Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is the sequel to Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief. This film seems to take a different tone from the last one. While the last film could have been a self-contained adventure, this film works on world building to expand the Percy Jackson universe. There isn’t a third film though despite there being a third book called The Titan’s Curse, but there is also an announcement that Disney will make a series for their streaming service. I still found this film enjoyable though and it made me want more. However, I do feel like certain character growth regresses in this film.

The film starts off with a flashback to demigods fleeing from cyclopes. One girl gets struck down, and so Zeus turns her into a tree to protect the demigod camp. We then see that years later Chiron (Anthony Head) and Mr. D (Stanley Tucci) are surprised by a new demigod who made it past the barrier. When they ask if he knows who their parent is, he points to an image of Poseidon one of the big three gods. We then see that Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman) is struggling on an obstacle course against his rival Clarisse (Leven Rambin). Clarisse ends up winning, and we learn Percy has been doubting himself in comparison to Clarisse.

Percy gets called into Mr. D’s office and learns that he has a half-brother who is half cyclops called Tyson (Douglas Smith). Percy starts showing Tyson around when suddenly the barrier around the camp is attacked. A metallic bull breaks through and with help from others is defeated by Percy. Luke (Jake Abel) shows up explaining he survived the fight before and he is still seeking to overthrow the gods. Luke explains he poisoned the tree that creates the barrier around the camp and leaves. Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) figures out the only way to cure the tree is by finding the Golden Fleece which can heal anything. Clarisse gets chosen to go on this quest, but Percy and his friends decide to go on the same quest separately worried about the consequences of failure.

This film seems to develop many areas at once. One area that particularly bothers me is the introduction of Clarisse in respect to Annabeth. Annabeth was supposed to be the star at the camp, and Clarisse seems to take that role from her relegating Annabeth to mostly be support. The film does have several interesting scenes and keeps the idea of being an adventure with multiple locations used. With the introduction of two new characters, the franchise seems to be gaining momentum here. Which is the reason the ending almost feels too soon. While they resolve their main conflict, they strongly suggest there will be greater adventures to come. Rated PG.

Ryan