Critics are scratching their heads over the plot of Percy Jackson & the Olympians The Lightning Thief , which has to do with a young man whose father was Poseidon, the Greek god of the sea, and his mother a human played by Sally Jackson. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times is among the confused, wondering how Percy's mother met Poseidon. "At the beach, I suppose. Did he reveal his true identity? If a guy picks you up at the beach and says he's Poseidon, do you say, fine, let's not date, let's just mate? Then when the bastard dumps you and disappears, leaving you pregnant, what way is that for a god to behave?" Rick Groen in the Toronto Globe and Mail has this (partial) description of the plot "Poor Percy has never laid eyes on his neglectful sea-ruling daddy and lives with his abandoned mom in a cramped New York walkup, where he's plodding through high school just like any other bored teen. What a waste of his demigod talents -- the kid's not even on the swim team." Like The Wolfman , Percy Jackson receives mostly passing grades from the critics. Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer writes "The film is genial good company. While it won't kill any brain cells, it is unlikely to enter the pantheon of epic screen adventures." And Amy Biancolli in the San Francisco Chronicle credits director Chris Columbus of Home Alone fame for bringing together "The Modern and mythical spheres with sharp pacing and a nifty sense of fun." But Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times isn't buying any of that. "This is generic filmmaking at its most banal," he remarks, "a simple-minded simplification of a not overwhelmingly complex book."

12/02/2010