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Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief |  | Actors: Logan Lerman, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd, Uma Thurman
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy Used: $5.08
as of 9/9/2010 21:25 CDT details
You Save: $24.91 (83%)
New (53) Used (24) from $5.08
Seller: goHastings
Rating:  165 reviews
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Running Time: 120 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 024543668824
UPC: 024543668824
EAN: 0024543668824
ASIN: B003HARV3Y
Theatrical Release Date: 2010
Release Date: June 29, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
"Modern and mythical worlds collide in this thunderous fantasy-adventure starring Pierce Brosnan, Kevin McKidd and Uma Thurman as you've never seen th
Amazon.com
Mythology and the modern world collide in this epic quest for justice by Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), your basic below-average, misfit student whose family life is a mess and who's misunderstood by everyone except his best friend, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson). A voice warns that everything is about to change as Percy enters the New Roman and Greek Art Gallery on a school field trip, and, indeed, it does. Percy's substitute teacher morphs into a mythical beast and tries to attack him, and it's revealed that Percy is the son of Poseidon, and a true demigod. Percy also discovers that Grover is really a satyr--half-human, half-goat--and his sworn protector, and that one of his teachers is a centaur--half-horse, half-man--who's more committed to Percy's education than he could ever have imagined. On top of it all, Percy is the prime suspect in the recent theft of Zeus's lightning bolt and is being hunted by the gods. Following these shocking revelations, Percy is taken to a special training camp to learn to control and use his exceptional powers, and in the process, his mother is imprisoned by Hades. Against all advice, Percy, his protector Grover, and Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), daughter of Athena, leave camp to rescue Percy's mother from the underworld. Their quest is extremely dangerous and puts them squarely in the path of Medusa (Uma Thurman), with her venomous hair and gaze that turns people to stone. The three also battle a five-headed, fire-breathing beast and visit a Las Vegas casino patrons never leave, and finally they find themselves deep in the underworld, at the mercy of the unpredictable Persephone, wife of Hades. Somehow, Percy must both convince the gods he did not steal Zeus's lightning and prevent a war of the gods that could potentially destroy the entire world. Based on the books by Rick Riordan, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief is an exciting action film rich with ancient mythology, yet set squarely in the 21st century. Enriched by strong special effects and some potently disturbing images, it is a powerful story about family, trust, determination, and love. (Ages 11 and older) --Tami Horiuchi
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 165
 Great Movie for adolescents September 8, 2010
Brace Brooks
This movie ended up being my favorite one of all time so far. It is a combination of Greek mythology and modern American Life. This is a fantasy movie. It has spectacular special effects and displays 3 young Americans who go on a quest to aquire 3 pearls while overcoming monsters and other human threats. It's worth watching if you love fantasy movies, special effects, or movies that star teens and young adults.
 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Blu-ray) September 8, 2010
Tony Khamvongsouk (Frisco, TX)
Movie - 3.5
I've never read the books, I haven't read or seen any Harry Potter, and I still haven't seen Lord of the Rings at this point, so I'm not "over-sensitized" by the fantasy genre like some people may be. But I did recently see The Last Airbender, which is a total desecration to its source material. And I have to say, with that heap of garbage in mind, The Lightning Thief blows it out of the water in comparison. Lightning Thief is a PG movie, which doesn't bother me at all, as I personally think the rating has come to allow a lot more these days in terms of content. Any fan of the original or remake of Clash of the Titans should be able to pick up on a lot of the similarities in terms of screenplay and parts of the plot. And, it just so happens I've coincidentally had quite a bit of exposure to both versions of Clash, as well as Jason and the Argonauts within the last few days of this review, making this transition relatively smooth. When I first saw the trailer, the concept struck me as a modernized version of old Greek tales, though much more geared towards the young teen demographic. After eventually having my fair share of the Harryhausen classics and Leterrier's action-ized revision, I have to say Lightning Thief actually makes for a good dose of family entertainment. It never takes itself too seriously, has a fairly light atmosphere between all the protagonists, and manages to tell a decently-paced adventure story. The script runs a bit on the generic side and the child actors don't get much room to show any real potential, but I like the casting of the adults. Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, and Kevin McKidd add a good deal of maturity, and even a little poetic savvy with what little screen time they actually get. The film probably won't garner too much praise for originality, but if the mood ever strikes you for an effects-laden fantasy film, Lightning Thief wouldn't make for a bad choice.
Video - 4.5
Lightning Thief presents itself on BD with excellent quality. The cinematography has a peculiar "darkness" to it that makes for some very bold colors. Greens and blues stick out the most and look very lush early on in the film with a chromatic progression towards more reds, grays, and blacks around the end. Black levels are deep and don't suffer any instances of crush, despite the photography, and contrast is very good at accentuating the actors' faces, as well as the fine prop and set designs. The special effects look especially pleasing with some pretty seamless integration of CG and visual staging. Two parts that I really like are the trip into Hades for its eerie and fearsome depiction, which I think was rather scary for a PG film, and the scene where Percy starts to realize the greatness of his power by summoning up a couple of pretty big tidal waves. And while the image is relatively sharp, the dark photography does manage to lose a little bit of detail in some of the low-lit scenes. Otherwise, the picture is nearly flawless.
Audio - 5.0
While the video may be just a tad off, the audio quality for Lightning Thief is flawless. Dialogue is crisp through the center, while high and low ends give off great fidelity. Being a fairly robust action film with a good deal of sound effects, directionality and separation are spot on. Mythical creatures, clashing weapons, and magical energies pop all across the sound stage with proper panning from left to right, right left, front to back, etc. when the action calls for it. Little things like shuffling feet on terrain, snake hair, flames, and water ripples help in showcasing the subtleties of the track. The score by Christophe Beck immerses with a very balanced plethora of orchestral pieces and adds that extra sense of depth to the adventure and action. But the real beast of the audio is bass. LFEs range from low and constant to absolutely booming. A good indicator of what to expect for a majority of the film should be from the get-go where we see Zeus introduced as his thunder rumbles in the night New York skies. From there on out, it's reference audio.
Extras - 2.0
Not a whole lot, here. No commentary track, 14 minutes of deleted scenes, a couple of interactive games that are nothing more than window dressing, and only about 20 minutes of making-of or behind-the-scenes featurettes. We get very brief interviews with various important persons like the director, the creator of the novels, the composer, and the three main child actors, but that's it.
Overall - 4.0
Lightning Thief is innocent and harmless fun that's definitely geared for PG audiences and family atmospheres alike. It's not the most original of fantasy tales, but what do you expect from a guy that was just trying to make up a bedtime story for his kid? I'm sure there's a lot of depth missing from the books that would certainly add to the plot, characters, and everything else, but I personally find this to be a better film than another piece of crap that came out the same year. With excellent video, reference audio, though a meager set of extras, Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief comes recommended.
An origin story a little too close to Harry Potter, but fun for most ages September 7, 2010
Haunted Flower (Indianapolis)
1 Disc Widescreen DVD, being released June 29, 2010
"Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" besides being a mouthful was directed by Chris Columbus with a screenplay by Craig Titley based on the novel by Rick Riordan. Riordan's books much like the Harry Potter series, have really taken off particularly with the middle school age crowd. His stories follow Percy Jackson named after Perseus who discovers he is a demi-god, son of Poseidon and that there are other demi-gods living among them. Once thrown into this new world, he is wrongfully accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt and has to find a way to rectify the situation to save his mother being held hostage.
The story itself is charming and empowering much in the same style as Harry Potter. Just like Harry, Percy discovers he has powers, that there is a place he can go to train and learn more about his past and his abilities with other children like him and also like Harry, someone out there resents him and is setting him up to take a fall. For heaven's sake, Harry even has a lightning bolt scar on his face! Despite all these similar factors, the story works and is appealing, particularly to children with dyslexia like Percy has. Of course, his turns out to be a special ability to read ancient Greek so good for him.
Percy is played by Logan Lerman whom you might remember from "3:10 to Yuma" looks like an up and coming Zac Efron with almost Elijah Wood caliber blue eyes so holds his own pretty good appearance-wise and emotionally as a lead in this series. Catherine Keener lends extra star power by playing his mother, Sally.
His sidekick or "protector" has he prefers to be called is Grover played by Brandon T. Jackson. Grover is a Satyre whose first priority is to look out for Percy (second priority to find hot chicks). Percy's love interest is Annabeth, daughter of Athena, played by Alexandra Daddario who is very intense with a sword and even more so with her piercing blue eyes.
More stars clocking in here are Pierce Brosnan in a too-short stay as a Centaur professor, Uma Therman as a wonderfully hypnotic Medusa, Sean Bean as Zeus, and Rosario Dawson as the very seductive Persephone, wife and hostage of Hades.
The story is fun and exciting, not as much as the more popular Harry Potter series, but a good one for kids to jump into since Harry Potter's movie run will be ending soon and this Olympians series is just getting started. Hopefully as the characters age, the intensity will as well following the pattern set before it. I highly recommend checking it out. It's young, cute, adventure-y, and brings in all that fun Greek God mythology. Heck, I liked the Medusa in this film better than the one they came up with for the "Clash of the Titans" remake which is saying a lot since they went a different route and made her all modern here. Gotta love exciting times and mutant-like abilities!
Bonus Features:
In the deleted scenes, Grover takes pictures on his cell phone of one of the naked Greek statues, gives some back story on a failure in his past being a protector, dances and fights more at the Lotus casino, and Hades laments how miserable his life in hell is making a good argument for letting him have the power to overthrow his brothers which is probably why it was cut.
There is a Powers Quiz that poses a series of statements asking you to choose how you feel about it with happy/sad/mad/indifferent faces and apparently matches you to the most likely God who would be your parent.
"The Book Comes to Life" is a featurette where the author Rick Riordan talks about having his kids and his students read this book before he sent it off to a publisher and how the grassroots phenonmenon of popularity started for the series. Chris Columbus was attracted to the project because his daughter was listening to the book on tape and she is dyslexic just like the main character so he loved how empowering this was for kids with dyslexia to dream of being a demi-god. Of course there is a trailer in the extras too but that goes without saying.
I did not get to review the Blu-Ray edition, but it apparently has twice as many deleted scenes and four more featurettes about Greek Gods and being on the set with Brandon T. Jackson.
 percy jackson.... September 4, 2010
Michelle Polk (Mississippi, USA)
I didn't like this movie because of the negative aspects in it. It could have been much better if they would have stuck with the book. The affects are good but the story lines is a little choppy. I wonder if any of this directors even read the books! The supporting actor gave the movie its worst features. I don't recommend this movie to anyone.
Meh September 4, 2010
E. Garrett (Kwajalein, RMI)
From the title it looks like a Young Adult film (didn't know it was based off of a YA book series) and I was expecting something with production values like Harry Potter or even the Spiderwick Chronicles -- that didn't happen. The story was a bit too fast paced, the acting a bit canned, and the scripting kept me expecting a commercial break. This would have been better as a pilot for a TV series as it could have been fleshed out a bit more.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 165
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