Percy Jackson And The Olympians review: Disney Plus series feels like it has staying power

Let’s face facts: There’s never a good way to tell your 12-year-old son that he’s the result of an ill-fated romance with a Greek god, let alone that he’s a demigod—or “half blood”, if you’re feeling particularly discriminatory—being stalked by murderous mythical monsters. Still, there is a right way to (hey, you knew it was coming) adapt Rick Riordan’s Camp Half-Blood novels, and it certainly wasn’t the 2010 film, Percy Jackson And The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. It deviated too far from the books, for starters, and it aged up its characters from school kids to teens plagued by angst and romantic tension. The plot was dabbled with extensively, our young hero was granted full control of his demigodly powers immediately, and … well, you get the picture. It wasn’t faithful to the source material, and people were (rightfully) mad.

So, does the Disney+ series Percy Jackson And The Olympians, which premieres December 20, fare any better? Let’s dive on in and find out …

As fans of the original books will already know, this one is all about a boy—and in this series, he actually is a boy, brought to life on screen by the talented Walker Scobell—who discovers that he’s the son of Poseidon after an unsettling incident at a museum. The gods, his mother (Virginia Kull) tells him, aren’t actually supposed to be having half-human babies anymore, but gods be gods, and thus Percy’s mere earthly presence is luring unearthly monsters far and wide to him. Why? Because they want him dead before he’s old enough to tap into his powers, obviously. Keep up.

The only solution, our eponymous hero learns, is for him to be safely ensconced within the boundaries of Camp Half-Blood, a magical training camp for his kind. And a magical training camp which cannot, more pertinently, be penetrated by humans or monsters—which is sort of handy, we suppose, as his mother disappears mid-Minotaur attack before he can get too worried about her inability to join him on the other side of the barrier.

Thankfully, though, the suddenly motherless Percy won’t be going at it alone: Much like Harry Potter before him, he soon becomes one-third of a plucky trio of suped-up school kids. That’s right: Much as The Boy Who Lived joined forces with muggle-born witch Hermione and poor pure-blood wizard Ron, our boy Percy will be accompanied by protective satyr Grover Underwood (Aryan Samhadri) and Annabeth “Daughter Of Athena” Chase (Leah Jeffries). Which is handy, quite frankly, because it’s not long before he finds himself on a dangerous cross-country quest: to find Zeus’ lightning bolt, return it to its rightful owner, and stop an all-out war. Just your casual school assignment, we guess.

While a lot of people (a lot of people) are feeling nervous about this series, it actually has a fair bit going for it. For starters, Rick Riordan—Uncle Rick to his fans—served as executive producer on the project, and was heavily involved in casting and creative decisions alike. Unlike the 90-minute movie, the series has more than enough room to breathe and obsess over the books’ lore when it needs to. The special effects, too, are genuinely pretty damn good (see the rampage in the first episode if you don’t believe us). And young cast is charming almost to a fault, which means that you won’t just be rooting for our core trio and their effortless chemistry, oh no. You’ll also be counting down the minutes until the likes of Chiron (Glynn Turman), Zeus (Lance Reddick), Dionysus (Jason Mantzoukas), and Alecto (Megan Mullally) appear on your screen, too.

That doesn’t mean things are perfect, by any means. The first episode almost feels like filler for anyone who’s even scanned the plot synopsis (hurry up and get to Camp Half-Blood already!), and Ma Jackson spectacularly bungles her big “I banged Poseidon” reveal to her son. (He finds it hard to believe she’s telling him anything more than another pretty story, and yeah, hard same.) Some scenes are a bit too dark—not in terms of subject matter, but in terms of lighting, a la Game Of Thrones. And at times, Percy almost seems as if he’s going down the Big Damn Hero Right Off The Bat path blazed by his movie-based predecessor, rushing into battle against an oversized foe with magical sword in hand. Thankfully, though, show bosses always remember that Percy is quite literally 12 and swap fancy footwork and swordplay for, say, riding gracelessly atop his foe’s back. Yes, a bit like (sorry not sorry) the aforementioned Harry Potter does with the infamous troll in the dungeon.

Perhaps the biggest flaw in the series is the fact that the books it’s based upon are so very beloved by readers. Everyone has a vision in their heads of what the characters should look and sound like, just as everyone will notice even the tiniest misstep from the original stories. Still, you can feel that same love pulsating throughout the bones of this series; Uncle Rick has worked hard to give us something that adheres to the spirit of his original works, something fast-paced and bonkers (in the best possible way) and thoroughly entertaining. And sure, it takes a while to get going. Sure, it has a bit of a Disney sheen to it (make of that what you will). Sure, it’s aimed at a younger audience than those who originally grew up obsessing over the books. But the result is something that feels like it has some staying power—and like it will, just as the books did all those years ago, grow up alongside its audience. That’s no small feat in an age of regularly canceled shows and standalone miniseries.

Anyone else suddenly in the mood to burst into a joyous gospel song, a la the Muses Of Hercules? Because we have a feeling this one has the potential to put the glad in gladiator, if only it’s given the chance.

Percy Jackson And The Olympians premieres December 20 on Disney+