Sword-fighting, giant monsters, magical powers, and mysterious prophecies: all are alluring and climactic qualities of the book Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters that gave it international success. In addition to its relatable characters and themes of self-discovery, author Rick Riordan sewed together the perfect book for nearly any teenager. However, the threads fabricating the recent movie of this popular book were more than just a little loose.

Both the movie and the book Percy Jackson: the Sea of Monsters follow the same ultimate goal, to obtain the “golden fleece” and save Camp Half-blood, but the portrayal of how the main characters come to accomplish this goal is completely different. An example of the difference in general storyline is when Percy and his friends sneak into the lair of the cyclops Polyphemus. In the book, percy sneaks in by grabbing the wool of a giant sheep from under its belly. In the movie, Percy sneaks in on an abandoned roller coaster. While this may not seem important at first glance, it was an obvious allusion to the actions of Odysseus, and omitting it diminishes from what makes Percy a fun and unique hero.

When comparing the development of the characters between the book and the movie, it should be obvious that the book has more dynamic protagonists. The film is confined to a time limit, whereas the author has more time in his hundreds of pages to progress Percy and his friends. That means that the book can have more scenes expounding upon the personality of each individual character. While the movie did have some scenes meant to further develop the heroes, the characters were so one-dimensional that the act just seemed forced and out of place. An example of this would be when Annabeth finally confesses why she hates cyclops. In the movie, her reasoning was because a cyclops killed her friend Thalia when she was a child. Even though it sounds like a traumatic experience, it is not strong enough to support her hateful behavior. In the book, it explains the death of Thalia as well as how Annabeth was in a cylcop’s lair when she was younger. The book reveals that cyclops have the ability to mimic the voice of other people, and how this cyclop managed to impersonate Annabeth’s father’s voice. Without the additional scenes that reveal the deeper thoughts of the novel’s characters, they just appear superficials.

Despite all the criticisms and harmful tirade, the movie itself is not completely bad. It just did not manage to live up to the high expectations and standards that the book set. In fact, the movie did have some nice effect and scenes. Charybdis is a good example of this. Charybdis is one of the monsters that the sea is referring to. She is just a whirlpool that swallows up any ship passing by, but the movie managed to show her truly monstrous side. Her scene begins with what appears to be the dorsal fins of many sharks surround the little boat of our protagonists. However, the multiple layers, grotesque jaggedness, and perfect unity in which all the “fins” moved and rotated revealed that they were actually not surrounded by sharks, but the spinning teeth and mouth of a hungry sea monster.

Overall, this movie is still decent in terms of fantasy and adventure films. It should not be judged based on its accuracy in relation to the novel. If i had not read and loved the book so much, I surely would have enjoyed the movie more. My expectations were just too high so disappointment was inevitable. If you had not read the book before, then this movie would be a good, cliche adventure flick with a refreshing mix of Greek mythology.