Review of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013) by Bl4D3Mag3 — 26 Sep 2013

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters surpassed my expectations. Quite often in a film series the film creators will test the boundaries in the second film and I think because the movie didn't seem to test the boundaries it kept true to the book and as a result was just as good as the first movie.

This film is truer to the book series than the first film was, this is perhaps why many critics are giving it such a hard time having little to no knowledge of the source material and once again judging this as they would judge any random movie. I think perhaps adaptions should get a few bonus points or something when they stick closer to the source, the movie is aimed at fans and kids mainly I'm sure that if they were aiming at a wide audience they would have added a few random explosion scene which would have pleased the more ignorant critics.

Although the movie was truer to the books it did cut out a few of the more interesting pieces out, I was dismayed to find that they cut Tantalus and the chariot races from the movie as well as the sirens scene which I believe would have both added a lot to the movie.

Although the movie sticks closer to the books I felt that the transition from the first movie which was less true to the books caused some of the character development to be flawed. In the first film there was a stronger relationship between Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase however in this film it was explored to a lesser extent as a result of sticking closer to the books.

The acting just like the first movie was fantastic, the actors do a righteous portrayal of the characters especially that of the main characters. Surprisingly the minor characters are portrayed very well, far better than in the first movie and it makes the movie more engaging as a result. There was a nice addition in one particular scene with Nathan Fillion the renowned star of the cancelled television show Firefly who makes a reference to said show which really resonated with me a fan of that show.

Just like the first movie the fusion of ancient and modern elements added a sense of fun and adventure which was exacerbated by the journey to the sea of monsters fueling the excitement especially in younger audiences and those like myself who are young at heart. The addition of the Percy Jackson style of humour throughout the movie was alluring especially to fans of the books who were worried that the adaption would get rid of it completely.

Some have said that the CGI was poor, however I didn't once see any kind of slip up in the quality and there were no fatal missing pieces of scenery as I have sometimes seen in movies with higher budgets than this had. Much of the movie relies on CGI, the final battle scene especially and it is done flawlessly.

All in all Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was just as good as the first movie and is especially aimed at the fans of the previous movie and book series. If you are a fan you must watch it, if you are of a younger audience or young at heart it certainly should be on your to do list.