Heavy spoiler ahead. I'm not a professional movie or literature critic. I don't really think in the abstract of "character development" or other cinematic terms of art. But I know that for me there was something essential missing in this movie. To hit the high points - all the characters including Percy are well if somewhat superficially played, with the exception of course of Tucci, a perfect cast for Dionysus who seems to have found a niche in recent fantasy/sci-fi films. The special effects are pretty good, closer to overwhelming/unbelievable than necessary but better than say Transformers. And the story doesn't drag, it moves around enough to keep you semi-interested. The problem is, I never get fully involved, for two reasons: 1) I don't understand why the characters do what they do; and 2) some of what happens just doesn't make sense (neither of which were as big a problem in the first movie, which was engaging and one or two notches above this). I'll give you one example of each. 1) I missed who Annabeth's mom was (Athena), please remind me of who Athena was and how that would impact on her behavior. Hermes says he made mistakes raising Luke - like what? Tell me something about that. The satyr - what makes him unique and how does that affect his behavior? The movie is more like this happens, then that happens, and this guy is this way and that guy is that way, then this happens, and then this happens. Tryon seems more connected to Poseidon then Percy - give me a hint why. I'm having trouble articulating this but much of what happens seems artificial and arbitrary. There's also not a lot of humor in this movie, which I think is somehow connected to point 1). Percy's lack of connection with his dad is a great great opportunity - use it! (without beating it to death) At the end of the movie, close by having Percy and Tyson go the lake, commiserate about how hard it is to feel connected to dad, and then have a bubble or something come up from the middle of the lake. How could they miss that?!? One example for point 2 - Percy pretty much single-handedly defeats the Bull - how can everyone else not know about that? How can they not congratulate him? Why would Clarisse still say he's a loser? He saved the whole group! I don't know, but it seems like there's a much better way of working with the great basic premise of the Percy Jackson franchise than this.
Review of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
