Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Review

Thanks for checking out my Percy Jackson review. Here's the basic plot.

"It's the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus and assorted monsters have walked out of the pages of high school student Percy Jackson's Greek mythology texts and into his life. And they're not happy: Zeus' lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Even more troubling is the sudden disappearance of Percy's mother. As Percy adapts to his newly discovered status as a demi-god (his father is Poseidon), he finds himself caught between the battling titans of Mt. Olympus. He and his friends embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true lightning thief, save Percy's mom, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves. (moviefone.com)

The Good: I really enjoyed these books. Very entertaining,with great action and humor. Great series, and people would expect them to ruin it by marketing for their new movie. I enjoyed the trailer, but just didn't see like the book. But this movie doesn't hit the ground at all, no sir. It's just about as good as the Harry Potter series, seriously.

Great special effects and action. Harry Potter has good CGI and some definitely intense and scary moments. Percy Jackson has all of that, if not more so. Lots of intense action that may be too exciting and scary for the young ones. So with nonstop action (and some actually frightening moments), this movie is very enjoyable and entertaining.

Good story. Based on the books, Percy Jackson goes into another world (hint, hint, harry potter) and realizes what he's capable of. (Do I have to say it again?) But the plot is good enough to keep it going along, with some great twists if you haven't already read the books.

Actually good with the source material. This movie actually follows the books pretty well. There's still a ton of material they left out (probably for runtime reasons), but it follows the book pretty much how I imagined it. Good job!

Hilarious. It's hard to make a movie like this funny. Wrong. There are some great laugh-out-loud moments in this movie, not only from the dialogue, but because it's extremely fun to watch and easy to enjoy.

The Bad: Not-so-bad bad guy. I won't give it away, but the "actual" lightning thief in this movie is actually not so evil. This person steals it because he/she wants revenge from his/her father/mother. But it's a pathetic reason to start a war. This bad guy's reputation is disappointing, and is not like in the books.

Annoying cliches. Not so many, but you know how the bad guy has the good guy on the edge of death? Always waits until the last minute talking and babbling on what he's going to do after he kills the hero. Then a miracle happens for the good guy and the bad guy loses. Always. Well, that happens in here. It's actually pretty pathetic, because he talks, and waits for a few minutes not saying a word, because he's amazed at the miracle that's happening right in front of him! That's just so annoying to me.

Overall: Movies and books are like apples and oranges. Both great, but have different tastes. I won't just this movie based on the book, and when I do that, I realize I've seen a pretty darn good, enjoyable ride. Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is definitely worth checking out, with its fun story and great action and visuals. A-.