Pioneer

Issue date: 2/25/10 Section: A & E

Media Credit: www.movieweb.com Logan Lerman stars as Percy Jackson in Rick Riordan's best-selling children's novel "The Lightning Thief."

Let it be known that those who are looking to see an accurate film adaptation of Rick Riordan's "The Lightning Thief" may be disappointed.

Based loosely on the novel, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" follows Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), a boy who struggles in school but leads an otherwise ordinary life.

When he goes on a class fieldtrip and his teacher turns into a fury monster, Percy quickly learns he is a demigod (half human-half god) and he is in danger.

Percy's mom gets captured when he and his friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) escape to Camp Half-Blood, where young demigods train to be heroes.

At camp, they learn the Zeus' master lightning bolt has gone missing and Percy is the prime suspect.

Percy, Grover and their new friend Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) must go on a quest to try to stop a war of the gods and to save his mother from the underworld.

The plot in the film is completely different than that of the novel. A rough outline is used along with using the character names.

Many of the characters are wholly different from their novel counterparts. Not to mention the addition of characters and taking others away.

That being said, the differences aren't enough to deter one from seeing the film.

Lerman proves to be a promising young actor already having three award nominations and three wins. Lerman's performance is as convincing as Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter (in the later films of course).

Aside from Lerman, the acting wasn't amazing. None of the supporting actors stand out albeit it an all-star supporting cast.

Uma Thurman is amusing as a modern day Medusa, but doesn't quite shine.

Steve Coogan, Pierce Brosnan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, and Melina Kanakaredes make up the rest of the supporting cast.

Brosnan, being the talented actor that he is, is disappointing as Chiron. Not necessarily because his performance is terrible but because more is to be expected from him.

The especially horrendous performance award goes to big screen newcomer Jake Abel (The Lovely Bones) as Luke. Abel sounds like he is reading his lines from the script and gives an overall unconvincing performance. His bad acting abilities outshine even his good looks.

Christopher Columbus does succeed yet again (I won't mention his total flop of a film "I love you, Beth Cooper") bringing a coveted children's novel to the big screen.

Columbus is working again with long-time movie composer Christophe Beck, who brings a satisfying, majestic score to the film.

Moviegoers can enjoy the cinematography of the film which may not be phenomenal but certainly isn't lackluster.

"The Lightning Thief" is an appropriate film for the whole family.

Fans of the book aren't able to "geek-out" because the plot ventures so far from the novel, but it never hurts to see any book personified on the big screen.

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