Sunday, February 14, 2010

REVIEW: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

IMDb

Title: Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Distributor:
20th Century Fox
Director:
Chris Columbus
Writer(s):
Craig Titley (screenplay), Rick Riordan (novel)
Staring:
Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd
MPAA Rating:
Rated PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language.
Running Time:
119 min
Synopsis:
A teenager discovers he's the descendant of a Greek god and sets out on an adventure to settle an on-going battle between the gods.

What Others Are Saying?

At The Movies: A.O. Scott: NA, Michael Phillips: NA
Rotten Tomatoes: T-Meter: 48% (Rotten), Top Critics: 35% (Rotten), RT Community: 69% (Fresh)
Metacritic: Critics: 48 out of 100, Users: 6.7 out of 10
MRQE Metric: 50: (0.0% A, 25.8% B, 54.1% C, 18.0% D, and 0.0% F)
Yahoo Movies: Critics: C+ Users: A-


My Review

Source Material:
Based off a book with the same title written by Rick Riordan. How does it match up to the book? I just started to reading the book cause I enjoyed the movie. So far the biggest difference I saw between the book and movies is Percy Jackson age. In the book he is twelve and in the movie he's a junior higher, if not older.

Entertaining Value:

  • Action Elements: Its an adventure so Percy and his friends are away in a state of peril, which lead to many action sequence
  • Comedy Elements: Being a kiddish type film it has some cheesy line and some decent slapstick.
  • Dramatic Elements: The drama comes mainly from the fact that all the demigods come from broken homes aka "daddy issues" and "abandonment" I think these iusse may hit home with the youth today, especially with the divorce rate rising daily.
  • Sci-Fi / Fantasy Elements: Well, we are dealing with Greek mythology so yes it jammed packed with all kinds of sci-fi/ fantasy elements.

Cinematic Value:

  • Acting and Dialogue: B+: I think the children actors did a fine job since most of them it there first acting job especially on the big screen. I like there were some big named actors to play small roles and cameos. It helped to balance out the amature actors. As far as the dialogue it did get a bit cheesy but I am willing to bet that's because it meant for a younger audience.
  • Art Direction: B: High fantasy movies like this one shine in the artistic categorizes. some of the different worlds they had to create like The Underworld were cool and beautiful in away.
  • Cinematography: B+: This film capture the fun qualities of an adventure. This was done mainly in the fact that the action sequence where shot properly.
  • Direction: B: It has that child friendly style that Chris Columbus has mastered in films like Home Alone and the first two Harry Potters. But I will give him props on know how to do put together a fun adventure that both kids and adults can enjoy...This is the man who wrote the Goonies, can you say CLASSIC.
  • Editing: B: The film was easy to follow, no real unique editing style.
  • Screenplay: B: The story was good but I maybe saying that out of bias toward being a huge fan of mythology especially Greek mythology.
  • Sound and Music: C: I am going to say it was way to cliche, example some says "If you see my dad on the highway to hell kick his ass for me" cue in Highway to Hell music by AC/DC.
  • VFX: B+: It has the same wow factor that the first Harry Potter's had. After seeing Avatar its going to take a lot to blows me out of the water with its visual effects. But at the same time this is the first movie that is VFX based that I have seen since Avatar, which is like comparing apples and oranges, you just can't do it.

Moral and Ethical Value:

  • Themes: Friendship, Coming of Age
  • Moral of the Story: Always strive to do the right thing.
  • Take Home: Always stand-up for what you believe in even if others don't agree with you.

Overall:
B+: Even with my bias to Greek mythology it's a good movie. I hope it get an enough money to finish the rest of the books. The first movie excited my interest.

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