Greeks, geeks and eeks
Medusa (Uma Thurman) is about to get a heads-up from Percy (Logan Lerman).
(20th Century Fox)
Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Running time: 119 minutes
MPAA rating: PG (mild profanity, action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material)
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A son-of-Poseidon adventure aimed at the young and the young-at-heart, "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" turns out to be more silly fun than it probably deserves to be.
Greek mythology mixes with modern times when someone steals the lightning bolt belonging to Zeus, king of the Mount Olympus gods.
Before you get the idea that this fantasy adventure is heading for something stuffy, you should know that director Chris Columbus, who called the shots on the first two "Harry Potter" adventures, has discovered a way to make Greek mythology a hoot most of the time.
It's a creature-feature, really. Established stars Catherine Keener, Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman mix with up acting newbies in a rousing adventure that yee-haws its way through Nashville and enters the gates of hell below the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
Logan Lerman, who's been around a while and who shared the screen with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the Western remake "3:10 to Yuma," heads the second-generation cast. He's Percy, a high school student who loves his mom (Keener), but can't stand his stinky lout stepfather Gabe (Joe Pantoliano).
Percy, as he soon finds out, is the son of Poseidon. That makes him a demigod -- half human, half god. Along with protector Grover (Brandon T. Jackson, the actor/rapper of "Tropic Thunder"), a satyr (half human, half goat) and a warrior named Annabeth (TV actress Alexandra Daddario), Percy must find out who stole the lightning bolt and return it before all hell breaks loose.
Columbus, working from Craig Titley's adaptation of Rick Riordan's 2005 best seller, combines frivolity with the adventure. Some of it is quite tongue-in-cheek. I'm not so sure we're supposed to giggle the first time Brosnan trots on screen as Chiron, a half-human, half-horse Centaur. But we do.
And if staging hell directly under Hollywood isn't genius, it's close enough. Throw in Uma Thurman's writhing hair snakes for her turn as Medusa and you're in for some wild, if sometimes overly silly action entertainment.
The story is hokey. The acting is OK, and the special effects are impressive.
If you like creature-features, though, you can do a lot worse than this free-wheeling clash of the junior titans.
Greek mythology mixes with modern times when someone steals the lightning bolt belonging to Zeus, king of the Mount Olympus gods.
Before you get the idea that this fantasy adventure is heading for something stuffy, you should know that director Chris Columbus, who called the shots on the first two "Harry Potter" adventures, has discovered a way to make Greek mythology a hoot most of the time.
It's a creature-feature, really. Established stars Catherine Keener, Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman mix with up acting newbies in a rousing adventure that yee-haws its way through Nashville and enters the gates of hell below the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
Logan Lerman, who's been around a while and who shared the screen with Russell Crowe and Christian Bale in the Western remake "3:10 to Yuma," heads the second-generation cast. He's Percy, a high school student who loves his mom (Keener), but can't stand his stinky lout stepfather Gabe (Joe Pantoliano).
Percy, as he soon finds out, is the son of Poseidon. That makes him a demigod -- half human, half god. Along with protector Grover (Brandon T. Jackson, the actor/rapper of "Tropic Thunder"), a satyr (half human, half goat) and a warrior named Annabeth (TV actress Alexandra Daddario), Percy must find out who stole the lightning bolt and return it before all hell breaks loose.
Columbus, working from Craig Titley's adaptation of Rick Riordan's 2005 best seller, combines frivolity with the adventure. Some of it is quite tongue-in-cheek. I'm not so sure we're supposed to giggle the first time Brosnan trots on screen as Chiron, a half-human, half-horse Centaur. But we do.
And if staging hell directly under Hollywood isn't genius, it's close enough. Throw in Uma Thurman's writhing hair snakes for her turn as Medusa and you're in for some wild, if sometimes overly silly action entertainment.
The story is hokey. The acting is OK, and the special effects are impressive.
If you like creature-features, though, you can do a lot worse than this free-wheeling clash of the junior titans.
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