Proudly proclaiming to be directed by Chris Columbus, the man responsible for what are considered the weakest Harry Potter movies is a bit of an odd proclamation to stick on every single bill board and poster but, still, I did enjoy the two movies that he did in the series aswell as the Home Alone movies and was expecting this to be much of the same. Guess what? it is pretty much more of the same as has come before from him, especially to Harry Potter. In fact, the whole movie screams out that they desperately want this to be a new and successful franchise, identical in mould to the wizard; not only is it based on a young adult series like Harry Potter, not only does it have a similar taste in titles but it even shares some similar story elements. Didn’t know about his true parentage? Check, this time his father is the greek god Zeus rather than a famous wizard but still very similar. An older mentor who will teach him the ways of good? Check. A feisty, intelligent female friend and a wise-cracking, quirky male friend. Check. A school for the gifted? Check, although it’s actually described as a camp. Check, check and check.
Although it shares all these elements from J K Rowling’s books it doesn’t quite seem that the literary source that its taken from is as deep as Potter’s. It’s true that the greek god scenario is interesting and fairly original in bringing it into the modern world, including a very sexy leather-clad Medusa played by Uma Thurman being thwarted by the heroes seeing her reflection on the back of an iPod touch, it just all feels a little light weight compared to Potter’s rich world. But, in some ways, this is better. Columbus took nearly three hours to tell the stories from the slimmest in the Potter books but this comes in at a trim two without seemingly missing any story elements although there was much in the way of plot holes, most of which could be ignored without it being too distracting.
One thing that could have been improved on was the CGI which, frankly, was pretty piss-poor for such an expensive film. Nothing looks much better than it did with the first Potter film which is now nearly a decade old. There’s absolutely no reason for it. These should be far better than what has come before; the CGI is fine for what there used it for but that doesn’t mean they should just be okay, they need to be the equal to other, adult-themed movies. Not necessarily Avatar-level computer graphics but something at least approaching it. That’s what any modern Hollywood should be like.
Percy Jackson himself was played by a surprisingly good young actor. He feels right for the part, not just some random kid they’ve plucked from acting school for the job as it often feels like with these categories of movies. He feels like a star and if this does prove to be the first in a new franchise then I think he will be a much finer actor than Daniel Radcliffe could ever be.
The story, although lightweight, is adequate. Percy is accused of stealing Zeus’s thunder bolt and Percy is the prime suspect so it’s up to him to prove them wrong aswell as try to rescue his mother from Hades. There are some great scenarios throughout, including the showdown with Uma Thurman’s Medusa and a battle with a hydra. The scene that takes place in a Las Vegas casino was odd and didn’t make much sense, hastily getting explained as they were escaping from it with an answer that felt like it had been thought up at the last second. It’s never said exactly how old these kids are but they’re at least meant to be school-age so why they were allowed into a casino when, as far as I know, there is some kind of legal age for these sorts of establishments I have no idea. And there are the parts when they eat Lotus flowers which seem to produce a sort of drug-like effect. That felt immoral to me aswell as the whole section being illogical and out place. The movies would have better served the chuck this whole section out.
Apart from those few elements it was an entertaining and fun adventure and may well prove to be a good replacement for Harry Potter when that series comes to an end.
