There’s a new teen feature on DVD and it has some very cool special effects, a good adolescent storyline and continuous action that should keep the kiddies enthralled.  The film is called Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief  and it was scripted for the film from a book by Rick Riordan who has captured the male teen market with his boundless series.  If your youngster needs to fill his mind with adventure, then this film will do the trick.

The movie centers on Percy (Lerman) the demigod son of Poseidon, god of the sea who discovers his heritage when he’s visited by the Greek gods after suspecting him of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt. Following an attack during which he finds out his best friend Grover is a satyr; Percy becomes bewildered as to what is happening to him.  When his human mother Sally finds out about the attack she confirms his demigod existence.  The two take him to a special camp of demigods where he learns how to defend himself.  When things start getting dicey Percy, a fellow demigod Annabeth and Grover embark on a cross-country adventure to catch the true thief, save Percy’s family, and unravel a mystery more powerful than the gods themselves.

I liked the way Chris Columbus (Sorcerer’s Stone and Chamber of Secrets) spins his magic in Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief providing some very good entertainment for teens and pre-teens.  His depiction of the storyline is adventurous and filled with fantasy, which is right up the alley of most young folks.  Much like his approach to Harry Potter, Columbus challenges the audience to keep up with his ‘lightning’ speed of storytelling as he moves quickly from scene to scene on his way to a never-ending ending.

The acting by the young thespians is extremely good and reminded me of how the friendships in the Harry Potter series developed as they grew in their roles during the franchise.  I can see from the ending of this film that the cast may be in for the long haul as it has sequels written all over it.  Some of the standout performances include Lehrman in the title role, Jackson as Grover Percy’s sidekick and Daddario playing Annabeth, Percy’s love interest and the daughter of Athena.  Much like Harry, Ron and Hermione of Harry Potter the three have that kind of chemistry that may lead to great things.

DVD extras include five deleted scenes that run altogether around seven and a half minutes in length.  Four of the scenes are pretty minor extensions of already existing scenes.  The fifth and final one gives more of Grover's backstory and really is not relevant, hence, the deletion.  The featurette "Discover Your Powers Quiz" allows players to select how they would like to react to the various scenarios ultimately leading to helping them find out which God they are most like.  Not a very fun game to play but Brandon T. Jackson does appear at the end in order to announce the results.  "The Book Comes to Life" is a four and a half minute featurette that is an interview with book author Rick Riordan.  Riordan speaks on how the book series started as a bedtime story to his son after he ran out of Greek myths to tell.  Director of the film Chris Columbus also appears, mainly towards the end, in order to discuss how he became involed in the project.  The final extra is a theatrical trailer.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief comes to DVD on June 29th and it's a good start to a great series.