Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2

Directors : Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn

Year : 2013

Genre : Animation 

Rating : **

'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2'  is the hugely anticipated sequel to the very successful and rather brilliant 2009 animated comedy 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs'. Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn and once again featuring the vocal talents of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg and Neil Patrick Harris, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' continues the story of budding inventor Flint Lockwood who after destroying his hometown of Swallow Falls with his FLMSMDFR food generator, is forced to return to the small island to save the world from dangerous foodimals; sentient animal - like food which threatens the safety of the entire planet. Featuring the same brilliant animation style, hilarious characters and eye popping visual invention, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' promises to be bigger and better than it's fantastic predecessor. However, thanks to a very poor script that relies on increasingly tedious food puns to generate laughter, an extremely needless and forgettable antagonist and a paper thin plot that lacks any of the joy and energy of it's superior original, the film quickly becomes a very tedious and cumbersome affair that proves that you really can have too much of a good thing.

Starting off where 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs' finished, the film continues the life of Flint Lockwood who has left Swallow Falls behind him and has become a student of Chester V., a brilliant inventor and a personal hero of the young scientist. Determined to prove himself to the eccentric but gifted innovator, Flint agrees to return to the now deserted island which has become overrun with foodimals; animal like sentient beings created by the FLMSMDFR that now threatens the world. Joined by his girlfriend Sam Sparks, police Officer Earl Deveraux and his pet monkey Steve as well as his unibrowed father and loyal friend Brent, Flint finds himself encountering mosquitoast, shrimpanzees, deadly cheespiders and an adorable strawberry named Barry as well as a host of other animal - like creatures.

The joy of 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs' was in it's absolute reverence for classic cinema as well as the strange and downright surreal. Originally put off by it's rather annoyingly overlong title, I would eventually fall in love with directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's stunningly realised vision that would expand a very simple childrens picture book into a hugely entertaining and hilarious work of art. Referencing everything from 'The Wizard Of Oz' to 'Star Wars', 'Eraserhead' to 'Alien' 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs' was an absolute cinematic pleasure and one that I have enjoyed again and again and again. Sadly, while it's sequel sticks to the same visual style and reunites the brilliant vocal actors, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' feels much lighter, thinner and certainly more aimed at the cute and the cuddly; alienating the more mature audiences who enjoyed the strangeness of the 2009 original and strictly sticking to it's target demographic of small, sugar filled children who have very small cinematic demands and who are bewitched by bright colours and zany, wacky imagery. For any other children's movie, this wouldn't prove to be a problem for me but having been such a fan of the quirky, subversive nature of it's predecessor, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' feels something of a step back in progress. As mentioned earlier, the animation is wondrous to behold and the visual invention is nothing short of extraordinary, but what it lacks is an engaging story, engrossing characters or any sense of adventure.

If you are not a fan of bad puns, then 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' will certainly not be for you as the movie continually fires them at us at a relentless speed. At first, they work very well and tie in  beautifully with the various  designs of the foodimals. However, there is only so many times that I can hear a rubbish play on words accompanied with a reveal of a creature that resembles both an animal and a fruit before it becomes knuckle chewingly irritating. Clearly a lot of imagination went into the design of the foodimals and many of the creatures are indeed funny and sweet to look at. But it does seem watching the movie that this aspect was meant to carry the entire picture; putting the characters, the narrative and the motivation to the sidelines. Rather than giving us a story we could care about, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' is content just to throw puns at us until we eventually get completely sick of them and fails to provide us with any sense of fun, drive or energy. Once again, this is a film where all of the best jokes and moments can be seen in the trailer and a majority of the movie purely feels like filler.

Unlike it's original, 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' fails to give us any interesting characters and manages to bleed out any hilarity or charm from it's returning cast. Bill Hader once again voices the central hero Flint Lockwood and it is clear watching the film that he is having fun with his role. However, the movie doesn't bother expanding the character beyond it's most basic elements and rather than feeling like the main hero of the piece, Flint Lockwood feels like window dressing around the foodimals and the bad puns. This viewpoint goes for the rest of the entire cast too; Anna Faris is completely forgettable as the once lovely and emotive Sam Sparks, Andy Samberg is wasted as the ambitious but apprehensive Brent and the unrecognisbly voiced Terry Crews replaces Mr. T as the voice behind the ultra masculine police officer Earl Deveraux. Where 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' really falls flat is when it tries to push a central antagonist into the movie's midst; the utterly lifeless and forgettable Chester V. voiced by Will Forte. With no drive, motive or any sense of characterisation, Chester V. comes across as completely useless to the plot and only serves to be an obligatory threat to the lives of Flint and his friends; and a boring one at that. Displaying all of the characteristics of the conventional animation villain, he brings nothing new to the 'Cloudy' world and only succeeds in dragging the film down to a snail's pace. 

I was so hoping for 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' to be brilliant. After all, I had loved the original so much and the trailer promised laughs and action aplenty. Sadly, we are not given much of either and what had begun as another fantastically entertaining franchise for Sony Animations, who has bought us the superb 'Despicable Me' movies has become just another generic animated comedy that has everything for the kids and nothing whatsoever for the adults. I think that 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2' is sure to disappoint a lot of people and while it may perform well in the cinemas when very little is out for youngsters in the multiplexes right now, it will certainly not having the staying power of it's far superior predecessor.