CLOUDY WITH A
CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2:
WHILE IT ISN’T AS
FRESH AS ITS PREDECESSOR, IT’S STILL A DELICIOUSLY FUNNY ANIMATED ADVENTURE!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
COLUMBIA
PICTURES AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION
(From
right to left) Flint Lockwood, Steve the Monkey, Sam Sparks, Berry, Officer
Earl, and Manny in Cloudy with a chance
of Meatballs 2
Who’s up for some leftovers? Sony’s
sequel to its 2009 animated comedy based on the popular children’s book, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs is
just as funny and delightful as its predecessor, but maybe not quite as tasty as its predecessor.
Most of the cast from the first movie have returned for the sequel, except for
Mr. T who provided the voice of Officer Earl in the predecessor, Terry Crews
has taken over the role in the new movie.
Shortly after the events of Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, we
find scientist, Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader-Superbad, Year One), now
the hero of his island hometown, Swallow Falls, leaving the island with the
rest of the townsfolk by his childhood hero, Chester V (voiced by Will Forte-Baby Mama, Rock of Ages) so Swallow Falls can get cleaned up after the
cataclysmic food storm that was caused by Flint’s food processing machine, the
“F.L.D.S.M.D.F.R”. After some time has passed, Flint, along with his friends,
Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris-The
House Bunny, The Dictator),
Chicken Brent (voiced by Andy Samberg-Hotel
Transylvania, That’s My Boy, Hot Rod), Officer Earl (voiced by Terry
Crews), Sam’s cameraman, Manny (voiced by Benjamin Bratt-Traffic, Despicable Me 2),
Flint’s trusty talking pet monkey, Steve (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris-Harold & Kumar trilogy, The Smurfs), and his bushy eyebrowed,
fishing metaphor making dad, Tim Lockwood (voiced by James Caan-The Godfather, Dick Tracy, Misery) have
finally returned to Swallow Falls with an unexpected surprise, Flint’s machine
was still functioning and not only has it created more food, but food animals
like Shrimpanzees, Butter Frogs, Mosquitoast, Watermelephants, Cheesespiders,
Tacodiles Supreme, and many other exotic “foodimals”.
It’s up to Flint and his friends to
find the machine and shut it down, before the food animals get off Swallow
Falls and invade the rest of the world. During their adventure they’ll make
several shocking discoveries, not only involving the food animals but something
much, much bigger.
I can’t say Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 was a fantastic animated movie,
I’ve seen much better, but as a silly cartoonish comedy, the film does its job
well enough, despite the fact the first movie was still a little better, the
jokes and characters were a little funnier in the predecessor. A lot of the
visual humor such as the characters’ motions and facial expressions are
incredibly comical and very fun to watch, especially Flint’s dad, that’s one of
the things I loved about both movies.
While the visual humor and the food
jokes are funny, there’s no comparison between this movie and an animated
feature made by Pixar or DreamWorks, Pixar and DreamWorks’ animated films are
much better animated, funnier jokes, and more likable characters, but it
doesn’t mean Cloudy 2 isn’t good with
animation or comedy, the cartoony animation has a strange charm to it and the
humor is very good.
Remember back in my Smurfs 2 review, where I said if you
wanted to see a good animated family film by Sony? Well, now’s your chance,
unlike Smurfs 2, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 is funny all the way through,
has familiar characters and great voice actors, and a delicious adventure to
fill the belly of the eyes and imagination.
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