Movie Review: Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters 3D

Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters 3D  is the second chapter in a franchise that may generate yet another film (this one hasn’t fared too well in America) and one wonders what the filmmakers will come up with to attract the fans once again, because chapter two isn’t exciting or entertaining.

To use a convenient critic’s cliché: “You have seen it all before, just better.”

Not that the story really matters, but here it is anyway. Young and handsome Percy Jackson, half human, half god (he is the son of Poseidon) and his mates must find the Golden Fleece in order to restore order in their special fantasy world. But on their way they, predictably, meet awesome creatures and sea monsters that almost devour the audience alive in 3D – making the tickets more expensive and adding some spice to the mild sauce. The highlight of the film is an incredibly effective whirlpool that threatens our heroes’ safety.

Granted, the creatures around the whirlpool are quite awesome and I found myself ducking one or two onslaughts, but once they have been defeated, as monsters tend to be in this kind of fantasy film, the excitement fades.

Logan Lerman, so brilliant in The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, really needs better material than this. He is too good an actor to waste his talents on a character that merely needs to look intense, scared or determined. One hopes that he will graduate from teenage fair like Percy Jackson and find a script worthy of his talents.

But parents who want to escape looking after the kids for two hours can safely let them loose amongst the sea monsters. This is harmless fun that the little ones will enjoy more than adults. Beware, though some scenes are quite intense. Kids simply give themselves over to the experience, while adults may just wish they could see something that actually makes them forget about the world around them.