Anyone who’s read the book can tell you Sea of Monsters wasn’t perfect. Plot points got rearranged willy-nilly. Parts I loved didn’t make it at all. Having said that, I loved Sea of Monsters. Here are 10 reasons why:

***MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD***

10. Clarisse
I’m just going to get this one out of the way. When Leven Rambin got cast, my first reaction was, “Justin Russo’s angel girlfriend is going to play Clarisse? Are you kidding me?!” But I actually liked Clarisse. I liked her so much I wish we’d gotten more of her (like her scene with Ares).

9. Young Grover
You can never have enough Grover. Or Luke or Annabeth or Thalia, for that matter.

8. George and Martha
I thought for sure these two would hit the book-to-movie chopping block. I’ve never been happier to be wrong. Their performance was perrrrrfect.

7. Overall Sense of Humor
George and Martha weren’t the only comedic touches I appreciated. I felt the whole movie was closer to Riordan’s sense of humor. For instance, Percy has just broken loose on a yacht adrift in his home turf. The dude’s literally surrounded by one giant weapon… and what’s Luke’s biggest concern? His boat’s pretty white paint job. The look on his face when he said, “Don’t walk on my roof.” It slays me.

6. Mr. D
Speaking of humor, how awesome was it to finally hear Mr. D butcher Percy’s name?!

5. The Oracle
Okay, she wasn’t supposed to be in this movie. I get that. But since she got cut from The Lightning Thief, I sort of feel like this was the filmmakers’ way of apologizing to fans – and what an apology it was. First off, whoever designed that attic set (and the rest of Camp Half-Blood) deserves a giant stack of blue waffles. So cool. The Oracle herself was exactly what I’d hoped – creepy and awesome and THOSE EYES! Cap it off with that stained glass backstory scene, and the entire sequence made we want to fist bump every single person associated with the movie.

4. It was just so pretty!
I’m no movie expert, but Sea of Monsters struck me as really beautifully lit, framed, and edited. Say what you will about Circeland not being book-accurate, but that place was gorgeous on screen. The transition from Oracle’s eyes to Percy’s gave me shivers. I could go on and on.

3. Grover in a Dress
Does this one need an explanation? Sure, the scene was condensed down to almost nothing, but it was there. And it was awesome.

2. Smart Budget Choices
Let’s face it. The Princess Andromeda was dinky. So dinky they dropped the “Princess” from its name. And, yes, the CSS Birmingham was run by zombies instead of the awesome skeleton/ghosts described in the book. But those are sacrificing I’m willing to accept if it means the movie gets made, especially when so many other things – Rainbow (I want one!), the bronze bull (how cool was that thing?), and Charybdis’s gaping maw – are all executed flawlessly.

And, finally…

1. TYSON!!!

It’s no secret I love Tyson. A lot. If they’d botched him, no amount of awesomeness could’ve saved this movie for me. Thankfully, they didn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I hated that Percy didn’t get to bond with Tyson prior to Camp Half-Blood. My heart broke when Tyson didn’t shout “Pony!” upon meeting Chiron. To be honest, I was on the fence… until Tyson explained how he’d accidentally scared a bunch of campers in the woods. With his big sad Cyclops eye, he added, “And I’m pretty sure I smiled.” With that line, he won my heart. After that, I was willing to forgive pretty much anything – even a prematurely resurrected Kronos.

My biggest disappointment? I wish Sea of Monsters had been longer, more leisurely paced. But, you know, it could’ve been three hours and I’d have still wanted more! Speaking of which, since I’m making lists, here are 5 reasons Titan’s Curse NEEDS to be a movie:

1. We all know Luke’s not dead. I want to see him put the hurt on Polyphemus.
2. Need. More. Thalia. I can’t wait to see her go toe-to-toe with Percy.
3. Who ISN’T stoked to get their first glimpse of Nico? Bring on the di Angelos!
4. Blackjack. (Yo, boss!)
5. MORE TYSON! 🙂

What did you think of Sea of Monsters? Should Titan’s Curse be a movie? Let me know in the comments!

❤