Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Powerful

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Watched recently with my daughter who is a huge fan of the books. She had sworn she would never watch it because she was so aggravated at the first one. For some reason she decided she wanted to see how bad it was. She ranted through the entire movie. It's been a while, but I read the first series. She is rereading them so it was fresh in her mind. We both decided they rewrote almost the entire movie. Much has been covered in other reviews, so I'm going to stick mostly with what I haven't seen mentioned, 2 points of which we thought were the most aggreageous. First, how do you get the mythology wrong, in both movies? Admittedly the first movie was the more glaring. Having Persephone in the Underworld at that time of year destroys the entire myth, but this one wasn't much better. Kronos was not just evil. He swallowed his children to prevent a prophecy that one of them would overthrow him. However, he did not swallow Zeus as his wife tricked him into swallowing a stone instead. Zeus grew up in hiding and then freed his siblings from inside Kronos and then they defeated Kronos. They completely destroyed the character of Luke along with the story of the cursed blade. Luke's story is tragic and complicated, but there are 4 events that lead to his being vulnerable to Kronos, each one making him angrier and more bitter. One of them, however, is the death of Thalia, which could easily have been covered. While he does poison Thalia, he does not intend for her to die. He planned to return with the fleece and cure her once he resurrected Kronos. He believed she would join him. Note too that Kronos appears in his dreams and plays on his anger. There is some indication Kronos may even be influencing him. He also doesn't die here. Near the end he resurrects Kronos by serving as his vessel. But Luke then fights back. Eventually he sacrifices himself to prevent Kronos full return and is recognized as a hero. His last words are a plea to Percy to take care of the others like him to make sure this never happens again. The cursed blade is celestial bronze and steal molded together, so it can kill both nonhumans and humans. It's an abomination and should not exist, but is given to Luke by Kronos. He calls it Backbiter. It is not Percy's sword, and neither Percy nor Thalia is the child in the prophecy. The child is Luke, and he saves Olympus with his sacrifice. Why they changed the story I cannot fathom. It's a much more powerful story as written. I understand that changes have to be made in transferring to film, but the Harry Potter series did it and managed to not only keep the main plot and spirit of the books, but by starting with actors of the right age, also covered the entire series. Having seen that it can be done just makes the Percy movies all the more disappointing. Our only saving grace is it has been confirmed there will be no more. Maybe a few years from now Fox, who owns the film, tv, and game rights, will get a clue and redo the series properly. My daughter and I think it would make a great animated series for television. There are no limits or time pressures in animated, so they could pretty much stick to the story, treating each book as a season. Then we could all get together and burn the discs for the movies.

I love Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson. The Movie is great.

Gone was the magic, gone was the adventure. ..replaced by silliness of the highest caliber, with what appeared to be a pathetic attempt to make up for such a lackluster film, with CGI.From dead Confederate soldiers, to what I *think* was supposed to be a new twist on the Stygian Witches, this movie was a nightmare from the get-goThe only positive thing I can say about this disaster is that, at least all the main important characters from the original, reprised their roles (except Chiron) and if it hadn't been for that, this movie wouldn't have been worth suffering through for even fifteen minutes, let alone the whole thing.Avoid, at all costs, avoid.

Almost a tribute to Ray Harryhousen! I loved those old movies as a teenager! Great popcorn fodder! I assume that the author is either British or Australian. This series plays in the spirit of the Harry Potter Series, but doesn't quite live up to its expectations. The special effects are extraordinary. Especially the water horse! The Greek influence is fun. (UPS is run by Hermes!) The plot has been simplified for the screenplay, and it dilutes the whole thing. Why and how does the Cyclops have ownership of the Golden Fleece? I thought it was in the Garden of one of the Gods. Where is Half-Breed Summer Camp, exactly? Do they ever live anywhere else? Fun to-be-sure, but missing that "spark". Maybe a better setting? The primal forest isn't exactly "Hogworts"! The heroine is spellbinding. She has far more charisma than poor Percy! He's kind of a "half-breed nerd".