DVD Voice

This little movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was surprisingly good! This is based on the book by Rick Riordan and was directed by Chris Columbus (Home Alone 2, and the first two Harry Potter movies – Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets). You have Logan Lerman playing the title role of Percy Jackson, who unknown to him he is a demi-god and the son of Poseidon played by Kevin McKidd. Someone, it seems has stolen Zues’s (Sean Bean of the Lord of the Rings) lightning bolt and everyone thinks Percy has it. The gods will have a war if it isn’t returned in two weeks and this war would mean the end of the world … and I reckon this is the 2012 thing the Mayans were predicting.

Anyway, Percy finds out he is a demi-god, his mother (Catherine Keener) is taken off to the underworld as a bargaining chip for the lightning bolt – actually a weapon and Zeus’s special power. So he sets off on a journey to get his mother and find the lightning bolt to return it to Zeus. Along the way little things like a three headed Hydra and Medusa (by the appealing Uma Thurman) her special effects snake head is cool!

Not to give anything away if you haven’t seen or read the books, but on the recommendation of a friend I watched this and was pleasantly surprised because I thought it was a kids movie. There was several good little jokes poked in there, some jokes slid in for the adults and the CGI is well-done. It is interesting that the young Percy and his fellow demi-gods all pretty much despise their god parent (no pun intended) even though they have been told how they can’t be around them – isn’t permitted. I mean, if I just found out I was adopted and my real dad had all these powers and I’d have a few of them too, well – cool!

Things you learn:

1. If you are a demi-god you can go onto the casino floor even though you are underage.
2. If you eat the lotus flowers no one cares if you have goat’s legs – in fact women love you for it.
3. The entrance to hades and the underworld is in Hollywood!
4. It doesn’t take long to drive from Nashville to Las Vegas.
5. Maserati’s are way cool!
6. Even demi-gods love to play games and video games.
7. Swords never go out of style!
8. Apple iPods make great Medusa hunting and killing tools.

Rated PG. 118 minutes (1 hour 58 minutes). Action violence. There is a lot of fighting and the teenagers are playing with real swords and trying to cut.