Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

Director Chris Columbus and his crew take a literal approach to spectacle that denies the magnificent use of weirdness and scale that famed stop-action animator Ray Harryhausen brought to such myth-inspired classics as "Jason and the Argonauts" (1963) and "Clash of the Titans" (1981).

That’s how we first meet him: calm, serene, in silence and solitude — not alienated like Dustin Hoffman at the bottom of his parents’ pool in The Graduate with SCUBA gear and a harpoon gun, but simply in his element … the way any kid, especially one with troubles like Percy’s, would want to be.

I say that as someone who really digs "Gremlins," who isn't a fan of "Goonies," and who has mixed feelings about "Young Sherlock Holmes."

Catherine Keener (2009's " Where the Wild Things Are ") effortlessly essays another caring, flawed mother role as Sally, while Uma Thurman (2008's " The Life Before Her Eyes ") is downright brilliant in her scenery-chewing cameo as Medusa.

Whether "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" has what it takes to live past its first entry is still up in the air, but, as adapted from Rick Riordan's novel by director Chris Columbus (himself director of 2001's " Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone " and 2002's " Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ") and screenwriter Craig Titley (2003's " Cheaper by the Dozen "), it certainly stands as a promising start.