Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (BD)

Following his directing duties on the big-screen adaptations of the musical “Rent” and the coming of age romance “I Love You, Beth Cooper,” filmmaker Chris Columbus returns to special effects fantasies with “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” An adaptation of the popular book series, “Percy Jackson…” is a high flying flight of the imagination adventure that is just as entertaining and imaginative as a “Harry Potter” feature.

In the film Logan Lerman stars as title character Percy Jackson, a high school pariah who comes to the understanding that he is the son of Poseidon, god of the sea. After ascertaining his bloodline and his god like powers Percy comes to discover that Zeus’s (Sean Bean) lightning bolt has been stolen from him and if not returned will spark an unspeakable warfare between the gods. In a race against time Percy, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson); his satyr sworn protector and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario); daughter of Athena set out to retrieve the lightning bolt as the fate of the world rests on their courage and wisdom.

With a resume that includes directing such box office hits as the first two “Harry Potter” films, “Home Alone” and even writing the screenplays for “Gremlins” and “The Goonies” Chris Columbus is no stranger to big screen family adventures. “Percy Jackson” continues to perfect the filmmaker’s great perception big screen fantasies, but more notably it’s the film’s originality and inventive use of Greek folklore that makes it so worthwhile. Making use of Greek mythology in such a great way “Percy Jackson” takes it to a whole new level, one which in itself is ingenious but also gravely entertaining. From Hermes flying sneakers, which are converse tennis shoes, complete with wings, to Medusa (Uma Thurman) taking residence in a derelict garden complete with her own personal collection of stone statues the film is quite clever at employing pieces of Greek history.

Based on the popular book series by Rick Riordan “Percy Jackson…” has the greatest great potential for a film series than anything else I have seen film wise. Likely to carry on the eye catching excitement and ingeniously of the first installment “…The Lightning Thief” this is a film series that entertains but also utilizes an underlying memorandum that deals with family dynamics and abandonment. I’d never go so far as to saying that “Percy Jackson” has an agenda of looking at desertion but it does in a manner that is fairly perceptive and uniformly vivid.

A great directing effort from filmmaker Chris Columbus “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” is a return to adventurous and spellbinding filmmaking for the director whose body of work is just as compelling as that of Steven Spielberg’s. This is one adventure and future film series that’ll surely captivate for years to come.