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“Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” is said to be the “Harry Potter” of this generation, the first movie of a five-book series that has maintained a lofty position on the New York Times best seller list for 134 weeks. Going in to a showing this weekend at Marcus Eastgate Cinema, a sixth grader was heard vocally proclaiming, “This is the most epic movie I’ve ever seen!”

Sadly, it was evident — by his tone and the subsequent film’s glaring lack of epicness — children have by that age begun to discover sarcasm.

The film starts out with an underwater shot of Percy Jackson, who soon discovers that he is the half-blood descendant of the Greek god Poseidon. This shot might have been an allusion to the 1981 classic mythology film “Clash of the Titans,” which often shows Zeus submerged in the Mediterranean, but the young Logan Lerman’s (“Gamer”) inability to portray a godly, meditative countenance lands this scene closer to the Disney Channel Original Movie, “The Thirteenth Year.”

Once Percy discovers his divine lineage — and also that his supposedly handicapped best friend Grover (Brandon T. Jackson, “Tooth Fairy”) is a half-man, half-goat satyr — he gets sent to “Camp Half-Blood,” a place where demigods like himself are trained to control their powers. In a rousing game of capture the flag by the many demigod children, Percy learns he can control water to aid him in battle when nearly defeated by the fiery Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario, “The Attic”), the daughter of the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, Athena.

From then on the film follows a hodgepodge modern-day adapted storyline of the legend of Perseus — Percy…Perseus…see what they did there with the names? Our three young heroes find themselves battling Gorgons, Hydras and the like, all in hopes of discovering who stole the lightning power of Zeus — a crime the gods have accused Percy of committing.

One can see a glimmer of merit in the film with its storyline. It stays much truer to its mythological roots than cinematic attempts have in the past — see “Hercules,” “Helen of Troy” and “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.” A clear line can be drawn from the Greek fables of Perseus and most of the modern-day antics of Percy Jackson — a nice, albeit groan-inducing revamp of the traditional myth occurs when Percy uses the reflective chrome-colored backing of his iPod to defeat Medusa (Uma Thurman, “Motherhood”) instead of the original hero’s helmet of invisibility. But credit for this one meager ray of sunshine — the historical accuracy of the plot — must be given to the book’s author Rick Riordan, not the creators of the film.

The acting in “Lightning Thief” is barely palatable aside from the talents of Thurman and Pierce Brosnan (“Mamma Mia!”), whose impressive character portrayals of respective mythological beasts are unfortunately smothered by their low screen time.

The same cannot be said for Lerman, Daddario and especially Jackson, who, after being in a roll-over car crash with a Minotaur exclaims melodramatically, “Watch out guys. There’s broken glass!” Furthermore, the unimpressive score/soundtrack lends nothing to the film’s demeanor, the most memorable musical elements being Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” and “Pokerface” by Lady Gaga.

Director Chris Columbus (“I Love You, Beth Cooper”) has been behind some really terrific projects in his time. However, “Lightning Thief” illustrates a capacity of special effects more akin to his “Gremlins” than anything else. Put it this way — if the film had been produced in the ’90s, audiences would still not have been impressed by any technological novelties utilized — and further displeasure would probably have been found in the knockoff of their beloved Xena, Warrior Princess, embodied in the film’s Annabeth.

While “Lightning Thief” has clearly relied heavily on themes present in other fantasy blockbusters — the unusually intimate protector-hero relationship between Percy and Grover parallels that of Sam and Frodo from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, while the later addition of Annabeth completes an undeniable replica of the Harry-Ron-Hermione trio — he is no Harry Potter. In fact, fans of Harry Potter will find themselves wishing for the scarred wizard to fly in and prove himself against the teen demigod. One good Impervius spell would put Percy’s “water powers” in their place.

All in all, “Lightning Thief” isn’t the success of Olympic proportions it has been made out to be. It has its demographic that will appreciate it — kids who are fans through having read the book, and those who need something to do when their parents cancel their World of Warcraft subscription, to name a few — but as a work of film, the first installment of Percy Jackson and the Olympians falls through.