Review by Bookreader for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray]
Rating:
First off let me just say that I have read all 5 books at least twice through. I am an avid fan of this series. I was looking forward to this movie for quite a while. Of course this takes the course that many book adaptions take. That is, it differs from the book in many ways. Personally, I went to the midnight showing of this film expecting the differences, and went with an open mind to the idea of differences. And you know what? I immensely enjoyed this film! First, let me run down some differences between the book and film.

Unless you’ve read the book and don’t mind finding out what was cut and changed, consider this your SPOILER ALERT!

First and most obviously, the ages of the actors. They are all in their late teens, whereas the kids in the book are 12.

Second, no Ares, Clarisse, or Dionysus. The fight for the Lightning Bolt is with Luke instead of Ares. And Annabeth takes on the role of the warrior girl in the movie.

Third, instead of a quest, Percy Grover and Annabeth just ditch camp to get the lightning bolt and save Percy’s mother.

Fourth, NO PROPHECY. No mention of Thalia or the Big Three pact. I hope they mention it in The Sea of Monsters if they make it.

Those are the 4 biggest changes I remember from the movie and biggest complaints from avid fans. Logan Lerman (Percy), Alexandra Daddario (Annabeth), Brandon T Jackson (Grover), and Jake Abel (Luke) are all great actors. I hadn’t really heard of them until The Lightning Thief. But they are terrific actors! Brandon is hilarious as Grover, and makes tons of jokes as the comic relief. Some may find his constant cracking of joke irritating, but in the right mood he’s hilarious.

Sean Bean, and Kevin Mckidd are great as Zeus and Poseidon respectively. They’re not in it very much, but Mr. Mckidd’s entrance in the beginning of the film is awesome. I won’t reveal more, but he’s the first we see in the film.

And lets not forget Uma Thurman as Medusa! She was brilliantly done, and was very spooky and awesome. If you’ve read the book you know she dies, but I wish they would find a way to bring back Medusa because Uma Thurman was brilliant!

All in all, this was an amazing film, and I look forward to the deleted scenes included with the Blu-Ray release, because only 5 out of 10 scenes are on the DVD release. Plus, the Blu-Ray comes with a DVD and a code for a free copy on iTunes, which is brilliant. So this is a great film for the whole family, and I know I will be headed to the store to get it after it’s release. (or, I think I’ll just buy from amazon, because they do have really good prices on Blu-Rays)

Review by hpfreak611 for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray]
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I’m going to start this review by saying, yes, I did read the book.

I went into this movie with one of my guy friends, and I wasn’t expecting much. I read the book when I was twelve, and I vaguely remember enjoying it. I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was pretty entertaining, not too cheesy or predictable, and I loved the mythology that was tied in with it. After seeing the movie I went back and read the book again. There were a lot of differences from the book. The movie appears to have been made to target teens, and I’d recommend it for teens. It was a fun movie.

I also recommend reading the book (either before or after seeing the movie). Even re-reading the book (at 17), I enjoyed it. It was quick and light and funny at times. Overall and easy/fun read.

Review by Mahlers2nd for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray]
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My son who is twelve has read all the books and when he saw this movie was coming out, he was thrilled and was counting down the days. I had never read the books but having seen the trailer, wasn’t exactly looking forward to it — Medusa’s head was pretty creepy and there was a lot of scary imagery so I didn’t think it would be my thing.

So going into the movie, my expectations were pretty low and my sons were very high.

That said, I (for the most part) really enjoyed the movie. One of the things I liked was the way they turned Percy’s “faults” (Dyslexia, ADHD) into advantages — but they did it without heavy handed preachyness that you often find in kids cartoons. My younger son has Asperger’s so it provides a natural “talking point” to help you show your kids how to think of their own personalities as positives.

The characters were likable and there were a lot of funny lines. It wasn’t too predictable or formulaic (with the exception that I spotted the villan the minute I saw him and you did know that good would triumph over evil). I found parts of the movie a bit far-fetched but hey, that’s pretty much to be expected in any movie — particularly one aimed at tween-agers. Overall, I thought it was fun and am looking forward to the sequel.

That said, my son came away rather disappointed. This is his first experience seeing a book he has read turned into a movie (he never got into the Harry Potter series). He said that many parts of the book were left out and parts of the movie just weren’t in the book at all. He still enjoyed it for the most part and definitely is looking forward to the sequel. However, the movie did not live up to his expectations — as opposed to my expectations being surpassed.

I note about the imagery. I found a lot of the imagery to be rather yucky and scary. I would definitely not recommend it for kids under the age of 8-10. The Medusa just really creeped me out and Hades was very scary as well — and I’m 46 years old. So if you are taking your kids and they have much younger siblings you might want to leave them home.

Overall, for me it was a fun afternoon and I’m glad I went. I’m a little sad that my son was disappointed but given how Hollywood often takes “creative license” with books, I’m not too surprised.

[NCJAR]

Review by J. B. Pritchard for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray]
Rating:
Pros: One or two redeeming acting performances, decent special effects.

Cons: Bad casting, failure to bring the world to life, lack of creativity, complete failure to capture either the tone or the characters from the book.

Percy Jackson and his friends are racing to the underworld, desperate to get the lightning bolt in time. As they reach Hades’ residence, they are greeted by Persephone, wearing a ripped black lace, cleavage baring dress. They ask to see Hades, but Persephone makes a few suggestive remarks and then thrusts her breasts into Grover’s face.

“I’ve never had a satyr …(long pause) … visit before,” she purrs in a Spanish accent.

Grover (who has already been established as sex obsessed) is appreciative.

If this sounds like a scene that would remotely fit in with your concept of the first Percy Jackson book, then you might enjoy this movie. If not, then stay away, because it’s pretty well a snapshot of the movie as a whole.

They went for a more mature feel for the movie – not just the characters’ ages, but the content reflects this. The casting for this movie was completely wrong. It wasn’t that the acting was bad, exactly, it was just that some of the actors were completely inappropriate for the parts they were playing. Grover is not a smooth talking, wise cracking, confident character. Sure, the guy playing him was funny, but he wasn’t Grover. Annabeth was an even worse failure. They kept telling us that she was smart, the daughter of Athena, etc., but we don’t actually get many instances of her acting smart. Instead, she seems like a generic tough, sexy action girl. In fact, every female character in this movie (with the exception of the mothers) is sexualized – Annabeth, the women at the Lotus Casino, the Aphrodite girls, Medusa (who is supposed to be ugly), Persephone. Female characters that could not be turned into sexy girls (like Clarisse) are cut from the movie altogether. It isn’t that I have a problem with action movies that are about smashing heads and meeting beautiful women, it’s just that this is so not what the Percy Jackson series is about.

By making this movie about the action, the creators have really undersold the wonder and magic of this series. I’m not a person who believes that a movie must mimic a book exactly, but there are so many missed opportunities here dealing with setting alone. For example, in the books each of the Olympian gods has a unique throne – Poseidon’s is a fishing chair. This is something that could have been a great visual for the movie and could have been played up even more – instead the movie opts for identical marble thrones. In Camp Halfblood, we get generic military setting instead of the unique cabins and campers. In the Underworld, we get a generic hell instead of great details like the EZ Death line and the burnt out fields of Asphodel. Generic is the best word to describe this movie.

There were a few good points. The kid who played Percy Jackson really captured that character’s impulsiveness and good heart despite being way too old for the role. The special effects were okay. Not great, but okay.

You might be wondering if this movie would be good to someone who has never read the books. The answer is no. It might not be such a huge disappointment, but it is still nothing more than a below average action flick.

I tried to decide if the few points of light were enough to give this movie two stars. I concluded that they weren’t, because not only does this movie suck, but it completely ruins any chance for a decent series. If they make another Percy Jackson movie, then it will have to move away from this one completely to be any good. 1+ stars.

Review by Eileen K. Balesteri for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray]
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My son talked me into reading these books with him, and we loved them.

When we went to see the new Harry Potter movie, scenes for it came on during the trailers.

He recognized the story the second the preview started. He was thrilled, and so was I. What potential this unique and fun series had for a movie–or movies…I mean, they advertised that it was being brought to us by the people who make the Harry Potter movies.

The Potter movies stay so true to the book–taking care to absolutely keep things in the screenplay that are necessary to the plot line.

I wish I could say the same for this movie.

When it finally came out, we went to a movie theater in NJ that was right across the river from NYC.

We could see the Empire State building from the theater parking lot, and took it as a sign that the movie was going to rock. We were so psyched to see it.

When we left the theater, I thought my son was going to cry, and I couldn’t un-scrunch my eyebrows–huh?? I felt so bad for him, for me, for Rick Riordan…

We understand that it’s impossible to make a movie exactly like a book– but this was a travesty.

Every important aspect of the story was by-passed for the sake of special effects.

It’s almost as if the screenwriter had been given a verbal summary of what the book was about, and took it from there. So many important plot points were left out or down right changed to the point that it would be impossible to even think about a sequel.

It’s such a shame. These stories have the “book made to movie” potential of the Potter series, or dare I say, a kids “Lord of the Rings”.

If someone with vision had just read the books, the money used to make it could have been so much better spent.

It could have been knocked out of the park, but, alas, the ball was dropped and we all lost.

Review by Jym Cherry for Clash of the Titans
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Never mind that Clash of the Titans play fast and loose with the mythological story of Perseus. Never mind that Medusa wasn’t a Titan. Never mind that the Kraken is from Scandinavian mythology, and that casting Lawrence Olivier as Zeus in the 1981 version was sort of typecasting.

The new Clash of the Titans is a darker, grittier more realistic Bronze age world than the 1981 version, but the story hasn`t changed all that much. The citizens of Argos have become disenchanted with the rule of the Gods. The Gods have caused too much chaos and ruin to their lives so they’ve decided to take their destinies into their own hands, and destroy the temples and statues of the Gods. In doing so, Perseus’(Sam Worthington) family is killed by a falling statue of Zeus. When Zeus (Liam Neeson) learns of the desecration urged on by Hades (Ralph Fiennes), he decides to destroy the city in four days or they can offer the sacrifice of the King of Argos’ daughter Andromeda (Alexa Davalos). In a visit to the throne room of Argos, Hades lets it slip that Perseus is a son of Zeus, a demi-god. Being told of his near divinity, Perseus and a group of soldiers go off on their quest to save the city.

The special effects are great! The monsters look real and the characters realistically interact with them. In 3D the water roiling off the undulating tentacles of the Kraken must look really cool! The problem is they shortchanged the story in favor of the special effects. The story only follows the barest of outlines of the myth. Same with the 1981 version, although it’s a little more faithful to the myth. The most glaring lapse is there really isn’t any reason for Perseus to save Argos. In the myth his reason to save the city is for the love of Andromeda. In this version he’s a stranger to Argos and doesn’t fall in love with Andromeda. She’s barely a consideration until she’s needed to be sacrificed to the Kraken. The only reason he seems to take up the quest is because he’s the nearest handy demi-god that can help out. Worthington’s Perseus doesn’t seem very heroic, there doesn’t seem to be any emotional investment in Perseus in either the quest or the surrounding characters. Most of the time he has a stoically sullen, put upon attitude, and this keeps the audience at arms length from the character. He doesn`t seem to embrace the heroic at all. Yes, he kills the monsters, but the tasks he must accomplish like tricking the Stygian witches and figuring out how to survive the encounter with Medusa, he seems to accomplish almost by accident. It seems that Perseus isn’t meant to be heroic. he repeatedly says he wants “to do this (the quest) as man, not a God,” and he keeps refusing the gifts of the Gods. The message in the myth is for mortals to find the divine, to find the god, the hero within themselves, Perseus’ refusal of the gifts of the Gods, is the refusal to find the hero within himself.

The 1981 version, although a bit campy in it’s delivery tells the hero’s story better. The 2010 version delivers better on the special effects. If such a thing were possible as to merge the strengths of both, you would have a better movie.

DVD/Bonus Features: When Clash of The Titans becomes available on DVD, I’ll edit the review to reflect what’s included in that package.

Review by Ron Price for Clash of the Titans
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I absolutely loved this movie. I went to the theater to see it and while it may not be above the original classic, it does not disappoint. It has plenty of action, drama, and special effects for any of today’s adventure movie fans. I highly recommemd it!

Review by Matthew David Ritchey for Clash of the Titans
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This was bad. I was fully expecting this to be one of my favorite movies of the year. They did almost nothing right. I mean, all they really had to do was take the original 1980 script, excise Bubo and change some of the language then re-shoot the thing with better special effects. But instead, they changed things around and came out with a bad script, virtually no character development, and the one thing they did brilliantly – updating the special effects and monsters – they shot in such a haphazard and jerky fashion that you never got a chance to really see it. The first sign that 2010 was going to be a really bad year for movies.

Review by Cameron Brown for Clash of the Titans
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I hated the original, so if you didn’t like the original then you will like this one.

Review by phoong dan for Clash of the Titans
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I liked this movie, though I felt the story didn’t stray much from the original or even the Disney cartoon that came out a few years ago. The action scenes were good and the visuals nice, though paying extra for the 3D was a waste. I felt like I ordered a pepperoni pizza and only got 4 slices of peperoni on it. Where were all the great 3D effects? There were only a handful of them.

The acting was good at times and completely absent at other points, especially from Zeus & Hades. It was just brand name actors in wardrobe adding nothing to the movie. The scenes where they go into Medusa’s lair in order to defeat her were the best ones of the film I thought. The ending was pretty anti-climactic. I mean after Medusa is defeated, the battle with the Cracken and Hades took all of about 4 minutes! Still the movie was enjoyable, and this IS a good theatre movie. I would have gave it 4 stars, but frankly I was disappointed in the 3D experience and I thought they could have done a little something more original with the storyline.

Final Grade: B-