Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)

 

The first Percy Jackson was a fun, lighthearted if ultimately forgettable adventure romp based on the books by Rick Riordan. Especially for younger viewers, it had a lot of things going for it, but for most adults, this was too kiddy. 

Have I got some bad news for this follow-up then. Because it is a lot worse. 

It's not that they didn't try, but they had to cram so much in here that you hardly have any time to empathize with any of the characters and some are written in such a way that they become insufferable. It says a lot when by far the best role is a small bit part played by the always lovable Nathan Fillion (as Hermes).

It's been a while since the events of the first outing, and Percy is still training at Camp Half Blood. Clarisse, daughter of Ares, is now 'top dog' and she is also seen as the best at whatever she does. This also means she is played as an insufferable prick and this continues throughout the rest of the film. 

We also get a little backstory as to how the magical barrier around the camp came to be, but this is mostly to set up a sequel that never came and to get the story sort of rolling, because one day a mechanical bull breaks through the barrier and wreaks havoc. Percy again manages to stop it, but it turns out the antagonist of the first film isn't dead and is still plotting the same plot. But of course all the credit goes to Clarisse and she is chosen to go on a quest for the Golden Fleece in order to save the magical tree. 

Naturally, Percy and his friends Grover and Annabeth secretly head out for the exact same reason. 

Oh, and Percy now has a half-brother who also happens to be a cyclops. Go figure.

The story eventually leads them to Circe Land where there's a cyclops holding on to the fleece. This also happens to be the place where our evildoer plans to resurrect Kronos, the Titan that was killed (sort of) by Zeus, Hades and Poseidon. 

Things happen, prophecy gets sort of fulfilled but not really because sequelbaiting, the end.

This movie has some problems. For one, the story and characters aren't fleshed out enough and there's quite a lot of them. They become one-dimensional cutouts you won't really care about. The most engaging character is actually Tyson, Percy's cyclops brother, as he feels like he has the most depth (but that's not saying much). Most of the other characters are either there to stand slack-jawed or provide exposition along the way. 

What this movie also does, is insert a lot of comedy into the whole and I do mean a lot. Problem is, most of it's not funny unless you are five. Nathan Fillion does get a few laughs, but he gets the best lines and delivers them with gusto.

There's even a jab at the cancellation of 'Firefly' in there and don't tell me it wasn't intentional.

Other than that, the CG looks incredibly fake at times, which for a project of this budget is actually impressive and for a movie titled 'Sea of Monsters', there are surprisingly few monsters. Also: how did the villain think he would fare against Percy on the ocean, as Percy is a son of Poseidon, god of the oceans? 

In the end, this is a rather unremarkable movie that became the second part of a trilogy that will never be finished due to failing box office results. But considering the drop in quality, maybe it's for the best the third one never materialized.