Movie Review: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

I originally watched this movie when it came to the theater, but my 8-year-old heard about it from some friends at school (because of the recent release of the sequel) and wanted to watch it. So we watched it together (amazon digital content, $2.99). And for an 8-year-old, it was a good movie.

For an adult, on the other hand…

Let me start by saying that I did read the book first, and for a change my advice is: Don’t. Seriously, don’t. One of the reasons I watched the movie was that as I read the book, the only thing I could think was that it would make a much better movie. Why? Because it was cinematic. It was all bangs and blings, with almost no depths of character or situation that would have made the book bring more to the story than a live-action extravaganza. This story should have started as a script.

The core idea is very cute — the Greek Gods are still having kids and Percy’s the son of Poseidon. Great setup.

I didn’t care for the world building much. The Greek myths did not merge seamlessly into the modern world. I didn’t understand the purpose of the camp for demi-gods. And frankly, they got some of the myths wrong. The one that really gnawed at me was Persephone — she’s supposed to be in Hades during the FALL and WINTER, not the SPRING or SUMMER. Her story clearly established the purpose of the seasons in Greek lore.

But my 8-year-old enjoyed it and he is interested in the sequel, so I imagine I’ll have a review of that one too.

I recommend this for kids, tweens, and teens. Adults, its’ fine. Don’t over think it.