The Greek gods had outsized powers and petty grievances. These Gen-Y demigods are no different - it's a whole generation of kids with daddy issues

| Original Score: C | Feb 18, 2010

I thought it was mischievous and witty and amusing and I was just sort of drawn into it.

Full Review | Feb 16, 2010

It's not enough to compensate for the computer-game-style plotting, which is largely based on us picking up narrative nuggets that mechanically slot into place later on.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 16, 2010

Kids will love it, and adults may relish Pierce Brosnan's Centaur, and Steve Coogan as Hades - in his personal hell just under Hollywood.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 16, 2010

A slab of market research in search of an actual movie.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 16, 2010

Digitisation reigns - spectacular visual effects - while the dialogue drizzles and sploshes.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 16, 2010

If they'd played it for laughs it might just have worked, but in fact its earnest tone and digimation effects stick pretty close to the Potter model. We could be in for a very long haul.

| Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 16, 2010

The story is told in bland, episodic fashion with no sense of drama or threat.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 16, 2010

This ineffably wooden Chris Columbus adaptation of author Rick Riordan's best-seller for young teens has a screenplay that defies description.

Full Review | Original Score: 1/5 | Feb 16, 2010

It's fantastic fun, it knows its Greek mythology, and it's a very promising start to a franchise. More of the same, please.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 16, 2010

"It is a bit hard to see quite where Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief's market lies. Too adult for juveniles, too juvenile for adults.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 14, 2010

Director Columbus never quite gets comfortable juggling the film's myriad characters, grandiose-but-stale CGI effects, and PG-friendly battle scenes, speeding headlong through endless plot points rather than taking the time to make any of them matter.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Feb 13, 2010

Young viewers probably will be entertained but even they are likely to realize that this could have and should have been better, especially by the time they're old enough to drive.

| Feb 12, 2010

Director Chris Columbus has brought together the modern and mythical spheres with sharp pacing and a nifty sense of fun that atone for the film's dippier moments. It's his most enjoyable effort since Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 12, 2010

Dutifully Potteresque it begins, and dutifully Potteresque it ends.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 12, 2010

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

| Original Score: C+ | Feb 12, 2010

Percy Jackson, you are no Harry Potter. You are not fit to walk in a hobbit's wake.

| Original Score: D+ | Feb 12, 2010

Harry Potter meets Clash of the Titans … The backdrop of Greek mythology makes an enjoyable change of pace from the medieval fantasy magic of the Potter stories.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 12, 2010

Harry, Ron and Hermione: Relax. You could whip Percy Jackson and his pals with your wand hands tied behind your backs.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 12, 2010

The film toggles between high camp and deadly earnestness, all the while threatening to drown in an ocean of not-so-special effects.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 12, 2010