TV review: 'Percy Jackson' doesn't have Harry Potter's magic

Anything your children know about Greek mythology they probably learned from the Percy Jackson books. Rick Riordan's six fantasy novels featuring Poseidon's son have sold over 180 million copies, making it one of the bestselling series of all time.

But attempts to bring those adventures to the big screen haven't quite worked. The same could be said about the TV adaptation, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians," now streaming on Disney+.

Jackson (Walker Scobell), a 12-year-old boy haunted by monsters, learns in the first episode about his heritage and is sheltered at a training camp where bullies do most of the teaching. Our hero quickly "graduates" to battle Zeus and a series of monsters who each seem to be slightly dimmer than Barney the Dinosaur.

He's joined by two pals who have a hard time even providing comic relief.

You've got to admire Riordan, who led this adaptation with Jonathan E. Steinberg, for cramming each episode with lots of history references. But at some point, you start to feel like you're attending a Greek mythology course taught by R.L. Stine. The action scenes aren't clever enough — or frequent enough — to keep you engaged.

Watching the series makes you appreciate how well Hollywood brought the wit and wonder of the "Harry Potter" books to the movies. The TV version of "Jackson" may eventually figure out a way to do the same, but it'll probably take an assist from Athena to pull it off.

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