Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

A troubled young teen finds out that his mood swings and trouble at school aren’t really the result of his dyslexia or ADD. He’s actually a demigod, the half-blood offspring of the Greek god Poseidon and a human woman. Oh and his best friend isn’t really handicapped, but walks with crutches because he’s really a half man/half goat satyr who pretends to be handicapped because he doesn’t want to scare everybody with his cloven hooves.
Welcome to the wonderful world of Percy Jackson, star of a series of extremely popular books written by Rick Riordan and now his own big budget adventure movie directed by Chris Columbus. Like that other franchise Columbus helped bring to theaters -- you know, the one about a young wizard fighting a guy whose name you aren’t supposed to say – Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief is an uneven blend of broad mainstream entertainment and very specific details designed to make the rabid fans of the books happy with the adaptation. As a result, the film gets a little bogged down in details along the way, and way too much of the dialogue plays like a Cliff Notes version of a high school history book, but the special effects are cool and the adventure is fun to watch.