Today's Mini-Review: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters: **/*****, or 5/10

Second Percy Jackson film, following the demi-decent, excessively long named Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, but being even more forgetful. This time Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman again) and his fellow friends from Camp Halfblood, where all the offspring of the gods sired on mortals are gathered for their safety, set out on a quest to find the Golden Fleece in the so-called 'Sea of Monsters', better known as the Bermuda Triangle. They do so to heal a magical tree that protects their home with a forcefield that keeps non halfbloods out, but which has been compromised since the tree is dying. The Fleece contains healing properties that might save it, and therefore, save themselves. Unfortunately a band of rogue halfbloods with sinister plans led by the same dull villain from the first film, the whiny demi-god Luke, are also seeking this magical MacGuffin so they can use it to deliver the evil god Kronos, a fiery humanoid terror, from bondage. The brave Percy and his companions, Ron and Hermione Grover the – supposedly funny – Satyr and the “wise” Annabeth (with racist attitudes towards Cyclopses), must beat them in a race against time across the most dangerous sea of all to defeat Kronos for once and for all. And they get no help from their divine parents, which is a shame since they were played by terrific actors you just can't get enough of (the likes of Sean Bean and Kevin McKidd) in the first film. At least we are a little compensated by the appearance of Nathan Fillion as the dashing entrepeneur Hermes, with a nod to Firefly thrown in (which totally blows over the heads of the target audience, but might make some older viewers chuckle). Like its predecessor, Sea of Monsters feels very much like the 'Greek myth' version of the first few Harry Potter films, complete with prophecies and chosen ones, magic and monsters, and a triumvirate – though of two boys and a girl, sadly lacking the necessary chemistry – of young lead characters getting entangled in one action driven situation after another. Unfortunately the movie lacks the heart and soul that increasingly drove Potter and Co., while the plot tries to keep its head above water in an ocean of gaping plot holes and overly digital FX sequences. Some of these are at least exciting to a minor extent, like the fight against a metal robot bull and the scene where the protagonists are swallowed by Charybdis (basically the Sarlacc from Return of the Jedi, except embedded in water instead of sand), but the rest of them is nothing if not boring. There's an irony in the fact that old fantasy films fondly remembered mostly for containing elaborate monster fights done in stop motion, like those of Ray Harryhausen, have stood the test of time, while their present day counterparts that try the same with CGI prove oh so forgetful and will undoubtedly end up not so universally revered in future years. If you look at the set-up of this film, a plot dealing with the resurrection of the ancient Kronos whose rise will cover the world in chaos coupled with one scene after another of the main characters fighting digital creatures, Sea of Monsters bears more than a striking resemblance to the abysmal Wrath of the Titans, which was also a lousy sequel to an already disappointing film that unsuccessfully tried to cash in on the ever ongoing public interest in Greek mythology by getting itself lost in people battling digital creatures. A shame really, since the notion of the ancient Greek world of gods and monsters continuing to simmer just under the surface of modern times but unseen by Muggles everyday humans is worthy of a better execution. Oh well, if we want to see old gods get mixed up with our contemporary world, there's still Thor: The Dark World to look forward to.