Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters movie review (2013)
Is Percy the hero for the job? The quest takes him to the Bermuda Triangle, after a pit stop in roots reminiscent of neoclassical-looking Washington DC, then onto a sea of dangers, followed by a run-in with a humungous Cyclops who can fee-fi-fo-fum sniff out the blood of tasty half-bloods. Next up is a Kronos-like CGI fellow who pops humans into his mouth, the way Saturn tossed back his own children, nobody you'd want in your family scrapbook. At every juncture Percy runs into Luke (Jake Abel), with whom he shares god relatives. Luke's goal is to return to the anarchic world of the Titans; throwing over ancestors is his idea of family fun. It's up to Percy to break the cycle of abuse. Yet Luke, who stole lightning from Zeus in the first film, here looks mainly hurt and brooding.
Percy and Co. join up with Clarisse (Leven Rambin) already on the front. The daughter of Ares, and a blunt and impulsive warrior of the new cinematic female fighter mode, she was a winner at the games in Camp Half-Blood. (In a hair-colored turnabout on their "real life" looks, admittedly based on publicity stills, lead Annabeth is the blue-eyed blonde; the sharp-tongued Clarisse a brunette. Even in the supernatural world, it seems, the old stereotypes rule.)
Lerman is adroit at looking eager and battle-worthy but not too cocky in a film as much about character development as sword play. He learns to appreciate his new-found half brother, a tender performance by Douglas Smith as a once ostracized Cyclops, sometimes wearing sunglasses to hide his uni-eyed state; at other moments he is protected by the supernatural mist Annabeth sprays to make him "acceptable." Which brother will be the heartthrob for teen girls? Perhaps a minority view, but my vote goes to Smith; after a while even the one eye seems tolerable, especially as his character is cutely klutzy.
Yet the takeaway is Stanley Tucci's caricature of a slovenly, slapdash Mr. D. (Dionysis) the ruler-in-residence at Camp Half-Blood, a job he never wanted. It's rivaled by a hilarious set piece featuring the Gray Ladies, a threesome of anachronistic New York Taxi drivers, perhaps a cross between oracles and harpies, who pick up Percy and pals at the start of their trip. The three creatures (Mary Birdsong, Yvette Nicole Brown, Missi Pyle) are as tart-tongued as any urban cabbie to their passengers and to each other, and comic relief for adults who tagged along with junior Percy Jackson fans.
