I have no idea why this movie was not rated PG-13. I took my daughter to this and Avatar in 3-D and saw no difference in the violence level. There were a lot more younger kids in the audience for Percy Jackson because of the PG rating. I took my 10 year old daughter to this because she is a fan of the books. There were a lot more inappropriate messages in this flick for kids her age than Avatar for sure. I was dissappointed. I have an 8 year old son who is trying to finish the book so I can take him - but I will not take him now due to the too graphic scenes. Yes, the special effects are well-done. The movie's story is just okay. It does not leave you with a positive feeling at the end of the movie like Avatar does - much better written story-line. My daughter liked the Lightning Thief book much better. This movie just makes me wonder who's establishing the ratings out there!

This movie definitely should have been rated PG-13! I took my 12 1/2 year old nephew to see it, as he has read all of the books in the Percy Jackson series. Not only did he agree that it should have been a PG-13 movie (and he has seen all of the Harry Potter movies), but he also did not think it was nearly as good as the book. He thought the special effects were very cool. My 10 year old son just finished reading the book, but I will NOT be taking him to see this movie. Its portrayal of women was offensive (most of the women are portrayed as sex symbols) and the scene at the casino in Vegas was entirely inappropriate for children 12 and under.

It is outrageous that this is rated PG. It should be PG-13. It is geared more to teenagers, not to the age of children who are most likely to be reading the book. It scared the daylights out of my 8-year-old--he still won't go upstairs or downstairs alone since he's seen it. The Medusa and Hades scenes are just too much for children under 13.

Well if you or your children are fans of the books then you might just want to skip the movie. My boys were excited to see this movie & had devoured the books. They & I couldn't believe how they changed this story. They neglected to include many important details that role into the rest of the books & totally forgot to introduce many of the characters. Gone were the pictures of Camp Half Blood being like any other camp until you looked closer. There wasn't a sign of anyone in the bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirts but adults wearing grecian togas. It felt as if the screen writer didn't even bother to read the story before he wrote the script. It felt as if the director was more interested in the action sequences then the actual story of friendship that developes between the 3 main characters & how Annabeth deals with her conflicted feelings. By the way Annabeth's invisibility cap is MIA in the film. With such a star studded cast & a story that had endless possibilities this movie failed painfully. If the rumors are true & they are planing to do more I hope that they take the time to be more faithful to the story. Sure liberties will be taken & somethings will have to be cut but this film failed to explain the "Mist" & never once mentioned the prophecy regarding a child of the big 3. Thus making me feel as if they are already planning on dropping this series after the 1st movie. Sorry to hear as they had the makings of something as amazing as Harry Potter had they wanted it to be that way.

Not having read the books, I had no complaints with the changing of the story (I didn't even know about that until looking at these reviews). What I couldn't believe is that it was a PG rated movie. The monsters, such at the Fury, Medusa with her snakes, and Hades, were incredibly scary looking and the fight sequences too intense for small children. The sexual suggestive comments were also inappropriate for the age targeted. Persephone, "I've never had a satyr... (long, suggestive pause as she looks Grover up and down with a leer) ...as a visitor." It is incredible to believe that this movie shared a rating with "UP" or "Night at the Museum".

Having read the books with my 12 year old son, we were greatly disappointed that so much of the movie was changed. Percy was too old, Annabeth was a combo of herself and Clarisse(Ares daughter), who didn't even appear in the movie. The character of Percy was too confident, and accepted by the others too easily. They changed the character of Grover as well. Persephone was too vampy, as was Medusa. They spent the movie chasing pearls that were a gift in the book. Ares was the one who stole the bolt, not Luke. I could go on and on. I knew they'd change some stuff, but this was a train wreck. All the humor and adventure that we loved in the book was flat out destroyed. Too bad, they could have had a Harry Potter like series if they'd stayed true to the story.

The graphic are much too scary for under 13, the language leaves much to be desired and the role models are lacking. They should have stayed closer to the original story line. Disappointing.

As an adult, I found the early part of the movie to be devoid of interest or suspense. Chris Columbus really got it off on slow footing. I was also terribly disappointed that the innocent fun of the books was "sexed up" for an older film-going audience by making the three main protagonists (who were 12 in the book) into teens of about 16. There was no Grover oggling women in the book. What the heck was the point of that? And I also found it offensive that this character, played by a black man, ended up in a classic minstrel role, not unlike Eddie Murphy as the Donkey in Shrek. Smart alec comments and comic relief. In an otherwise mostly white production. (As if New York city were that monotone!)

My eight year old asked to be taken to the lobby while my 11/12 year old stayed and loved it. The creatures are too realistic and creepy/violent for the younger crowd.