In a word: Awful.
In a few worlds: Really truly actively bad from beginning to end.
But my kids (5 and 8) really liked it. I guess because there was a lot of action, the good guys won, and there was no ambiguity.
I reviewed the first Percy Jackson movie last week. This week, I got the latest out of the Redbox because my kids liked the original and I like my kids. Actually, I love my kids, which is the only reason I will undoubtedly be watching the NEXT movie in this series, whenever it comes out. This is what parents do for their kids.
The first movie wasn’t that bad. I said it was fine and don’t over think it. The premise was quite good. I wish the follow-through had been better.
This movie, on the other hand, begins with Percy having doubts about himself because he isn’t beating the daughter of Aries at camp games (I’m still not sure why all the dmi-gods are at camp) and having some strange existential crisis about his destiny and about being good enough.
Then comes a newcomer to camp — a cyclcops. Another son of Poseidon, like Percy. Apparently, cyclops are what happens when gods have kids with nymphs. (Note: This is NOT what happens when gods have kids with nymphs. Cyclops are a breed of one-eyed monsters who, like the titans, are sons of Uranus and Gaea. In most classical stories, children born to gods and nymphs are immortal and not considered demi-gods.)
Around the same time the tree shielding the camp is poisoned and will die if they don’t find the golden fleece and… blah blah prophecy… blah blah save or doom the world…
The world building in this story is poorly done. The action scenes are laughable. The characterization is painful. The climax had my eyeballs rolling into the back of my head.
And to top it all off, they now have a fleece that will cure anyone from mortal wounds, which sort of takes some of the tension out of future installments, don’t you think?
All I can say is, I love my kids, and for whatever reason they did love this.