3 Versions of The Sea of Monsters

I’ve nearly finished re-watching the second season of Percy Jackson and the Okympians, which having already completed a re-read of The Sea of Monsters and a re-watch of the movie adaptation. With how poorly the movies were received, I expect I may get some flack for any positive review of the film. Regardless, I’ve undertaken to compare the three versions of this story, like I did with the first portion of this heroic story. So trigger warning l for anyone who detests the movie, but here we go!

Aboard the Princess Andromeda

Movie Adaptation - While Luke’s yacht wouldn’t have worked in later movie adaptations, since the later books were adapted, I liked the simplicity of boarding the enemy ship. Because Luke’s forces were smaller at this point, a smaller ship was sufficient and made for a straightforward encounter on the boat. 

Encountering Hermes

Original Book Material - Though I love that both on-screen portrayals of Hermes were big names (Nathan Fillian in the movie and Lin-Manuel Miranda in the Disney Plus series) perhaps the actors took away from the serious nature of that scene. However, the book (particularly the audiobook) does a great job portraying the sadness Hermes felt over his son’s allegiance to Kronos. 

The Grey Sisters

Movie Adaptation - For the record, I didn’t love the movie shuffling the scenes and plot points around. However, taking as a movie inspired by the book and not a direct adaptation, this scene works well. The chemistry of the Grey Sisters was perfect. Though I believe Yvette Nicole Brown would have chemistry with just about anyone (see also Community, Endgame, Disenchanted, etc).

Clarisse’s Ship

Disney Plus Show - This is one part where I felt the television adaptation soared. The book showed Ares chastising Clarisse, so we knew there was some insecurity and drive to prove herself. However, by the nature of a first-person perspective, we only got to see so much. On Disney Plus, they gave scenes to Clarisse the book couldn't have shown. Yes, Ares gave her the ship and soldier. But in the show, she earned their respect as a commander, not just because she was a daughter of Ares. That bit of backstory gave Clarisse more depth than the other iterations.

Polyphemus

Original Book Material - I can’t quite place why I didn’t care for the movie version (no one will judge me for that) but the Disney Plus version bugged me. The whole point of “Nobody” stealing the fleece was tricking the cyclops into thinking Annabeth was Odysseus. The television adaptation made him too clever. I’m not sure how smart he was in the original myth, but it was an abrupt and unnecessary change for the show. We also missed the exchange between Percy/Tyson and Polythemes during the escape. Percy began to feel sympathetic towards the cyclops, as a brother of Poseidon. That touching moment (while quickly ruined) expanded Percy’s view of family and monsters, which come back into play in The Battle of the Labyrinth. 

Overall, I was kind of underwhelmed by Disney's adaptation of The Sea of Monsters. To be fair, it wasn't my favorite book of the series to begin with. I'm looking forward to The Titan's Curse though. It was one of my favorites so I hope it's done justice this winter.