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Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters (3D) (DQ)

4/10

Stars: Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Leven Rambin, Brandon T Jackson, Stanley Tucci, Anthony Head, Jake Abel, Douglas Smith, Nathan Fillion

Director: Thor Freudenthal

Quite a bit of sea, but not many monsters in this second instalment of the Jackson franchise, a truly average junior sci-fi offering whose script is not so much uninspired as virtually non-existent.

The magic wall surrounding Camp Halfblood, where the sons and daughters of the god live, is breached by a demonic mechanical bull, which wreaks havoc until dispatched by Percy Jackson (Lerman), who must then embark on a quest to regain the golden fleece from the villainous Luke (Abel), who aims to use it in restoring the evil god Cronos.

Lerman, with little to do but battle the occasional special effect, looks lost this time around, while other parts are unenviably filled by largely unknown actors. Luke and poor old Cronos are dispatched far too easily at the end, but I did like the zombie ship's-captain, even though there isn't enough of him in a film that fails to find its Hunger Games-style target audience by some distance. Junior schoolers will enjoy it most.

David Quinlan

USA 2013. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox (Fox 2000). Colour by deluxe.
103 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: PG.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 0, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.

Review date: 04 Aug 2013