Even though the book series are quite inventive and successful in their own right, on the big screen Percy Jackson gets a good deal of flak for being a pale Harry Potter imitator, switching out witches and wizards for greek gods and demi gods. The fact that the first film, Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief, came from director Chris Columbus, who helmed the boy wizards first two installments, didn't help matters any. While not a complete failure, critical and public reaction to the movie was underwhelming, which leads to this installment lacking some of the spark and polish of the original.
When Camp Half-Blood, the sanctuary of the half human children of the Greek gods, is attacked and left defenseless, Percy (Logan Lerman), along with friends Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), Anabeth (Alexandra Daddario), and newly discovered cyclops half-brother Tyson (Douglas Smith), head out on to quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Their quest takes them to the Sea of Monsters, the Bermuda Triangle to you and me, where an old enemy threatens to unleash Kronos, ancient enemy of the gods and a threat to the entire world.
New director Thor Freudenthal (Diary of Wimpy Kid) does a pretty good job with the characters and concept when it comes to action, crafting some very exciting scenes. And there is quite a few, including the climactic battle with Kronos, a very impressive CGI creation, with some nifty lego like psychics. More often than not, the effects are pretty good, with Tyson's lone eye being the biggest misstep. The movie also excels when it tries to adapt the legends of the Greek gods to modern life, such as messenger of the the gods Hermes (Nathan Fillion, who steals the entire show, and delivers a line which will delight Joss Whedon fans) now being a UPS worker, or Hades' Chariot of the Damned now being a New York taxi. But it gets bogged down when it comes to story, stalling many times when trying to get the audience up to speed, and depending far too much on coincidence and leaps of logic. Yes, I am aware of how odd that sounds when talking about a movie concerned with the children of gods. It carries a very light tone for much of it's run time, which leaves it at odds with itself during the heavier moments, which don't really carry much weight because you always fell everything will work out. And try as I might, I couldn't shake the Harry Potter comparisons, which are even more blatant this time round. Now I can forgive Percy being the subject of an ancient prophecy, that's being done in countless other movies and books, but the Chariot of the Damned sequence borrows far too much from The Prisoner of Azkaban's Knight Bus scenes to just be a coincidence.
Much of the older actors, including Stanley Tucci and Anthony Stewart Head, replacing Pierce Brosnan as the centaur Chion, are relegated to little more than extended cameos, leaving all of the heavy lifting on their younger co-stars shoulder. They do an admirable job, but they can't really sell the more serious parts of the script. Lerman has the heroic shtick down, but struggles when it comes to the heavier parts of the script, especially his relationship with Tyson, which comes off as strained.
Ending with a promise of more to come, Sea of Monsters is an adequate enough installment in a series that never really scaled the heights the studio obviously wanted it to.
When Camp Half-Blood, the sanctuary of the half human children of the Greek gods, is attacked and left defenseless, Percy (Logan Lerman), along with friends Grover (Brandon T. Jackson), Anabeth (Alexandra Daddario), and newly discovered cyclops half-brother Tyson (Douglas Smith), head out on to quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. Their quest takes them to the Sea of Monsters, the Bermuda Triangle to you and me, where an old enemy threatens to unleash Kronos, ancient enemy of the gods and a threat to the entire world.
New director Thor Freudenthal (Diary of Wimpy Kid) does a pretty good job with the characters and concept when it comes to action, crafting some very exciting scenes. And there is quite a few, including the climactic battle with Kronos, a very impressive CGI creation, with some nifty lego like psychics. More often than not, the effects are pretty good, with Tyson's lone eye being the biggest misstep. The movie also excels when it tries to adapt the legends of the Greek gods to modern life, such as messenger of the the gods Hermes (Nathan Fillion, who steals the entire show, and delivers a line which will delight Joss Whedon fans) now being a UPS worker, or Hades' Chariot of the Damned now being a New York taxi. But it gets bogged down when it comes to story, stalling many times when trying to get the audience up to speed, and depending far too much on coincidence and leaps of logic. Yes, I am aware of how odd that sounds when talking about a movie concerned with the children of gods. It carries a very light tone for much of it's run time, which leaves it at odds with itself during the heavier moments, which don't really carry much weight because you always fell everything will work out. And try as I might, I couldn't shake the Harry Potter comparisons, which are even more blatant this time round. Now I can forgive Percy being the subject of an ancient prophecy, that's being done in countless other movies and books, but the Chariot of the Damned sequence borrows far too much from The Prisoner of Azkaban's Knight Bus scenes to just be a coincidence.
Much of the older actors, including Stanley Tucci and Anthony Stewart Head, replacing Pierce Brosnan as the centaur Chion, are relegated to little more than extended cameos, leaving all of the heavy lifting on their younger co-stars shoulder. They do an admirable job, but they can't really sell the more serious parts of the script. Lerman has the heroic shtick down, but struggles when it comes to the heavier parts of the script, especially his relationship with Tyson, which comes off as strained.
Ending with a promise of more to come, Sea of Monsters is an adequate enough installment in a series that never really scaled the heights the studio obviously wanted it to.
