Hello there! I promised you a review/discussion with spoilers, so here it is! Like three weeks late! Just so you know, I am going to try my best to be as diplomatic as possible. That may become a bit difficult once I get to the part where I talk about the end of the movie, but I will try.
Characters: The way that the characters were portrayed did not do them justice at all. The minor characters were very well done, but the main characters could have used a lot of work.
Characters are probably the most important element to get right in a book-to-movie adaptation, especially if there are sequels in the works. You can try to fix a plot, and maybe a setting, but you cannot fix characters once you establish their personalities. It's technically possible, but a very sloppy choice.
Percy seemed very not-Percy-ish, and he had some weird self-worth issues that rarely even crossed his mind in the book. Annabeth came across as arrogant and a little bit dumb. She's supposed to be a strong and smart daughter of the goddess of wisdom, but all that seemed to be thrown out the window when she constantly asked others what was happening and had to consult an iPad to find a myth that she should have known anyway. Any intellect that she had in the previous movie seemed to disappear as the blond hair dye took its place. Her negative behavior toward Tyson was overdone; she didn't even attempt to hide her dislike for cyclopes. Tyson was much too knowledgeable for my liking. Compared to Annabeth, he seemed like a scholar. Clarisse seemed to get too soft toward the end, and developed too fast -- she doesn't soften up too much until the Battle of the Labyrinth, which we still aren't sure is happening as far as movies go.
Other than those few, the rest of the characters were really great. Hermes (Nathan Fillion) and Dionysus (Stanley Tucci) were my favorites, and SO hilarious. I also adored the Gray Sisters. I loved Tyson, too. They did really well with him, except for the small matter of his excessive intelligence.
One thing that I disliked that I mentioned in the spoiler-free review was the character interaction. Since Tyson was introduced to Percy as a cyclops, Percy didn't seem to like him too much, and I didn't like that. Of course, in the book, Percy resented that Poseidon claimed Tyson, but he still stood up for Tyson. In the movie, the only thing that Percy seemed to care about was his reputation.
One thing that we got to see in the movie but not in the book that I kind of enjoyed was Grover being brotherly toward Tyson. I know Grover was afraid of Tyson in the book, but that was still something I enjoyed.
Acting: Acting is kind of a hard category to discuss. Some moments were excessively cheesy, and it was kind of hard to tell whether it was the actor or the screenwriter who made it that way. I suppose the acting overall was fairly good, but nothing that blew me away. Annabeth's sarcasm/sassy moments were priceless. Applause for you, Miss Daddario.
Setting: I did like how they portrayed Camp Half Blood this time around. It seemed more camp-ish, and the scene in the beginning showed the kind of challenges that they probably do every once and a while at CHB, and what I'm guessing is the amphitheater.
I actually thought the OPS building with Hermes was a really good idea. That showed a bit more creativity and originality on the movie makers' part.
The Princess Andromeda was a bit awkward for me. There weren't many monsters or entranced mortals, just a manticore and Luke with a few other demigods and his dramatic classical music.
Oh, and Charybdis's stomach was really gross.
Plot: The external plot overall was almost spot-on. Clarisse is supposed to be getting the Golden Fleece, but Percy & co. go to look anyway. Grover wasn't gone in the beginning, but that was probably because they didn't explain anything about Pan in the first movie. He did get kidnapped later, though.
The only problem: the internal plot. When I say internal, I mean what the main character's (in this case, Percy's) motivations and feelings are throughout the story, if that makes sense. In the book, Percy's main motivation to find the fleece is that Grover is kidnapped/stranded on the island where the Fleece is. In my trailer reaction post, I think I mentioned how I thought Percy going after the Fleece would seem a bit attention-seeking to me without Grover being kidnapped, and I still stand by that. Percy didn't have to be the best at everything. It's okay to be second... after all, it's better than third, fourth, fifth, or last! Percy really had nothing to prove to Clarisse. I thought Percy was being a bit melodramatic, myself. Is it just me? Eh. Probably. But yeah, that was a big thing for me.
Pacing: I mentioned this in the spoiler-free review. The scene distribution was downright weird. They spent more time leading up to the quest than they did on the quest. I wish they had spent more time on the stuff actually in the Sea of Monsters (WE. WANT. GUINEA PIGS!) than the things before that, which weren't that necessary. They could have even made it longer, and just added more scenes in the sea.
Scenes: This is probably the most positive part of this discussion. I LOVED the little scenes they had! I just wasn't a huge fan of how they put them all together. I felt like the movie was a huge shout-out to the book, as opposed to an adaptation. But yeah.
- Flashbacks: Fabulous. The little actors were sooooo cute and so talented!
- Obstacle Thingy Majig: I can't say that I really understood the purpose of this "contest", but I thought it was an interesting scene. What I liked even more was what was happening in the background. My favorite line in the whole movie was, "The Christians have a guy who can do this in reverse. Now that's a god."
- The Oracle: I liked how they included it, but I wasn't a fan of the whole add-the-Great-Prophecy-3-movies-earlier thing... The stained glass window effects were cool, but the Oracle seemed too direct! She's supposed to speak in riddles, not just give things away.
- Gray Sisters' Cab: This was one of my favorite scenes. I laughed so hard.
- OPS: I liked this scene. It was creative, and Hermes added some pretty awesome humor. The fact that Hermes said the line about never giving up on family (which was pretty much straight from the book) made me so happy. At that moment, I think I may have squealed.
- Polyphemus's Lair: Where are the sheep?! Oh, he ate them. Umm. Okay. "You're a dude?!" I thought it was kinda lame, but Clarisse taking Grover's picture in the dress pretty much made my day.
- Thalia: Thalia coming alive was the BEST! I loved it. I'm glad they ended on the cliffhanger and opened it up.
THE END: No. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. What did they do?! They were doing so well! The first 3/4 of the movie were going pretty well... but then they made Kronos rise and eat Grover and Luke, and Annabeth died (temporarily), and... just... ahi;ota;ooweth;aouth WHY? This had amazing potential. Why would someone do this? I have absolutely no idea what they were trying to do, and I can't even fathom WHY they would change the end like that. I just can't.
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