Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

One Word Description: Fun

Family Appropriate: Yeah.This movie is PG, it has some violence and a few swear words.

Basic Outline: This movie is based on a book of the same title by Rick Riordan, which was fantastic. As with so many movies, the book is better simply because they can't fit all the good parts into a movie. I had heard that this movie was nothing like the book, which I found to be untrue. They change some things, mostly for the sake of time and moving the plot forward. I found that most of the changes had been made in order to eliminate lengthy explanations and things unnecessary to the core plot. The book contains a lot of things that are there because they will become important in later books. There are not plans to make another movie, so it doesn't matter all that much that things were left out of the first one. Just remember to not spend too much time comparing and enjoy the movie!

For those who haven't read the books, Percy Jackson finds out at the beginning of the movie and he is the son of Poseidon and thus a demi-god. He also learns that he has been accused of stealing Zeus's Lightning Bolt. He has been given until the summer solstice (2 weeks) to return it in order to save his mother a prevent a war between the gods.

Like I said, the movie is lacking the depth that the book has, but it is a cute movie none the less and I really enjoyed watching it!

By the way, does anyone else think that Zac Efron has a twin he doesn't know about? I swear Percy looked just like him.

Recommendation: As long as you can keep yourself from comparing it to the book, watch it! It makes a great family movie night.

Princess of Glass

Genre: Fantasy

Age Group: Teenager (works for pretty much any age though)

I should warn you before I start, this is a sequel to "Princess of the Midnight Ball". I should really write about the first book, but it's been a while since I read that one and I just barely finished Princess of Glass, so I'm writing about that one instead.

In this book, Princess Poppy, one of the main characters from the first book, is faced with another curse. (Sorry, you will just have to read the first one to find out about her curse.)This time, she begins to suspect that a maid in her cousins house is under some kind of spell. She must find out what is going on and save the girl before something terrible happens to her, and before she steals all the eligible young men.

This book is yet another Cinderella story, but it is very unique and can hardly be compared to the others. The first book in the series focuses on Poppy's older sister Rose, but Poppy is such a fun character that I was thrilled when I found out that Jessica Day George was writing a book about her.

Really, Jessica Day George is a great author on the whole and I would recommend reading anything and everything she has written. I have read all her books and enjoyed every one of them. Most of her books are based on fairy tales, but they are some of the more obscure fairy tales, which makes them fun! She is a great author and creates very engaging characters. I always become very invested in the outcomes of the books because I want her characters to live happily ever after so badly.

Recommendation: Read everything this author has written!

Opinions

Alright, now that I'm starting to get the hang of this. I would like some opinions.

What kinds of reviews would be helpful to you? Do you want to know about movies? new movies? old movies? books? products? Is there any information you would like that I'm not currently including in my reviews. Really, do you have any input at all for me?

Even if you have no suggestions, please leave a comment on this post anyway. The second purpose of this post is to find out if anyone is actually reading this blog. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing it even if no one else cares, but I would like to know if I'm talking to myself here.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

I know, I saw a movie in the theaters...weird. Don't expect it to happen again for a while.

One Word Description: Exciting

Family Appropriate: I would personally say yes. It is PG-13 for violence and yes, quite a few people die. However, I didn't feel that it was scary or scarring violence, 90% of it is sword fighting.

Basic Outline: (I'm going to try hard to tell you as much as I can, but there's not much I can say without giving things away.) This movie follows Dastan, the youngest son of the king of Persia. He is not a prince by birth, Dastan was a homeless orphan who was adopted by the king because of his bravery. At the beginning of the movie, the three princes, Tus, Garsiv and Dastan, attack the sacred city of Alamut. After they have taken control of the city, the king of Persia is murdered and Dastan appears to be the obvious culprit. He flees and takes the princess of Alamut with him. As they run from his brothers, Dastan discovers that the princess is the guardian of a sacred dagger that holds the sands of time and the power to rewind time. Dastan begins to believe that the attack on Alamut and the death of his father were a plot to get the dagger. He must prove his innocence, protect the dagger and, of course, save the world.

I have to say that the movie was very well made. It's made by Disney, of course it was well made. Jake Gyllenhaal was fantastic and Gemma Arterton, who played the princess was very impressive. I thought the movie had a really good balance of a lot of different elements: danger, action, romance, comedy, adventure. It really had something for everyone.

Recommendation: I would definitely see this one!

Sherlock Holmes

One Word Description: Fun

Family Appropriate: I would say yes. It is PG-13, almost exclusively for violence. There is some hand fighting and a really big explosion, but nothing terribly gross or scary. There is one slightly suggestive scene. It is very short and anyone who understands that it's suggestive won't be bothered by it, in my opinion.

Basic Outline: I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. The previews definitely made it look more violent than it was. The character of Sherlock Holmes was much closer to the character in the books than I expected him to be.

In the movie, Holmes is solving a case that begins with the apparent death of Lord Blackwood, who is hung for practicing black magic and for murder. When Blackwood rises from the grave and starts killing again, Holmes sets out to figure out how he is pulling off his stunts that appear to be magic and what his ultimate plan is.

It's very fun to watch his mind at work and try to keep up with what he's thinking. Of course, you're not given every detail, but I definitely didn't figure out what was going on! The movie is unpredictable and the character of Sherlock Holmes is brilliant, neurotic and hilarious. I am starting to be very impressed with Robert Downey Jr.

Recommendation: I enjoyed it. It makes for a fun movie night!

The Red Pyramid

Genre: Fantasy

Target Age Group: Pre-Teen/Teen

This book is the first in Rick Riordan's new series, "The Kane Chronicles". Rick Riordan is the author of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" (fantastic series, if you'd like me to do a full review of these ones, just leave me a note) and these books are very similar. The Percy Jackson books are about the Greek Gods and these are about the Egyptian Gods. Instead of having children with mortals and creating half-bloods, the Egyptian Gods just posses people. Generally people descended from the Pharaohs, such Carter and Sadie Kane.

In this first book, Carter and Sadie find out who they are and learn all about the Egyptian Gods and their history. Of course, they have to learn all this while trying to stop the god Set from plunging the world into chaos. Maybe I better back up a little...At the beginning of the book, for reasons that I won't reveal, Sadie and Carter's dad accidentally releases 5 gods (Osiris, Isis, Horus, Set and Nephthys) from Maat, where they have been contained for thousands of years. SPOILER ALERT: All the gods but Set, immediately find someone to posses. I'm sure you can figure out who. Set however, immediately heads out to gain power and release chaos into the world. Sadie and Carter are now the only ones powerful enough to stop him.

This book made me realize that my education in the area of Egyptian history is seriously lacking. The Percy Jackson series was very easy for me to follow because I already knew all the Greek Myths. I had never even heard of most of the Egyptian Gods. So reading this book was an extremely educational experience. Like I said, it was a little harder for me to follow, but I'm very glad I put in the effort and I think that the next books in the series will be easier reads, now that I have some basic knowledge.

Recommendation: If you like fantasy and mythology, you will like this book! I would definitely recommend it for 6th graders or anyone else that wants to learn about Egyptian History.

The Blind Side

Sorry about the extended absence in posting! Life has been very busy and I haven't had much time to try new things, let alone review them. There are a sad number of movies on my 'need to see' list.

Also, I know that pretty much everyone on the planet has already seen 'The Blind Side', but I wanted to make sure to review it for anyone who is still holding out!



One Word Description: Inspiring

Family Appropriate: Again, I would agree with the rating on this one! The only objectionable parts are some scenes where Michael is back where he grew up, not such a nice area of town. These scenes really help you understand where he's coming from, but might be a little too scary for small children.

Basic Outline: This movie is a true story about the Tuohy family and a young man named Michael Oher. Michael gets into a private school because they assume from his build that he will make a good football player. Leigh Anne Tuohy decides to take him in for one night and discovers a polite, good kid who doesn't have much of a chance in life because of where he comes from and all the things he doesn't have (like a home and a family). She decides to help him and the whole family starts to make Michael one of them. They help him with school, with football and help him with some of his other dreams, like getting a drivers license. He truly becomes a member of their family.

For anyone who thinks this is another sports movie and you don't like sports movies, think again. It is so much more than that and it really will be worth your time to give it a try.

Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her role in this movie and for once I agree with the Academy's choice! This is not her typical movie at all, but she is absolutely amazing! About a week ago, Leigh Anne Tuohy and Michael Oher were on 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'. After watching that, I am even more impressed. I felt like I already knew Leigh Anne Tuohy because Sandra Bullock really acted exactly like her. Even her stance and tone of voice were accurate, it was incredible.

Recommendation: If you see nothing else this year, see this movie.