the special effects are great.
My 7-year-old loved the cool gadgets Percy is given in order to fight off attackers, like what appears to be a ball point pen but actually turns out to be a sword when you click it. Or the shield that articulates out when necessary. Very Fun Stuff.
My 10-year-old liked the Medusa scene best, and I can’t blame him: a woman’s head covered in snakes is very compelling, after all.
I loved being reminded of all the myths I loved as a kid – and the things I might have forgotten – like if you cut off a Hydra’s head, apparently 2 grow back in it’s place, so you gotta watch out for that.
And I really loved all the fantastic cameos by terrific actors along the way: Pierce Brosnan plays a centaur named Chiron who’s been passing himself off as a paraplegic teacher of Percy’s in order to keep an eye on him. When he finally can be his true self, in the demi-god woodland safe house and training grounds where they hang out – he is resplendent in his horsiness.
It’s hilarious and I have to respect anyone who’d go from James Bond to “horse’s ass”, as he refers to himself in the film. (Totally off-topic, did you know that Pierce Brosnan designed the Spay & Neuter license plate for California? He did. Check it out.)
More cameos: Uma Thurman plays the coolest Medusa in all of cinema history, I feel pretty safe saying – she looked AMAZING, even with the snake-do. Steve Coogan plays a very funny Hades and Rosario Dawson is his self-actualized sometime prisoner Persephone. Catherine Keener is Percy’s mortal mother, still carrying a torch for Poseidon, but married as a cover to a very smelly Joe Pantoliano.
And in a very nice touch, Melina Kanakaredes plays Athena, Annabeth’s mother, and possibly the only Greek in the entire cast. She is perfect as Athena — just as I always pictured her. We can all recommend this movie very easily — and on DVD and Blu-Ray you’ll get extras like deleted scenes.
{FULL DISCLOSURE} {I was given the DVD to review and given permission to post these photographs from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.}