Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief DVD review

By Zeus! Another youngster finds himself destined for powers and greatness in this book>film adaptation...

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Speaking as a fan of Greek mythology and well-made genre films, this movie is fantastic. Name any aspect - writing, directing, editing, acting, effects, whatever - and each and every one stands strong on it's own, the combination equalling what's easily one of the best family adventure films of the year.

Based on Rick Riordan's popular book series of the same name, this first installment introduces the eponymous teenage hero as he learns he's a demigod through complicated and stressful circumstances. The primary cast of Logan Lerman as Percy (Jack & Bobby, Gamer), Brandon T. Jackson as Grover (Roll Call, Tooth Fairy), Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth (White Collar), and Jake Abel as Luke (Supernatural, The Lovely Bones) carry the movie with ease, and the "adults" are a parade of awesome actors ranging from Pierce Brosnan to Kevin McKidd. I especially admired Daddario's performance - I totally believed she was Annabeth and she rocked the fight scenes, a sad rarity with the rampant miscasting that occurs in action/adventure flicks.

So how exactly did Percy Jackson translate to DVD? Very well actually.The picture quality and effects don't suffer from the transfer at all,though you may have to tweak your laptop levels a bit to fully appreciate it. The title menu is fun and well done, but is chock full of spoilers if you're a first time viewer. The 5.1 Dolby mix is most impressive - my shutters were practically shaking during some of the action sequences, much to my delight. You also have the options of listening to the film in Spanish or French or watching with English or Spanish subtitles. Instead of a commentary track (which kids pretty much don't care about) they have what they call "Descriptive Audio" -essentially a woman reading the non-dialogue portions of the script along with the film. It may sound a bit weird but for people interested in screenwriting, it provides an invaluable peek into the craft.

Though the extras are few (see below), I plan on watching it a few more times before the summer's over. That earns the release a bonus half-star.

4 stars

Extras:
There are only four extras: the customary "Deleted Scenes"; the interactive "Discover Your Powers Quiz"; a featurette entitled "The Book Comes To Life"; and the theatrical trailer.There are five deleted scenes and, after watching the film, I can completely understand why all but one were cut (since it was part of a fight sequence, I assume it was to preserve its rating). The Powers Quiz asks a short series of questions that will determine which house you'd belong in as a demigod. Interestingly enough, I got the same answer seven-out-of-seven times. The featurette runs a little over four-minutes and features Riordan talking about the origin of history and director Chris Columbus (Adventures In Babysitting, Harry Potter 1 & 2) sharing how he discovered the books

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief is out now.