After hearing Chris Columbus, Director of the first two Harry Potter films, would be the Executive Producer of this new Percy Jackson film, I was excited to see if he could turn around this franchise into the next Hunger Games or even Harry Potter. Even though I never saw the first film, I had some decent expectations after reading a recap, but the movie was barely engaging enough to keep me awake.

This poor sequel to the 2010 film, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, brings back the three main characters: Percy; Grover, the satyr; and Annabeth, the daughter of Athena. Also, making her first appearance is Clarisse, daughter of Ares.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters opens with Percy and pals at Camp Half-Blood where the shield that protects the camp is failing, and the only thing that can save it is the Golden Fleece.

Unfortunately for our heroes, Luke, presumed dead from the first movie, is back and wants the fleece for himself. From there, our gang is sent on numerous quests to find the Fleece while facing all sorts of monsters that will make your spine tingle.

But that’s it, no real character development, no sense of danger as our heroes seem invincible to everything, and nothing that makes you grab your seat and bring you into the action. It’s sad, because Greek mythology is full of interesting stories; full of danger and loss but it’s all thrown away to accommodate our heroes. Based on that, I would give Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters 2 out of 5 stars. We’ll be lucky if we see another movie come out of this franchise (and, you know what, that’s fine by me).

★★✰✰✰

Steven Burt  Follow @stevenburt