I am probably
one of the very few who liked, not loved, the first Percy Jackson film, The
Lightening Thief. Greek mythology is my favorite kind of mythology, so when a
film comes that plays around with that idea, I was all game for it. I haven’t
yet read the books, doubt that I will, but it seems the success the books achieved
have unfortunately not been passed on to the films. The Lightening Thief had a
lot going on for it including a stellar cast and obviously a top-selling book
to back it up. So, although the film performed averagely, the sequel got the
green-light and we ended up with Sea of Monsters which unfortunately is step
further below the first film.
Sea of Monsters has our hero Percy, the half-blood son of Poseidon; head off on a quest with his friends to find the Golden Fleece that will save a dying tree that in return will save the camp they inhabit. Besides the expected mythological monsters another danger that looms over their heads is that of Luke, a fellow half-blood turned bad, trying to reincarnate Kronos, who happens to be both Luke and Percy’s “evil” grandfather once slain by his three sons. Serious family issues I tell ya!
Leaving the story apart, the film isn't all that bad when it comes to the CGI. Some of it is tacky no doubt, but overall it is something that can be easily overlooked as there is enough action going on that the film keeps on moving from one setup to another at a pretty good speed. Where it turns out to be a letdown is the in the cast. Where The Lightening Thief was chock-a-block full of stars including the now replaced Pierce Brosnan who played Chiron, Sea of Monsters has very little star power. Having said that, Nathan Fillion playing Hermes in a small yet hilarious role walks away with the entire film. No one, not even the likes of Stanley Tucci or Anothony Head are able to save the film probably because they have very insubstantial minute roles. The main leads of the film are very unimpressive. They don’t stand out and it seems the roles could have been played by any teenager, and that is another reason why is becomes hard to relate with the characters.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters would probably work as a great family entertaining film to show to pre-teens. It lacks the complexity that today’s teens go through to really appeal to them. The younger audience is most likely to be fascinated or scared by the creatures and that should and probably is appealing to them, but for everyone else Sea of Monsters is just an hour and forty minutes wasted on poor half-heated story-telling with nothing much to look forward to, except once again the cameo by Nathan Fillion.
Rating 2/5
