Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 |
Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn | September 27, 2013
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs came out of nowhere in 2009, instantly becoming a surprise smash hit. It was the rare animated film that both kids and adults could enjoy. The first film worked because it was so different and genuinely clever. A great deal of credit had to go to the way of Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who both wrote and directed it. This time around with Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 they are only producers, and I think the loss of their talents causes the film to lose a lot of the charm that the previous film had going for it.
We return to Flint Lockwood’s (Bill Hader) world to see that he is now relocated to San Franjose, California, along with his father (James Caan) and the rest of his friends. He’s relocated by Chester V (Will Forte), who is a Steve Jobs type CEO of a company called Live Corp, who are given the unimaginable task of cleaning up the island after Flint’s machine, the FLDSMDFR, destroyed it with food. Chester V is up to no good, and is more than determined to find Flint’s machine so he can create a super food bar. He needs Flint’s help in order to find it, so he invites Flint to work at Live Corp, and eventually, sends him off to find the machine.
Chester wants Flint to go alone so he can manipulate Flint easier, but of course Flint calls for the help of all his friends: Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), Earl Devereaux (Terry Crews), Manny (Benjamin Bratt), and Brent (Andy Samberg). His father comes along for the ride as well but is told by Flint just to hang back on the boat. The main conflict for Flint this time around is that he embracing the fakeness of Chester V whose bad intentions he can’t see past. By doing so he also rejects the help of his friends and father, hurting them along the way. Flint has to learn to trust those close to him, before Chester V gets his hands on the machine, when it will be way too late.
For the most part, the charm of Flint and the rest of the gang is just as fun as it was the first time around. There’s a lot of great humor applied to the food on the island which have evolved to all different types of animals, with plenty of creative puns to keep you laughing. There’s no shortage of creativity to be found.
With that said, the film does lose something without Lord & Miller at the helm. Screenwriters, John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein and Erica Rivinoja do a fine job keeping the story going, but I couldn’t help but feel that the story lacked the same punch as the first. Something just was missing from this sequel that kept it from feeling as exciting and fresh as the previous one. It’s a fun ride, but not a necessary one.
Fans of the first film will find enough to enjoy with this new entry, and it will entertain new audience and plenty of kids. But with as much as I enjoyed the first entry, I couldn’t help but feel as though they missed a chance to follow-up in a big way here. Would the inclusion of Lord & Miller have saved this film? We will never truly know, but based on their incredible work with 21 Jump Street, I’m leaning towards yes.
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