Reviewed by Alicia Glass

Rating: 7.5

 Percy Jackson discovers he is the Son of Sea God Poseidon, and goes on a quest to retrieve Zeus’ stolen lightning bolt.

This movie is based off a series of young adult books by Rick Riordan as I heard it, I personally haven’t read them. That being said, even I, an avid student of Greco-Roman mythology and history, enjoyed the ever-loving heck outta this movie! Somehow Columbus managed to make a movie that has modern-day Olympian Gods and Monsters, a camp for half breed Demi-Gods, and winged shoes seem extra cool!

Logan Lerman does a fine job for Percy Jackson, all strength and vulnerability and an ever-present sense of humor that can see the ridiculousness in it all! Brandon Jackson as Percy’s friend and protectorate Satyr (love those legs honey) Grover Underwood is just adorable, and provides just the right amount of comedy sidekick. And Pierce Brosnan as a Centaur, but not just any Centaur oh no, but Chiron himself! *drool* Sean Bean, of Silent Hill and Troy and Equilibrium-etc fame, brings major star power as Zeus himself. Counterpoint to that is his brother Poseidon, played by Kevin McKidd, who’s already had a Roman run with the hit HBO smash Rome. Steve Coogan wings in a command performance as Hades, at least the humanoid version of him; those hooves are strictly for the bedroom honey. A grand surprise comes in the form of Rosario Dawson, who plays surprise-good guy Persephone. And yes, there is even Uma Thurman in the interesting role of Medusa, complete with CGI snake-hair.

So Percy Jackson discovers he’s the son of Poseidon and the various Gods and their Monsters are looking for him. Why? They think he, Percy, stole Zeus’ main lightning bolt, the most powerful weapon in the world, and by various means are trying to take it from him. So it’s determined Percy has to go to the Camp for half-breeds, they call them Demi-Gods, where other Demi’s live and train to become the Heroes of the world. After his mother is kidnapped by the Minotaur, Percy decides to take matters into his own hands and goes off on a quest to save his mother, added by Athena-founded Annabeth and faithful Satyr Grover. They have to travel across the U.S. to pick up some mystical pearls that will allow them to escape the Underworld first, and that involves plenty of adventure. And after getting the pearls finally, it turns out the entrance to the underworld is actually in Hollywood California – of course, where else would it be?

It is a bit of a specialized field of fun study, but I dearly loved this greatly enjoyable early-teen romp of God and Monster entertainment!