December 20, 2013
Cast: Voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte
Directors: Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn
In 2009’s Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, nerdish inventor Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) hit upon a plan to turn water into food. But after the initial excitement of skiing over mountains of ice cream, and after everyone in Swallow Falls had had their fill of cheeseburgers, pizzas and doughnuts literally falling from the sky, the reality of the situation began to sink in – their home island had turned into a pile of rotting food. Fortunately, Flint was able to somehow turn off his nifty invention and save the day.
I can’t imagine that anyone was waiting for a sequel to that cute but not-particularly-groundbreaking animation hit, and yet here we are discussing Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2.
After an overlong prologue in which Flint is recruited by his scientific hero, Chester V (Will Forte), our hero, along with his faithful entourage of family and friends, heads off on an expedition to a sort of tropical world, where, his food-creating invention has given birth to a whole range of ‘foodimals’ or food animals! This is the cue for a never-ending string of puns as we’re introduced to tacodiles, flamangoes, shrimpanzees and just about every clever-sounding hybrid the writers could possibly come up with.
The animation is inventive and original, and some set-pieces are particularly funny, including one in which our band of heroes are chased around by a Double Bacon Cheespider. The message of anti-corporatism may be lost on the little ones, at whom this movie is clearly targeted. For anyone older, it’s a test of how many puns you’re willing to endure before you snap.
I’m going with two-and-a-half out of five for Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs 2. It’s got its moments, but I’d say wait for this one to come to DVD.
(This review first aired on CNN-IBN)