Movie Review: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

A common teenager, played by Logan Lerman, discovers that he is the descendent of Poseidon the Greek ocean god in Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief. Now he must jump into a fight between gods because his newfound enemies think he stole Zeus's lightning power. As you can guess, this is a fast-paced movie which struggles to get the viewer up to speed with the mythological world as well as the main characters. Luckily Percy has a stoic satyr, played by Brandon T. Jackson, to help him out.

The director, Chris Columbus, is best known for his work on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Percy Jackson has that same innocent feel of those early Harry Potter movies, where mixing magic and modern teenage life seems whimsical and fun. In reality, the experience would lead to mental breakdowns and schizophrenia.

Unlike the broad appeal of Harry Potter to young and old, Percy is geared almost exclusively for preteens. The writers must have thought kids would empathize with Percy's struggle with attention deficit disorder (which we only find evidence of through dialogue not actions) and dyslexia. But these traits are not actually faults, they are just signs he is a demi-god. That's a great concept for a teenage fantasy movie, but they ridiculously implemented it into the movie.

As is necessary in any teenage action movie, there is a love interest for Percy Jackson, the daughter of Athena played by Alexandra Daddario. She has the looks to get the boys in the theater to pay attention. And even if adults don't find this movie fascinating, boys and girls who still watch Nickelodeon and need something to pacify them between Twilight movies will enjoy Percy Jackson & the Olympians. Look for sequels to come.