College Pop Culture

After horrible disappointment in the first Percy Jackson movie, I was skeptical about seeing the second film, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. I was pleasantly proved wrong.

 

In Sea of Monsters, it’s been two years since Percy (Logan Lerman) has given the lightning bolt back to Zeus and saved Olympus. He’s seeming inadequate and even calling himself a “one-quest wonder”. When the barrier of safety into Camp Halfblood is breeched by his thought-to-be dead nemesis, Luke (Jake Abel), Percy has to go on a new quest to get to the golden fleece before Luke uses it to wake up the evil God Kronos.

 

The movie stayed much truer to the book than the first movie did. That is undoubtedly why I enjoyed it about 10 times more. I am a huge fan of Greek mythology and even took a mythology class last semester where we read The Odyssey, which Sea of Monsters is based off of. It was cute to watch how they modernized all of the obstacles that Odysseus faced, the most notable being Polyphemus with dread locks.

 

Logan Lerman was pretty good in this film, just how a Percy should be, but the standout to me was his half brother and Cyclops, Tyson (Douglas Smith). We got a subtle lesson in prejudice from the sweet and sometimes dumb Cyclops who’s only care in the world was getting to know his brother. The whole movie was really sweet. Yes, there were scary monsters, and yes there was a lot of fighting, but it is a kid’s movie at heart.

 

If you’re a fan of the books or have a group of kids you’re nannying this summer, I highly recommend going to see it. If not… just wait for the DVD.