Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Prequel to this movie: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)

If you saw the first movie “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: the Lightning Thief or read the book, then you already know that Percy Jackson is the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea. In this fictional world created by Rick Riordan, the Greek gods are all real and still exist. Not only do they still exist, but they continue to have children with mortals. These demigod children need a safe place to grow up and train to fight the enemies of civilization, thus Camp Half Blood was created.

The movie starts seven years earlier, when Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario), daughter of Athena, arrives at camp with her demigod companions. Chased by a dangerous cyclops, Thalia, daughter of Zeus sacrificed her life so Annabeth, Grover the satyr and Luke, son of Hermes, could live. As she lay dying, Zeus turned her into a tree to keep her alive in some way. Thalia’s tree then creates a magical border that prevents any other danger from entering the camp.

After fighting for survival in a journey across country to retrieve Zeus” lightning bolt from Luke (Jake Abel), resulting in saving his mother, Mount Olympus, the gods and the whole world, Percy (Logan Lerman) is finding life at camp a bit discouraging. Beaten in any and every challenge at camp by Clarisse (Leven Rambin), daughter of Ares, he is starting to doubt himself. Was his success in the quest just beginner’s luck? Is he really a great hero?

To top it all off, his own father Poseidon seems to be ignoring him. When his half brother Tyson (Douglas Smith), a cyclops, shows up, Percy is really starting to wonder what he’s worth. Percy soon gets a chance to find out who he is when the camp is again threatened by Luke and his plans. After poisoning Thalia’s tree, Luke sends a Colchis bull to annihilate the camp and its inhabitants. Now, in order to save the tree, Clarisse and a satyr (I didn’t catch his name, I apologize… but I think this is the only time the satyr is mentioned; he seems to have disappeared later on) is given a quest to go find the golden fleece in the Sea of Monsters.

Before she leaves for her quest, Percy tries to warn Clarisse about Luke, but she isn’t interested in what he has to say. Percy then teams up with Annabeth and Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) to go in search of the golden fleece, but Tyson also tags along to Annabeth’s chagrin.

Following Grover’s nose, Annabeth hails a cab driven by the three gray sisters to drive them to Florida, but they only get as far as Washington, DC. While there, Grover is kidnapped by demigods Luke has recruited for his plans. Spotting a UPS store, Annabeth decides to ask Hermes for help finding Luke and saving Grover. Hermes is very helpful, giving them Luke’s location and some magical gifts to help them on their quest.

When Percy, Annabeth and Tyson catch up to Luke and are taken prisoner, they find that he took Grover to help find the golden fleece and has sent him ahead. They also discover that his plan is to resurrect Kronos and overthrow the Olympians, getting revenge on his father Hermes and the other gods for ignoring their children. Thanks to Hermes’ gifts, they escape Luke and make their way to the Sea of Monsters.

The entrance into the Sea of Monsters is guarded by a water creature, Charybdis, who swallows the raft they’re riding in. In the monsters stomach, they find Clarisse on a confederate submarine ordering around her zombie soldiers. By working together, they manage to escape the belly of the beast and sail to Circeland, an island with an amusement park built for demigods.

Unfortunately, Polyphemus the cyclops has been bad for business because he’s eaten all of the customers. Also, unfortunately, they will have to somehow get the fleece from Polyphemus without getting eaten themselves. They find Grover has survived by pretending to be a cyclops, having taped a giant paper eye to his forehead. With golden fleece in hand, they barely escape and trap the monster only to find themselves surrounded by Luke and his demigod army. Will Percy once again save the day or will Luke be able to bring back Kronos and get his revenge?

Offensive material:

At the camp, there is a mummy in the attic known as the oracle with the spirit of Delphi. A spirit in the mummy gives Percy a prophecy about what may be his destiny. There’s some foul language, including the d-word, a couple times. Grover begins to call Clarisse the b-word, but is interrupted before he finishes the word. There is some name calling, including p***-ant. Also, there are some exclamations made, such as “oh my gods” and “holy Styx “and other references to hell or hades.

Dionysus, the god of wine, makes a statement that I wasn’t sure if the filmmakers meant as a joke or not. Having been caught with one of Zeus’s nymphs, he is being punished by having to look after the camp and is not allowed to drink wine. Any attempt to drink wine, the wine simply turns to water. In the film he says, “Christians have a guy who can do the same trick in reverse, now THAT’S a God.” I would like to believe this was their way of acknowledging Jesus as the one true God, but it may have been meant as a joke.

This is an action film, so there is quite a bit of violence. There’s fighting, punching, kicking, stabbing, fighting with fire, Tyson is shot with an arrow, but there isn’t much gore or blood.

Positive elements:

While this movie is primarily based on the premise of the existence of many gods, I did pick up a couple elements in the movie that can be used as analogies for biblical truths.

Percy is doubting himself. Percy is doubting his father cares. He talks to his father Poseidon, as if in prayer, but he’s not really expecting a response. Now consider his brother Tyson. He was living alone in the mountains, when he asked his father for help. Poseidon led Tyson to find Percy. Tyson never wavers in his faith. Several times in the movie, he is encouraging Percy to keep his faith. When they need a way to get to Luke’s yacht, Tyson asks his father for help to get there. Percy thinks Tyson is wasting his breath, Poseidon will never answer. Lo and behold, Poseidon sends a hippocampus to help Percy, Tyson and Annabeth reach their destination.

This theme throughout the movie made me think about prayer. Percy didn’t believe Poseidon was listening, but he was. When we pray, God hears. Sometimes we don’t recognize God’s response or think He’s not listening, but you have to keep praying. When Tyson asked, he asked expectantly.

Mark 11:24: “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.”

1 John 5:14-15: “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.”

Clarisse is the best at everything. Name the challenge, she’s won it. She enjoys rubbing Percy’s nose in the fact that she has beaten him at everything. When her chance for glory comes, taking the quest to get the fleece, she is so caught up in the victory of being chosen in front of everybody, she ignores the warnings Percy tries to give her. Her attitude reminded me of something I read a few nights ago. Matthew 23:12 says…

“Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” I have to say Clarisse was a lot more humble by the end of the movie.

Another positive element that exists in the movie is Hermes unwillingness to give up on Luke. He knows Luke is angry with him and says Luke has a right to be angry, but you never give up on family. God never gives up on us. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us…

“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

Movie thoughts:

If you have read the book, you will probably be disappointed. While I feel they did a better job of sticking to the book in this film as compared to “The Lightning Thief,” it is off enough to make you wonder what they were thinking. I did see this in 3D, and while the fight with the Colchis bull was 3D-rific, I wish I had saved a few dollars and watched it in regular format, instead. I’m really on the fence on whether I would recommend this movie or not. I think I’m leaning towards recommending finding something better, if it’s available, because I’m not sure the positive material outweighs the offensive material. While this film is rated PG, I think a PG-13 rating would be more appropriate.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: None

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

• Positive
• Neutral
• Negative
• Young people