Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation | Release Date: August 7, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
39
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
5
Mixed:
20
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
NPRElla TaylorAug 9, 2013
Marc Guggenheim's script is capable and funny, but the film's finest wit is vehicular. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyAdam MarkovitzAug 9, 2013
Sarcastic quips and cynical attitudes abound, maybe as a way for the movie's makers to telegraph that they know this is all just so much kid stuff. But if the characters can't muster genuine awe for their adventure, it's a tall order to ask us to do it for them. Read full review
66
Film.comWilliam GossAug 8, 2013
It’s the odd touch of local color — like the backdrop of an abandoned amusement park, or the arrival of a Civil War steamer crewed by Confederate zombies — that makes these routine acts of derring-do a bit easier to bear. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comMarsha McCreadieAug 7, 2013
This "Percy Jackson" is a gentler-spirited, less flashy enterprise, though it still presents a natural world that can morph at the whim of a god. I like that. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTom RussoAug 6, 2013
Director Thor Freudenthal (“Diary of a Wimpy Kid”) finds his groove with a succession of flashy 3-D renderings... They’re digitized riffs on the Sarlacc pit from “Star Wars” and the finale of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — but as with the “Potter” cribbing, when it’s done well, it encourages “Percy” audiences to forgive the derivative chunks and thin emotion. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinAug 7, 2013
Skippable 3-D aside, it's a serviceable, limber follow-up to 2010's "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief." Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Aug 7, 2013
Here and there, some of this starts to feel a little less like homework and more like fun. Though part one used up many of the good monsters—like Medusa and the hydra—part two is a fleeter entertainment, free of origin-story requirements. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianM. E. RussellAug 6, 2013
In the films at least, there's something so naked about the Potter/Percy story parallels that's it's hard not to sit there as a viewer and get distracted playing connect the dots. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramAug 6, 2013
The big action set pieces fizzle. And that’s not good for a fantasy adventure movie, especially when the fantasy component is frequently undercut by sub-standard special effects. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenAug 6, 2013
The Thor Freudenthal-helmed sequel lacks the energetic zip of its predecessor. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 6, 2013
Nathan Fillion is the movie's brightest spot as Hermes, re-envisioned as a UPS manager. He makes a quip about how the best TV series always get canceled, in a nod to Firefly, the iconic sci-fi show in which he starred. Read full review
50
VarietyPeter DebrugeAug 6, 2013
An epic showcase for mediocre CGI and slapdash screenwriting. Read full review
50
The New York TimesAndy WebsterAug 6, 2013
“Sea of Monsters” is diverting enough...but it doesn’t begin to approach the biting adolescent tension of the Harry Potter movies. Read full review
50
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreAug 6, 2013
The quest, which takes our heroes to the Sea of Monsters, aka The Bermuda Triangle, is generic in the extreme. The fights/escapes all lack any sense of urgency and peril. Read full review
50
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallAug 6, 2013
That first movie was obviously a calculated grab for Harry Potter-type movie success but didn't feel like a rip-off. This one skews younger, to an easier-to-please demographic, closely resembling other fantasies since. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubAug 6, 2013
There are plenty of bad films to get riled up about in the summer. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters isn't one of them. This is harmless tween-centric fun. Read full review
42
The PlaylistGabe ToroAug 7, 2013
The little action in 'Percy Jackson' wouldn’t be out-of-place in a superhero film, which is to say it’s mostly functional, and sometimes quite diverting. Read full review
40
Total FilmNeil SmithAug 9, 2013
The final showdown whisks up the requisite excitement, but the open-ended coda feels like an optimistic throw of the dice from the franchise showing meagre signs of Harry Potter longevity. Read full review
40
The GuardianXan BrooksAug 9, 2013
The kids are charmless, the adults bemused. Read full review
40
EmpireIan NathanAug 9, 2013
The CG does its part of the bargain, but even more than the brighter, breezier original this is a pale imitation of Potter. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriAug 7, 2013
This is some weak, watered-down stuff. Read full review
40
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottAug 7, 2013
The stakes in this latest, disappointing Harry Potter wannabe never feel as high as they should, or as important as its characters seem to think they are. Read full review
40
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 6, 2013
What makes mythology so great is its sense of danger, the threat of real loss. This version of “Percy” has none of that. Read full review
40
Time OutNick SchagerAug 6, 2013
Despite the usual end-of-world crisis and Mount Olympus MVP characters, there’s no sense that anything’s truly at stake; rather, it feels as if the filmmakers are coasting on the fumes of teen-angst fantasy and making up their fairy-tale rules (Cyclopes are fireproof!) as they go along. Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasAug 6, 2013
Percy Jackson: Sea Of Monsters continues a tradition of adequacy that could be described as “epic-ish” or “majestic-esque.” Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie OgleAug 7, 2013
In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, choosing the dumbest character is a colossal task. Read full review
30
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovAug 7, 2013
Sea of Monsters most bizarre and apropos-of-nothing moment comes when the half-blood kids find themselves stuck on – I kid you not – what appears to be the Civil War ironclad ship Monitor, captained and crewed by a host of Confederate zombies. Read full review
30
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 6, 2013
Before it descends into Percy Jackson and the Things That Happen in Movies Like This, the adventure at times clicks into the inventive groove of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson novels, which at their best are touched with the high strangeness of the ancient tales that inspire them. Read full review
25
Washington PostJen ChaneyAug 6, 2013
Even likable actors can’t obscure the fact that, holy gods on Mount Olympus, this thing is a slog, a movie that dutifully hits its plot points involving prophecies and fleeces without evoking a whiff of spirit or imagination. Read full review
25
New York PostSara StewartAug 6, 2013
Like some hybrid beast out of Greek mythology, this young-adult sequel has the body of a “Harry Potter,” the head of a “Twilight,” the feet of a “Hunger Games” and the tail, oddly, of a “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Read full review
20
Time Out LondonTom HuddlestonAug 6, 2013
There’s really nothing to recommend ‘Sea of Monsters’: the young cast are smug and forgettable; the action sequences barely get going before they’re over; and the whole affair is riddled with product placement and pop cultural references – one girl even seems to possess a magic iPad. Keep the kids at home Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJordan HoffmanAug 6, 2013
There isn’t even an actual sea of monsters in “Sea of Monsters,” unless you count some fish guts. Read full review
12
Slant MagazineR. Kurt OsenlundAug 6, 2013
I'll tell you what's insane: the probability that folks will go easy on this dreck because it's aimed at younger viewers, who are being distressingly trained to expect little from their art. Read full review
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