PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS

US, 2013, 106 minutes, Colour.
Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Douglas Smith, Brandon T. Jackson, Stanley Tucci, Anthony Head, Nathan Fillion.
Directed by Thor Freudenthal.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is a sequel to Percy Jackson: Lightning Thief, from 2009. The two films are based on a series of novels by Rick Riordan, very popular, serving as a possible substitute for Harry Potter stories. However, the films did not have the success anticipated though they were popular.
Logan Lerman is Percy Jackson, the hero, the son of Poseidon and a human. Along with other half-bloods, he goes to a park where they are sheltered from interaction with humans. In the first film he was given a quest. In this film he has another quest.

While in the first film, actors appeared as the gods, they do not appear in this film, only Hermes as an American businessman (Nathan Fillion) and Kronoss as a computer-generated Titan.

Percy is a modest young man, with a sense of destiny which he does not want to pursue, rather plagued by self-doubt. However, he is encouraged by the managers of the park, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Head, playing Chiron the Centaur, to pursue that destiny, especially after he has defeated a monstrous special-effects bull which has invaded the park.

The quest takes him and his friends into New York City with three strange Fates and a taxi, to Hermes and his factory, to Washington, DC, to a boat going to the Caribbean, to the discovery of a Civil War submarine, to a strange destination in the Bermuda Triangle which appears as an entertainment park, complete with a roller coaster. He has to confront Luke, who has betrayed his half-blood heritage and the gigantic god Kronos. He is accompanied in his quest by the athletic champion, Clarisse, as well as Annabeth who has a crush on Percy and Grover, his centaur friend. Also along is a young Cyclops, Tyson, who turns out to be a half-brother of Percy.

Quite some action at the end, Percy achieving the quest, the return home and the celebration and the possibility of another film in the series.

1. The popularity of the novels, the first film? An attractive hero? Heroics? The mythical backgrounds? Magic and effects?

2. The credibility of the plot, the Greek gods, their stories, the myths, realities? Still active? The children, the half-bloods? Poseidon?

3. The half bloods? The gods still living in the present? In the US? In the present? Their living in the park, survival, under attack? The background from the first film?

4. The special effects, the stunt work?

5. The prologue, the story of Talia, the escape of the children, Percy and his young friends, the pursuit, their being caught, Talia dying, frozen, giving her life,becoming part of the tree? Percy and the voiceover? The role of Zeus? The protective wall for the children?

6. The contest, Percy and Clarisse in competition? Percy, his friends and supporters, his stopping to help the stranded boy, Clarisse and her determination, her winning? Mr. D and his getting Percy to do the cleaning?l

7. Mr. D, his personality, the jobs, his associate, Chiron, the centaur, their discussions, managing the park?

8. The breakthrough of the wall, the mechanical bull, its destruction, the special effects, the fight, Luke and his story? Percy, the fights with the bull, his
defeating it?

9. The story of the golden fleece, the issue of destiny, Percy and his destiny, destruction or not? His discussion with Chiron, the issue of the prophecy, Percy and his self-doubts?

10. His being willing for Clarisse to lead the mission? The boat, the Bermuda triangle and the explanation of its destructive power and linking it to mythology?

11. The arrival of Tyson, a Cyclops, his one eye, his sunglasses, changing into two eyes? The revelation that he was Percy’s half-brother? Percy’s reaction? Tyson and his good nature? Percy apologising later to Tyson?

12. Percy, his friends, the quest, the taxi New York, the three Fates and the comic touches, the issue of the eye? Traveling to the factory, meeting Hermes and the fact that he was a businessman? Going to Washington? The boat and its going to the Caribbean, the Bermuda Triangle? The Civil War submarine, the soldiers, sailing, the battles, the effect?

13. The undersea sequences, the effects, the escape?

14. The destination at the theme park, Polyphemes? His role, sinister?

15. Luke and his friends, Luke and his betrayal, his wanting power, the attack on the group?

16. The sword, Clarisse and her being standoffish, Grover, Annabeth, her love for Percy? Grover and his being drawn up into the monster? Tyson and his being willing to give his life for the others?

17. Kronos, size, the gathering, Percy fighting, Kronos, devouring Grover, the flights?

18. The monster, club meets and the confrontation, destruction? Killing Annabeth, her revival? Grover reappearing?

19. Clarisse, the fleece, destroying Kronos, coming together, Luke’s defeat, he return, the celebration, Talia, her revival, the wall resumiing its protective role?

20. The anticipation of a sequel?