Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters, 2013

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters — 2013

Starring: Logan Lerman, Stanley Tucci, Leven Rambin, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T. Jackson, Jake Abel, Anthony Head, Nathan Fillion

Genre: Fantasy, Mythology, Adventure

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters continues the adventures of demigod Percy Jackson and his friends, as they search for the Golden Fleece at the Sea of Monsters.

Uh...so let me admit that after the disaster that was Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief (the first movie in the series, also starring Lerman, Daddario, Jackson and Abel with Pierce Brosnan, Uma Thurman and Rosario Dawson among others), I did not expect much from The Sea of Monsters. Thus, I did not come out particularly disappointed.

I write this review after having heard the news that Logan Lerman would not be returning for the third movie and in all likelihood, a third movie would not be made. Knowing this, I can safely say that SoM was wrapped up well - the franchise could end if it was wanted to, and continue if so. Thor Freudenthal, the director, had his work cut out for him after Christopher Columbus messed up the foundation of the series in The Lightning Thief. He did not do so bad, frankly.

The thing is, SoM wasn't a very bad sequel of LT. It was quite a good one, actually. The two movies if taken separately from the book series are very good, too. Unfortunately, they are adapted from the books and that's where everything goes wrong.

SoM (the movie) was way more entertaining than the book it was adapted from, so there it earns an extra point. Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and Brandon T. Jackson all did well. Seeing Anthony Head as Chiron (replacing Pierce Brosnan from the first movie) wasn't too bad either, from a fan of his work on Merlin and Doctor Who. Nathan Fillion as Hermes (replacing Dylan Neal) was GREAT, probably one of the best things in the movie. Leven Rambin gave a solid performance as Clarisse. So I have no issues with casting.

The movie on a whole, however, just felt a bit...bland. Like it was missing something. The creative liberties taken bothered me a lot, so that was probably why I didn't like SoM a lot. I couldn't wait for the movie to get over at times - the climax was highly slow-moving in my opinion, and lacked heart-racing moments. I found myself impatient for the next scene so many damn times.

It was certainly a good effort, but the output wasn't quite so brilliant.

Overall rating: Two and a half out of five stars (2.5/5)

Final comment: I'm sure I won't voluntarily see it a second time.