If you haven’t seen Percy Jackson And The Lightening Thief then I highly recommend that you do so, for this film is not a stand-alone adventure but a continuation of Percy Jackson unique take on Greek mythology.

Sadly, however it doesn’t live up to the first one.

Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters finds Percy (Logan Lerman), the half human half god spawn of Poseidon king of the seas and an earthly mother, at camp half-blood where we left him. Here Percy and his fellow demi-gods along with a whole cohort of other mythical creatures from satyrs to centaurs, are learning how to be mythical creatures in the modern area.

Even though they are Demi-gods and most of them possess inhuman strength, intellect, courage and magic, the real world is unexpectedly quite dangerous for them and camp half-blood is the one place they can relax and be, well almost like your average human.

One day however, a giant mechanical bull breaks through the protective barrier of the camp and goes on a rampage. By his wits alone Percy is able to save himself from a most gory demise and the bull explodes like mechanical bulls do, in slow mo with an overindulgent use of 3D.

Then, from the yet cleared smoke of the bulls broken cogs and coils, Luke, son of Hermes (Jake Abel) and Percy’s nemesis from the first film emerges. It seems he was not dead after all and now he is seeking revenge against not just Percy and his friends but all of the gods.

In fact it was the dastardly Luke that poisoned the tree, which provides the magical barrier for the camp, (grown from the body of Thalia (Paloma Kwiatkowski a young Demi-god, the child of Zeus, who gave her life to protect her friends many years ago) and it is only a matter of time before the wall falls, something that will spell certain doom for Percy and his friends.

With no choice but to fight or die, Percy and his best friends Annabeth (Alexandra Daddario) daughter of Athena goddess of wisdom, Grover (Brandon T. Jackson) Percy’s satyr guide along with Tyson (Douglas Smith) Percy’s half brother a Cyclopes, who is not exactly the sort of person you want to invite to a dinner party, set out to find the mythical Golden Fleece.

The Golden Fleece when laid on any object can bring it back from the brink of death by magically restoring it to perfect health and Annabeth has a theory that if they shroud the mossy tree root body of Thalia in it, the tree will be healed and the protective barrier will not crumble.

Yet it turns out that Percy and his friends are not the only once seeking the fleece. Still keen on getting revenge against the gods, Luke is looking to use the fleece to resurrected Chronos.

Father to the Olympians, Chronos the titan is foretold to one day rise again and destroy Mount Olympus, home of the gods, his insolent children that once over through him and cast him into prison below…

Now Percy Jackson plays fast and loose with its mythology, which is fine. Yet if you are going to improve on some of the finest and most poetic stories of all time, stories that have been told for literally thousands of years, you better have a crack team of writers

working on it. Sadly neither Thor Freudenthal’s direction or Marc Guggenheim’s writing are strong enough to explain why this film was made, it leaves you cold and slightly bored.

The first film was really fun, (also with an all star cast) and though there are several good scenes and I love how many empowered female characters there are, Percy Jackson: Sea of monsters, you’re not epic that shall be told around camp fires in futures hence.

Shelton Lindsay