Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 review

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.