Your guide to the movies playing in Aiken this weekend

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief NEW!

As the "Harry Potter" franchise has slipped deeper and deeper into dark areas, studios have been trying to find a film series that is imaginative and smart enough for young audiences. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" fulfills that quest through the blend of likable central characters, the already fascinating world of Greek mythology and solid direction by Chris Columbus. This is the start of something that could be really good. Percy (Logan Lerman) becomes the focus of the wrath of the Greek gods when he is suspected of stealing the main lightning bolt from Zeus. While still trying to process that he is a demigod (the offspring of a god and mortal), Percy must wade into the world of the gods to save his mother and the planet. He gets help from a wisecracking guardian (Brandon T. Jackson) and a warrior demigoddess (Alexandra Daddario). Columbus, who directed "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," brings energy to this youth-oriented adventure. The director knows how to pace big special-effects sequences to keep the movie from lagging. Move over, Harry Potter - there's a new young champion of the movie block.

Grade: B-plus -- Rick Bentley, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG for action scenes. Running time: 2 hours.

Valentine's Day NEW!

Garry Marshall emptied his Facebook for "Valentine's Day," calling in favors, overstuffing this overlong ode to love with Oscar winners, up-and-comers and top Internet bikini searches. Ashton Kutcher plays a florist who proposes to his "too good" for him girlfriend (Jessica Alba). He spends the day mooning over her to his employee (George Lopez) and his best friend (Jennifer Garner). The best friend is all gooey-eyed for her Valentine, a heart surgeon (Patrick Dempsey) who is always out of town on business. Jessica Biel plays a publicist who throws "I Hate Valentine's Day" parties and Jamie Foxx is a cynical TV sports reporter. Queen Latifah is an agent whose new assistant (Anne Hathaway) doubles as a phone sex operator who services clients with a dazzling array of accents. Topher Grace is the new man in her life who doesn't know how she pays the bills. On a plane, Julia Roberts is a soldier headed home on one-day leave, with Bradley Cooper as her handsome and too-curious seatmate. Long-married grandparents (Shirley MacLaine, Hector Elizondo) are raising their young grandson, who deals with his first crush with the help of a teen nanny (Emma Roberts), who plans to lose her virginity to her beau on that romantic day. The laughs are thin and might have been bigger had this emphasized the crankier characters overcoming their cynicism, maybe retitling this "I Hate Valentine's Day." But that's been taken by an earlier botched romance set on a day that never seems to host a decent Hollywood romantic comedy.

11âÑ2 stars -- Roger Moore, Associated Press

Rated PG-13 for some sexual material and brief partial nudity. Running time: 2 hours, 5 minutes.

The Wolfman NEW!

The big-screen is ripe for a new take on the hairy he-wolf legend. Yet despite a first-rate cast led by Benicio Del Toro, Anthony Hopkins and Emily Blunt, "The Wolfman" is more a yawn than a scream. The tone adopted by director Joe Johnston is oppressive to the point of suffocating. Del Toro plays an aristocrat named Lawrence Talbot who returns to his ancestral home after his brother's death. Lawrence witnessed the bloody aftermath of his mother's supposed suicide, then was packed off to a nuthouse by his cold and distant dad (Hopkins). Lawrence only comes home after an appeal from Gwen Conliffe (Blunt), his brother's fiancee. By the time Lawrence arrives, his brother's mutilated body has been found. Lawrence vows to find out what man or beast did the deed, leading to his own fateful encounter with the local werewolf. Combining computer animation and makeup effects by creature maestro Rick Baker, Del Toro's transformation into a werewolf is pretty gnarly. Yet Baker and his colleagues on "An American Werewolf in London" still did the man-to-werewolf makeover much more viscerally nearly 30 years ago. Yeah, Lawrence is a doomed and tortured soul. But that's no reason to doom and torture the audience.

11âÑ2 stars out of 4 -- David Germain, Associated Press

Rated R for bloody horror violence and gore. 102 minutes.

Dear John

"Dear John," starring the photogenic Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, starts promisingly enough in terms of the romance genre: Hunky, soft-spoken soldier at home on leave meets intense, free-spirited and unattached gal. They fall for each other, of course, in a soothing yet whirlwind melange of South Carolina seashore scenes, soft Southern accents and sunset-washed moments. He goes back to the Army, she returns to college, and they anxiously wait for his enlistment to end in a series of letters that inspires the movie's title. I suspect the listless ending might irk even hard-core Nicholas Sparks fans.

D-plus -- Donald Munro, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG-13 for some sensuality and violence. 1 hour, 45 minutes.

From Paris With Love

With a shaved head, thick goatee and a leather jacket, John Travolta resembles a biker from Soho. He's Charlie Wax, a brutal but chatty CIA agent. Jonathan Rhys Meyers is James Reese, an aspiring spy who's teamed with Wax in a race to prevent a terrorist plot. Rhys, more hollow-cheeked model than gun-totting tough, plays Reese as quickly adapting to the carnage - he's from a hard New York neighborhood, after all, he boasts. The bodies pile up, but "Paris" never feels like anything more than action movie dress-up.

1 star out of 4 -- Jake Coyle, Associated Press

Rated R for bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality. 95 minutes.

Edge of Darkness

A veteran Boston homicide detective embarks on a mission to find out about his 24-year-old daughter's secret life after she is murdered on the steps of his home. With Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Bojana Novakovic and Shawn Roberts. Written by William Monahan and Andrew Bovell. Based on the television series written by Troy Kennedy Martin. Directed by Martin Campbell.

2 stars out of 4 -- Roger Moore, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated R for strong bloody violence and language. 1 hour, 48 minutes.

Tooth Fairy

Despite its predictability and pat Hollywood cliche, "Tooth Fairy" is mostly charming, thanks largely to the toothy grins of Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) and Stephen Merchant, the British comedian and Ricky Gervais sidekick. Johnson plays a minor league hockey player who's summoned to Tooth Fairy duty (Merchant plays his guide) to penalize his dream-dashing ways.

2 stars out of 4 -- Jake Coyle, Associated Press

Rated PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action. 1 hour, 42 minutes.

The Blind Side

Sandra Bullock stars as a Southern woman who takes a destitute teen into her home. Based on a true story, it's part sports saga, all tearjerker.

21âÑ2 stars out of 4 -- David Hiltbrand, McClatchy-Tribune

Rated PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references. 128 minutes.