Percy Jackson: the lightning thief
Released on 12 February 2010 and directed by Chris Columbus, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, with Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson joining him on the adventure. It’s based on the book by Rick Riordan, although the movie seems to have read the book, squinted at it, and then decided to do its own thing anyway.
One of the biggest issues is the characters’ ages. In the book they’re about 12, but in the movie they’re suddenly teenagers who look like they’re about to start university. It kind of changes the vibe from “kids discovering they’re demigods” to “demigods who might also have part-time jobs.”
The plot also moves really fast. Percy finds out he’s the son of Poseidon and about five minutes later he’s on a massive quest to return Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt. There’s barely time to process the fact that Greek gods exist before monsters start appearing everywhere.
To be fair, the movie does have some fun moments. The action scenes are entertaining, and seeing creatures like Medusa show up is pretty cool. Logan Lerman does a solid job as Percy, even though the script sometimes feels like it was written by someone speed-running the book.
Overall, the movie is ‘meh’ sort of movie but is regarded as a loose version of the actual book