The Movie
From Hollywood's vantage point, the trouble with ancient Greek mythology is that it's, well, really old. And that's largely why Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief feels so tired: the heard-it-in-high-school tales of the gods, coupled with another teenager coming-of-age adventure, plus the now clichéd "Whoa, this is too much to handle!" vibe.
Percy Jackson, the demigod son of Poseidon and the mortal woman he loved, is the hero of several bestselling books by Rick Riordan. Someone stole the mighty Zeus' ultimate weapon, a lightning bolt, and it must be returned upon threat of all-out war between gods and man. Percy is blamed and so it's off to Camp Half Blood to hone his skills, and from there it's a complicated quest featuring a journey to Hell and back to save his human mom.
Director Chris Columbus is the same guy who helmed two Harry Potters, Mrs. Doubtfire and one of my favorite films of all time, Home Alone. But the events of Percy Jackson are presented in such a trite, silly and illogical manner as to appeal exclusively to childish sensibilities, leaving the rest of us behind.
Also read Karen Dahlstrom's review of Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
The Picture
With Columbus behind the camera and a hot franchise on the line, Fox clearly spared no expense on this production, and its subsequent Blu-ray release. I'll start with the flaws: Backgrounds and some highly nuanced textures can be a little noisy, blacks could be a tad more natural, and just a few times I noted some digital video streaking. But other than that, the quality here is stellar, with an exquisitely pure, realistic 2.4:1 image virtually unmarred by any video distractions.
The Sound
The movie's lack of subtlety is good news for your sound system. With lightning of course comes thunder, and both the discrete DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 channel mix and the powerful low-frequency effects are tremendous. The entire movie in fact is bursting with boom and wonderfully active surrounds. Supernatural godly voices have an eerie presence, while arrows and fireballs flaunt their dynamic directionality. Even the trebles receive their due, with crisp highs for squeaking rats and clanking swords.
The Extras
The disc offers two clever interactive features. "Secrets of the Gods" allows us to select a deity from the movie and learn more about him or her, while the "Discover Your Powers Quiz" helps us determine what unique skills we possess, and who our god parent might be.
"The Book Comes To Life" introduces us to Rick Riordan and his work (four minutes); "Inside Camp Half-Blood" (five minutes) is half-explanation, half-repeating what we already know from the movie; "Meet the Demigods" (four minutes) is the usual "My character is ___" actor soundbites; and "On Set with Brandon T. Jackson" (six minutes) tags along with the amiable young co-star. The ten Extended and Deleted Scenes run a total of 14 minutes. All of these are in HD, but "Composing for the Gods: A Conversation with Christophe Beck," about the approach to the musical score, is in standard definition (three-and-a-half minutes).
Disc Two is a DVD of Percy Jackson with select bonus features. (It appears to be identical to the version of the DVD being sold separately.) Disc Three carries a Digital Copy for iTunes and Windows Media. The Blu-ray also supports the FoxPop application for content on/control from portable devices. This title also introduces Fox's new flavor of BD-Live, called "Live Extras." The "What's New" section offers streamable (faster)/downloadable (higher quality) content specific to a list of new, recent and upcoming Fox Blu-rays, plus a slick new interface. And "Live Lookup" puts the vast factual resources of IMDB.com right there on the screen during the film, as we last saw on Fox's X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Final Thoughts
I can only imagine that young folks who read the Percy Jackson books will enjoy this painstakingly realized big-screen version, which looks and sounds amazing on the small screen as well. The rest of us will probably never be compelled to crack one of them open.
Product Details
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