Three years after the original Percy Jackson movie, our half-bloods are back in the sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. Most of the cast is the same (although Giles from Buffy replaces Pierce Brosnan as Chiron) as we pick up some undetermined time after the first movie. The first movie was decent, but not spectacular and this second movie continues in the middling vein. However, the movie has significant changes from the book. Let’s check it out.

At some point after the events of the first movie, we pick up the second movie. But first, we go back to when Luke and Annabeth made it to Camp Half-Blood by the sacrifice of Thalia (daughter of Zeus). Zeus responded to her sacrifice by turning Thalia into a tree that protected the camp from bad guys (or monsters). We are now also introduced to Tyson, a half-brother of Percy, whose father is Poseidon and mother is a water spirit. Oh by the way, Tyson is a Cyclops. Camp Half-blood is under attack because someone has poisoned Thalia’s tree (you would think that would piss off Zeus, but nary a word is heard from Olympus). Percy sees Luke, who clearly isn’t dead, and realizes that Luke has a plan which will interact with Percy’s prophecy. Camp Half-Blood leader Dionysus chooses Clarisse (daughter of Ares)  to go on a quest to recover the Golden Fleece (which Annabeth determined was the only way to save Thalia).

Percy, Annabeth and Grover sneak out to go on their own quest for the Golden Fleece as well. Along the way, our heroes meetup with Hermes (Luke’s dad), played by Nathan Fillion with a sly nod towards Firefly, get kidnapped by Luke, meet Polyphemus and realize what Percy’s prophecy means. So now, they have to team up with Clarisse to save the world…again.

The movie is decent, but not great. The movie has a few holes and managed to make Annabeth (daughter of Athena) into a damsel in distress, instead of a strong demigod. She uses Athena’s wisdom a couple of times, but, when monsters attach Camp Half-Blood , she gets knocked down and cries to Percy for help, rather than go do something herself. It’s very annoying and pretty much makes her a waste of space in this movie. Clarisse does a lot more (with and without Percy) and Percy would have probably been better off with her instead of Annabeth as his quest companion. Tyson the centaur has a couple good scenes, but he seems to play the fool more than help out. Luke is a typical villain who doesn’t seem to realize that he can’t hold the son of Poseidon while they are in a boat in the ocean. Overall it’s not a bad movie and ends with a nice twist that will, presumably, lead us into the third movie. Mildly recommended.