By Leah Stone
Walking in to the cinema yesterday, I did not at all think that I would be writing a negative article about Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. No, I walked in hoping for a film that lived up to the greatness of the books and was a better follow on from the first film, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which, to me, was rather disappointing. But hey, surely a new director meant that things had to get better?
Wrong.
Walking in to the cinema yesterday, I did not at all think that I would be writing a negative article about Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. No, I walked in hoping for a film that lived up to the greatness of the books and was a better follow on from the first film, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, which, to me, was rather disappointing. But hey, surely a new director meant that things had to get better?
Wrong.
This film follows Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), half-blood son of Poseidon, and his friends Annabeth Chase (Alexandra Daddario) and Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) as they try and find the Golden Fleece in order to heal the poisoned tree that protects Camp Half Blood. The tree sprouted years ago with the near-death of Zeus’s half-blood daughter Talia, who has since been held in a comatose state under the tree. They are joined by Percy’s brother-come-Cyclops Tyson, but of course come across the half-blood turned bad Luke (Jake Abel) on their journeys.
First things first; if you are going to create a film from a book, then it would be wise to stick to the book as much as possible. This will help avoid an uproar of angry fans that will years later have been build up with resent with the fact that you did certain things differently or just didn't include them at all, cough, Harry Potter, cough. Anyway, the first different-from-the-book scene was the introduction of Percy’s half brother, Tyson. Instead of Tyson saving his brother’s life at school, he just wanders into camp half-blood and this was NOT the introduction everyone was expecting.
First things first; if you are going to create a film from a book, then it would be wise to stick to the book as much as possible. This will help avoid an uproar of angry fans that will years later have been build up with resent with the fact that you did certain things differently or just didn't include them at all, cough, Harry Potter, cough. Anyway, the first different-from-the-book scene was the introduction of Percy’s half brother, Tyson. Instead of Tyson saving his brother’s life at school, he just wanders into camp half-blood and this was NOT the introduction everyone was expecting.
Secondly the acting was extremely over-rated As a Lerman fan, there were high expectations. Here, he and his fellow cast members could have brought much more to the table in terms of emotion and actually trying to appear like they mean what they say. The speech was off; smiles obviously forced and overall, there was a lot to left to be desired. With such a good cast as this, it does seem a shame that they didn't live up to their reputation.
On a positive note, there was a lot of action to keep you entertained. It was not boring, and it certainly would keep the younger ones occupied. However, adults would not be fooled. It isn’t high-octane action but enough to keep you going until the end. The special effects involving Percy’s powers for water were up to scratch, as were the mythical creatures featured in the film, so it was not a total loss. However the constant straying from the book and the second class acting certainly brought it down a few notches.
Percy, I expected more of you.
3/5
For more from Leah, check out her twitter!
On a positive note, there was a lot of action to keep you entertained. It was not boring, and it certainly would keep the younger ones occupied. However, adults would not be fooled. It isn’t high-octane action but enough to keep you going until the end. The special effects involving Percy’s powers for water were up to scratch, as were the mythical creatures featured in the film, so it was not a total loss. However the constant straying from the book and the second class acting certainly brought it down a few notches.
Percy, I expected more of you.
3/5
For more from Leah, check out her twitter!
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