The world of Olympus – where ancient Greek deities live and secretly influence the workings of the mortal world – is in a state of utter chaos: Zeus' master lightning bolt has been stolen, and if it can't be found before the summer solstice in fourteen days, a war will break out between the gods. Everyone is pointing fingers at Poseidon and his half-mortal son, and the blame as well as the responsibility for bringing it back to Olympus falls on the demigod shoulders of Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), young son of god Poseidon – well, except that Percy doesn't know yet; he just thinks he's a dyslexic ADHD high school student with nothing special to his name. All he knows is that his home life sucks, he's terrible at school and the only place that brings him peace is being under water.

Everything changes when the cronies of Hades start coming after Percy, thinking he has the lightning bolt. With his best friend Grover Underwood (Brandon T. Jackson), who turns out to be his protector as well as a satyr in disguise, Percy and his mom Sally Jackson (played by Catherine Keener) go on the run to safety inside Camp Half Blood – but Sally is kidnapped by one of Hades' monsters, the Minotaur. Percy soon leaves the safety of the camp to go into the Underworld to save his mother, aided by Grover and Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario), blade-wielding tactician and daughter of Athena. The three of them set out on the wildest road trip of their lives, stopping in places like Las Vegas and Nashville to retrieve magical tools for their quest. With only a pair of flying shoes and a pen that turns into a sword, Percy is going to need all the help he can get to sneak into Hades, save his mother and stop the war brewing between the gods before time runs out and human civilization itself is doomed.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, based on the best-selling young adult series by author Rick Riordan, is certainly setting itself up to be the next big thing in movies, capitalizing on fans who have grown tired of Harry Potter and the like and are looking for something new to love. Story-wise, it is based around the old trope of a young man finding out he has special untapped powers and a great destiny to become a hero, a trope that's been around since stories were first being written.  Percy Jackson is different, as it is centered around the varied world of Greek myths, reveling in the different creatures and gods that are prevalent in so many stories in Grecian mythology – from the Medusa with her deadly gaze to the ferocity of the many-headed Hydra.

It is a shame that, in his CGI-induced trip through the world of the Greek gods, director Chris Columbus took liberties with the source material – a complaint surely familiar to Harry Potter fans who saw his earlier treatment of the first two books in the series. When it came to Riordan's first book in the series, Columbus was not as ham-fisted with his storytelling, but many things were left out of the story that were originally in the book that changes the story significantly. For example, the character Clarissa – head of the Cabin of Ares and his daughter to boot – is completely written out and it seems that Annabeth gets her only significant scene from the book, making her seem a lot meaner than she is at first. They also leave out Dionysus, who is head of the camp, and barely spends any time in Camp Half Blood while giving the impression that Percy fits in rather well – while in reality he was only accepted after saving the day, and his days in his cabin were rather lonely seeing as he is the only son of Poseidon.  Many things are either truncated or changed so it flows better on screen, which is a common sight in films adapted from books so I can't really blame the movie for something that comes naturally to a visual medium.

Thank goodness then that the main trio of characters themselves have been, for the most part, left alone, their respective actors doing a fine job of bringing their personalities alive on the screen as much as the writing can allow them. Percy Jackson is still the lovable awkward hero he was in the books, stumbling his way through the world of the gods with only his wit and in-born sense of preservation. His character is only marred by the scene during capture the flag in which he fights Annabeth and wins due to contact with the waters of Poseidon, making him seem more self-confident than he really should be at that point in the story – but then again the whole capture the flag scene was a giant mess compared to the original. Annabeth Chase is still as strong and clever as ever – a true daughter of Athena – although I do wish the movie had given her more time to develop her personality on-screen. The best book-to-screen transition of the three has got to be wisecracking satyr Grover Underwood, who keeps his sense of humor and acts of bravery in the face of danger as well as the occasional goat noises and tin can chewing when nervous. His actor just about steals the show in the Lotus Hotel scenes and in a good way. Together, all three characters work well to carry the story along and bring some much needed laughs to a story that has a tendency to take itself too seriously at points.

Overall, the movie adaptation of the first book in the Percy Jackson series is more like an introduction to the source material than a thoroughly faithful visual version of the story. Some of its failings are due to the fact that with a time limit of two hours, there is only so much story that can be transferred to the big screen and still keep the main plot sensible. On the other hand, things like cutting out several important characters as well as the plot device of the Oracle's Prophecy – which, had it been added, would have made the inevitable transition from Lightning Thief to Sea of Monsters much smoother – could have been avoidable if the director had taken the time to give the actual story a little more attention rather than the super-splashy special effects. Still, for people who have not read the books or have and aren't too picky about faithfulness to source material, this movie is a very fast-paced and entertaining flick that looks to be a promising start to a whole new lucrative film franchise. I'm just waiting for all the cool Percy Jackson merchandise to come out – Grover Underwood pajamas with hoof-like feet anyone? Hey, a fangirl can dream.

ComicsOnline gives Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief 3.5 out of 5 demigod heroes.