Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: A Tasty Sequel, But Not Quite as Delicious
A visually stunning and occasionally amusing animated sequel that, overall, falls noticeably short of its delightful predecessor.
After Flint Lockwood’s invention, a machine that continuously turns water into food, inundates the island of Swallow Falls with edible delights, the residents are ordered to evacuate. The legendary inventor Chester V, Flint’s idol and head of a high-tech corporation, takes on the task of cleaning up the island. However, even his team of researchers and inventors can’t penetrate the island’s infestation of “foodimals”—mutant creatures that combine the traits of food and animals. Therefore, Chester tasks Flint, his newest employee, with returning home and shutting down the food-making machine once and for all. And, of course, Flint’s friends and family join him in the battle against spider-burgers and potato-potamuses.
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Due to Mr. T’s refusal to reprise his role as Earl after voicing the character in the original, the character was reworked to more closely resemble Terry Crews, the new actor in the role.
Released in 2009, Sony Pictures Animation’s “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” wasn’t a masterpiece on par with the best of recent animated films. However, it only narrowly missed that mark. Charming and funny characters, an inventive plot, epic scope, dynamic action, a riot of colors on the screen, a plethora of jokes and gags, and occasional glimmers of heart… It had it all, and it deserved more than the $243 million it grossed worldwide (on a budget of $100 million). Although, one could understand viewers who were wary of trusting Sony Animation after competent but secondary films like “Open Season” and “Surf’s Up.”
When Samantha ventures to Swallow Falls Island, she dresses in the style of Dr. Ellie Sattler from “Jurassic Park.”
Unfortunately, the creators of “Cloudy…” also seemed to lack complete confidence in themselves and therefore crafted a film in which, by the final credits, the positive characters had resolved all their problems. Flint’s father believed in his son as an inventor and reconciled with him, meteorologist Samantha acknowledged herself as a “nerd,” and the arrogant bully Brent showed himself to be a hero… Of course, all of this was very nice, but where to go from there? How to create a sequel when all the characters are happy, friendly, and content? In “soap operas,” someone dies or loses their memory at such moments, but that would be too dark for animation. Especially for a sequel to a comedic animated film.
After the creators of the original film, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, moved into live-action filmmaking (they directed “21 Jump Street”), a new screenwriting and directing team had to solve the puzzle they left behind. The latter invented a new villain, devised one new personal conflict (Flint is ready to destroy the mutants, while Samantha doubts their harmfulness), and after a visually impressive but essentially boring half-hour delay in Chester’s corporate office, sent the heroes back to do what they already did in the finale of the first film. Only before, Flint tried to turn off the machine with a flash drive, and now – with a smart card. Variety!
Thus, instead of the psychological and eventful richness of the first film, we got a lovers’ quarrel (“Lovers’ tiffs are just for fun!”), forty minutes of sometimes entertaining wandering through the jungle, and a larger but less intense finale than in the original film. At the same time, Brent and police officer Earl were attached to the action only for the sake of a few jokes (was it worth dragging them to the island for that?), and Samantha never demonstrated her knowledge of meteorology. Frankly, the script for “Revenge of the GMOs” is more like a video sequel than a full-fledged and equal continuation.
Visual Delights and Familiar Faces
Visually, however, “Cloudy… 2” is not inferior to the original. The film’s artists came up with a huge variety of incredible “foodimals,” turned Swallow Falls into a prehistoric jungle, drew an entire city (a caricatured version of San Francisco), and a state-of-the-art office building for the opening scenes… The film’s beauty is impressive and captivating. However, in the first film, the riot of colors and the animators’ imagination were attached to the inventiveness, heart, wit, and other virtues of “Cloudy…” The sequel can only boast a picture, hyperactive characters (to match the hyperactive young viewers), frequent but rarely successful attempts to joke, a charming wide-eyed strawberry, and a “dig” at several famous businessmen, including Steve Jobs (Chester V is a composite portrait of them). As they said in a famous cartoon, “That’s not enough!”