Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

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

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.

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.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

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

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.

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.

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.

Entertainment Weekly Adam Markovitz

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

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.

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.

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.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

All dull thunder without a spark of illumination.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Orlando Sentinel Roger Moore

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

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.’’

The New York Times Stephen Holden

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

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.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

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

Time Out New York David Jenkins

Mirthless, episodic fantasy saga.

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.

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.

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.

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.