Percy Jackson: The Sea of Monsters - Great Family Movie

Percy Jackson:  Sea of Monsters was a good sequel and just as entertaining as its predecessor The Lightning Thief.  The movie begins with some history, as Percy recounts the story of how Thalia, a half blood who made her way to the Olympians camp alongside Grover, Luke and Annabeth sacrificed her life to save them from their pursuers.  Zeus transformed her into a massive tree with an enchantment to protect the camp from intruders.  Thalia’s tree however has been poisoned and the magical barrier protecting everyone is quickly fading.  It is decided that that only way to save Thalia and the camp is to retrieve the mythical Golden Fleece from the Sea of Monsters (aka the Bermuda Triangle).  Percy’s rival Clarisse is selected to take on the quest and heads off to the sea.  However, troubled by a prophecy which states that the son of one of the original three gods will either save or destroy Olympus, as well as knowledge that Luke, his arch nemesis, plans to recover the Fleece for his own purposes, Percy decides to go after the Fleece himself.  Accompanied by Grover and Annabeth, as well as his new half-brother, a Cyclops named Tyson, Percy sets out in pursuit of the Fleece in an attempt to stop Luke and save Thalia.  The story was great in that it uses real mythology to support the fictional story as Percy encounters the infamous Charybdis and terrible Cyclops Polyphemus during his quest.  The father of all the Gods, Kronos also makes an appearance as Percy attempts to stop Luke from resurrecting him from his prison in Tartarus.  Overall, the film was worth the 90+ minute run time and had something for everyone.  As a student of history and the Greek Classics, I found the film to be accurate in its mythology while still maintaining an entertaining fictional storyline.  It does pick up where the last film left off however which was a bit confusing at first as I haven’t seen The Lightning Thief since theaters.  So I would recommend watching it ahead of time before jumping right in to Sea of Monsters.  All in all, it’s definitely destined to be a family movie night favorite.