Her Gone Life

This week 20th Century Fox’s PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS was released in theaters and I hope you plan to take your family to see it.

Note: I was invited as media to the movie screening and director interview. Any personal views expressed are always 100% my own.

Before this week's movie release, I was able to attend an advanced screening of the film and really enjoyed the movie. Of course it's filled with adventure, trying to save the world and all that. But the movie also has a heartwarming message about believing in yourself and the in the goodness of other people.


Central to this theme of goodness in others is Tyson, Percy's cyclops half-brother who is played by Douglas Smith. Tyson is really sweet and almost naive but he causes so many good changes in the characters around him, especially Percy who certainly wasn't expecting the news of having a brother. But it's partly because of the affect Tyson has on Percy that he's able to become the hero and save the world at the end.

Besides the mushy stuff there's lots of amazing scenes and monsters for the Percy Jackson fans. Check out the trailer


Besides attending the advanced screening, I was also able join in a interview with the Thor Freudenthal, Director of PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS.

During the interview, I learned a lot about Thor's behind the scenes process and thoughts while directing the film. Since I saw the first movie Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, I was able to compare how Percy and the story line has "grown" between movies.

When it was my turn to ask Thor a question, I shared my thoughts about the "feel" of the movie and was pleased that Thor took the time to share and explain why and how he directed the movie.

Here is a excerpt from the transcript of our part of the interview. But be warned there are spoilers about the movie discussed.

Onica (MommyFactor): I feel like this movie had more of a grownup feel in terms of scenes, adventures, and the inner turmoil and issue everyone was facing.

Mr. Thor Freudenthal: Yes.

Onica (MommyFactor): And then there was the whole father-son conflict. It seemed to touch throughout the movie. Was it hard to change kind of the light-hearted comedic feel of the first movie into something a bit darker? And was it also a challenge to keep that theme going with so many other secondary stories going on in the movie?

Mr. Thor Freudenthal: Oh, definitely. If you have an ensemble piece, like this one is, with Tyson's journey from accepting in a way who he is and coming to terms with it, and Percy regaining his confidence as a hero, Annabeth overcoming her prejudice, Clarisse and Percy sort of making up at the end. There are a lot of threads to keep track

Central to it all, to me, was the story about kids who have all been dealt kind of a rough hand because their parents are gods, and they're absent gods. So, it's up to them to sort of find their own place in the world.

Now as far as the darkness is concerned, what I tried to achieve is lean a little bit more on the pacing and the sense of humor of the books. There is kind of a light tone from starting from the chapter heading in the books to Percy's own voice really narrating everything in the kind of funny, sardonic, irreverent way that we wanted to translate here.

The challenge is that you're also dealing with the death of characters, the sort of looming darkness of the villain, and so forth. It's a tough thing to kind of all bring under one hat.

But that was the attempt.

I felt, at least from what I've heard in terms of responses, that people felt the humorous tone was more present in this movie than it was in the first one. Whereas the first you might have felt differently.

Onica (MommyFactor): The first one was about Percy discovering this whole other life. Which, to me, was very funny on its own. While this one did have some very humorous moments, it seemed very serious with dealing with a god that's going to come and destroy the whole world--.

Mr. Thor Freudenthal: Well, that's true--. That's important too. If you don't have those serious stakes, then you run into the danger of the audience or the storytelling not having enough urgency. So, I felt it was important to make the threat really substantial in it.


While my question ended up starting a bit "heavy" discussion, during the rest of the interview Thor shared much lighter behind the scene thoughts like how he cast comedic Nathan Fillion as Hermes. Which was very well done. Nathan Fillion as Hermes is a gem in the movie! You'll have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about!

Based on the publishing phenomenon, PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS continues the young demigod’s epic journey to fulfill his destiny. To save their world, Percy and his friends must find the fabled and powerfully magic Golden Fleece. Embarking on a treacherous odyssey into the uncharted waters of the Sea of Monsters (known to humans as the Bermuda Triangle), they battle terrifying creatures, an army of zombies, and the ultimate Evil.

Starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Douglas Smith, Stanley Tucci.

To learn more, visit - www.percyjacksonthemovie.com