Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Best / Worst of the Decade

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

67 3 Idiots
47 44 Inch Chest
82 Ajami
71 American Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein
73 Amreeka
76 Art of the Steal, The
43 Barefoot to Timbuktu
19 Bitch Slap
49 Blood Done Sign My Name
24 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
76 Broken Embraces
52 Celine: Through the Eyes of the World
66 Children of Invention
64 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
84 Cove, The
83 Crazy Heart
21 Crazy on the Outside
50 Creation
xx Daddy Long Legs
81 Damned United, The
57 Defendor
61 Delta
68 Departures
64 District 13: Ultimatum
72 Easier with Practice
85 Education, An
59 Exploding Girl, The
70 Eyes Wide Open
24 Falling Awake
81 Fish Tank
56 For My Father
51 Formosa Betrayed
xx From Mexico with Love
43 Frozen
xx Ghost Town
77 Ghost Writer, The
69 Girl on the Train, The
47 Good Guy, The
35 Happy Tears
64 Harlan: In the Shadow of Jew Suess
20 Harlem Aria
52 Killing Kasztner
41 Last New Yorker, The
76 Last Station, The
47 Little Traitor, The
51 Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, The
71 Lourdes
73 Me and Orson Welles
77 Messenger, The
57 Missing Person, The
76 Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
80 Mother
50 My Name is Khan
49 Nine
67 North Face
64 October Country
67 Off and Running
52 Paranoids, The
40 Phyllis and Harold
49 Pop Star on Ice
49 Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The
74 Prodigal Sons
xx Promised Lands (Re-release)
89 Prophet, A
76 Red Riding Trilogy, The
32 Saint John of Las Vegas
83 Secret of Kells, The
69 September Issue, The
36 Serious Moonlight
61 Severe Clear
63 Shinjuku Incident, The
77 Single Man, A
76 Still Bill
33 Stolen
xx Suicide Girls Must Die!
51 Tales from the Script
74 Terribly Happy
74 That Evening Sun
47 To Die for Tano
19 To Save a Life
61 Toe to Toe
69 Town Called Panic, A
54 Until the Light Takes Us
60 Videocracy
66 Waiting for Armageddon
45 White on Rice
82 White Ribbon
xx White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, The
43 Women in Trouble
xx Word is Out
64 Yellow Handkerchief, The
64 Young Victoria, The

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

EMAILPRINT20th Century Fox

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief reviews
47
5.6 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 31 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 69 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Adventure  |  Fantasy

Written by: Craig Titley
Rick Riordan (novel)

Directed by: Chris Columbus

Release Date:
Theatrical: February 12, 2010

Running Time: 119 minutes, Color

Origin: Canada | USA

Summary

RATING: PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language

Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Kevin McKidd, Joe Pantoliano, Uma Thurman, and Ray Winstone

Trouble-prone Percy Jackson is having problems in high school - but that's the least of his challenges. It's the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy's Greek mythology texts and into his life. Percy has learned that his real father is Poseidon, god of the sea, which means Percy is a demigod - half human, half god. At the same time, the powerful gods on Olympus are feuding, which could launch a war enveloping our entire planet. (20th Century Fox)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

75

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Director Chris Columbus has fun with this goofy premise, but as always I am distracted by the practical aspects of the story. Does it bother the Greek gods that no one any longer knows or cares that they rule the world? What are the genetic implications of human/god interbreeding?

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Amy Biancolli

A whole lot of plot ensues - an entertaining mix of buddy movie, road trip, "Clash of the Titans," archetypal quest and a coming-of-age tale about misfits making their way despite, or because of, absent parents.

Read Full Review >
70

Time Mary Pols

This is a big, often quite scary action movie, with tons of creepy computer-generated imagery that's right up there with Voldemort in terms of physical nastiness, although less powerful emotionally.

Read Full Review >
70

Arizona Republic Bill Goodykoontz

Percy Jackson isn't a great movie, but it's a good one, trotting out kernels of Greek mythology like so many Disney Channel references. For the most part, it works.

Read Full Review >
70

The Hollywood Reporter Ethan Alter

So has "Percy Jackson" successfully cracked the "Potter" code? In terms of overall quality, not even close. Still, the film's carefully calibrated mixture of CGI-enhanced spectacle, diverting (and blood-free) action sequences and adolescent angst could make it a modest hit with the eight to 12-year-old set.

Read Full Review >
67

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The whole thing is piffle, but it moves fast enough to stay entertaining.

Read Full Review >
63

St. Louis Post-Dispatch Joe Williams

The CGI effects are a familiar sort and so is the heroic-quest motif. The principal virtue in this modest entertainment is that the young characters act like real teenagers.

Read Full Review >
63

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

May not be so deep or richly imagined as J.K. Rowling's universe of magic and Muggles, but the film is populated by likable characters, great special effects and a neat premise.

Read Full Review >
63

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A diverting action fantasy that modernizes the stories of demigods and monsters.

Read Full Review >
60

Variety Peter Debruge

Action movies of this scale often start off strong and wind down to forgettable finales, but "Percy Jackson" is the opposite, overcoming a clunky setup to deliver nearly all its thrills in the last half-hour.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire Helen O'Hara

Slavishly follows every rule of the kids’ fantasy franchise genre, but it’s a well-executed and imagined world. Bet the sequel’s darker.

Read Full Review >
60

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

You don't even have to be familiar with the first book in Rick Riordan's popular fantasy series to enjoy Chris Columbus' energetic adaptation.

Read Full Review >
58

Entertainment Weekly Adam Markovitz

Has all the CGI sorcery of a Harry Potter pic, but none of the magic.

Read Full Review >
50

Boxoffice Magazine Pete Hammond

Columbus knows his way around this kind of material even if some of the special effects look like they came from Deep Discount. The gods are well-rendered, but nothing special. Still for the Potter crowd, Percy provides a nice diversion until the real thing comes along.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

The gods, led by Sean Bean, are mostly stiffs; thank heaven for Uma Thurman, raising hell as a stylishly leather-clad Medusa.

Read Full Review >
50

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Played by Logan Lerman -- the Zac Efron look-alike who was young George Hamilton in "My One and Only" -- Percy is a Manhattan high-schooler who learns he is a demigod.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

All dull thunder without a spark of illumination.

Read Full Review >
50

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

The movie suffers by taking itself a little too seriously. It's not just that it's a lot less funny than the book. It's also a lot less fun.

Read Full Review >
50

Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams

The overblown and overlong version of Percy's adventures largely fails to capture the quirky allure of Riordan's books.

Read Full Review >
50

LA Weekly Aaron Hillis

Like Percy himself, the film doesn’t have any traits that qualify as having an actual personality. Even so, as long as the kiddies aren’t too upset by the major liberties reportedly taken with the source material, it might be enough to distract them until Harry returns.

Read Full Review >
50

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Suggests that this could be the start of something adequate. Something big would've been nicer, though the movie's limitations are less a matter of scale than of imagination.

Read Full Review >
50

Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore

For what it is and for whom it is intended, it’s not a bad movie, just an indifferent one.

Read Full Review >
50

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Very little of it is as persuasive or enveloping as its beloved English counterpart. But it works very hard to distract 11-year-olds from thinking about the November arrival of “The Deathly Hallows.’’

Read Full Review >
50

The New York Times Stephen Holden

For all the earth shaking that goes on, “Percy Jackson” is agreeably tame and unthreatening.

Read Full Review >
42

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

In Columbus’ hands, it once again all breaks down into a series of rushed, breathless special-effects setpieces, in a thrill ride that isn’t headed anywhere new.

Read Full Review >
40

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

This is generic filmmaking at its most banal, a simple-minded simplification of a not overwhelmingly complex book.

Read Full Review >
40

Time Out New York David Jenkins

Mirthless, episodic fantasy saga.

Read Full Review >
30

Slate David Plotz

The Lightning Thief is loud, scary, oversexed, and really unfun. All that would have been fine if my daughter liked it, but instead it left her and her friend stunned.

Read Full Review >
30

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

As scripted by Craig Titley, this first in a presumptive franchise is a dull, scattershot affair that owes much to both "X-Men" and Greek mythology, but which never seems to slow down enough to make any sense whatsoever.

Read Full Review >
25

Premiere Nick Starkey

Chris Columbus, true to his namesake, has chartered new waters of lazy hackdom with this "Clash of the Titans" remade as a CW tween soap.

Read Full Review >
20

NPR Scott Tobias

The film becomes particularly risible when family matters come into play. Since the young demigods, by nature, are raised in single-parent homes, their encounters with the gods are characterized less by wonder than by the therapy-speak of wounded kids with daddy issues.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 69 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Jason H. gave it a5:
The movie is really just a shameless rip off of harry potter. There are "magical" people that go to a "magical" secret school while keeping their identities hidden from us normal folk. The story revolves around three friends which simply replaces ron's role of comic relief with a half-goat creature, and replaces hermione with a one dimensional love interest (she's apparently supposed to be smart, but there doesn't seem to be any evidenece to support this.) The main problem is simply the feeling of being rushed. It's obvious that Columbus tried to cram way too much into a single film, and while watching it, I could almost imagine him checking off the required obstacles our heroes must overcome. This last critique was the real killer for me. I could put up with everything else and have fun, but when it seems like the director is rushing production, it makes me feel rushed as well.

Chad S gave it a7:
Dyslexia puts a crimp in Percy Jackson's life at high school, but on a field trip to the museum, a minotaur attacks him, so the quest for Zeus' stolen lightning bolt begins before anybody gets the chance to make fun of his learning disability. Percy(Logan Lerman) is a troubled kid, an alienated kid, who sits at the bottom of a pool for long stretches to escape his shortcomings. His best friend does him no favors socially; he's a cripple on crutches, and girls are nowhere to be seen near these two outcasts. Raised by a single parent, Percy is poor to boot, living in the apartment of her mother's abusive boyfriend. What's missing from the set-up, however, is some major conflict with the cooler kids to indicate his unpopularity among the student body. The seeming truncation of these expository scenes fail to establish Percy as an underdog that the moviegoer can truly root for, and care about. When Percy meets Annabeth(Alexandra Daddario) at the camp, the moment would have been more triumphant had some girl rebuffed his overtures in the real world. The moviegoer never bonds with Percy because the film seems in an awful rush for the dyslexic boy to learn about his unique pedigree. Due to the shoddy character development, the coming-of-age aspect of Percy's adventures gets overshadowed by the CGI effects and non-stop action. A little more time spent in the high school milieu would have made all the difference in the world, because "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief", at times, is moderately exciting. (Uma Thurman as Medusa is great.)

Sofia E gave it an8:
Although the movie is different than the book, going into the movie with an open mind makes it a delight. I love the series by Rick Riordan and really enjoyed the movie. I'm very disappointed that it got a bad rating by the critics, but I'm glad that the user rating is better. It might be a harder watch for more sensitive younger children because of the fighting and some concepts they may not understand, but that would only be for probably 6 and under. Otherwise, the movie is family friendly and I suggest that everyone go see it!!

boyd gave it a4:
My sons and I read all 5 books, they are very good! That said, this movie was not good. First off major character changes was a big red flag! Grover is not black! The problem I had with that is whenever Hollywood throws in an ethnic character such as Grover, they suddenly become "urbanized" in thier speech, and over sexed in their behavior which plays into furthering the stereotype of the horny (literally in the case of Grover) black man. Really it's not necesaary! By the way i am a Father of three wonderful sons and I am black. This isn't a race issue as much as cultural. I didn't realize their were any black Greek gods either! Hollywood its ok to not be so PC all of the time! Relax, we won't sue you!

Erik M. gave it a6:
I loved the books but the movie was alright just to much of the book was left out.

Leandre B. gave it a0:
There is absolutely nothing smart about this movie. Cheesy humour and one-liners, half assed special effects and on average bad acting.

Isaac V. gave it an8:
This should have followed the book a little bit more but ultimately was a great movie i hope they make movies out of the other four books.

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: College Signing Day | March Madness | TV | iPhone | Cell Phones | Video Game Reviews | Free Music

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2010 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use