Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 – A Sony Release

www.sonypictures.com/cloudywithachanceofmeatballs2

Blu-ray Release Date: January 28th, 2014

Rated G for mild rude humour

Running time: 95 minutes

Cody Cameron (dir.)

Kris Pearn (dir.)

Erica Rivinoja (screenplay)

Mark Mothersbaugh (music)

Bill Hader as Flint Lockwood (voice)

Anna Faris as Sam Sparks (voice)

James Caan as Tim Lockwood (voice)

Will Forte as Chester V (voice)

Neil Patrick Harris as Steve (voice)

Our reviews below:

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 Blu-ray Review By John Corrado

** (out of 4)

Starting eight minutes after the first film, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 opens with Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) taking a job working for his elastic idol Chester V (Will Forte), who sends the inventor back to Swallow Falls to clean up the mess left by his FLDSMDFR.  Now the food that fell from the sky has come alive and morphed into strange “foodimals,” and it’s up to Flint to either eat or make peace with the creatures, along with his scientist girlfriend Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) and his father Tim Lockwood (James Caan).

I quite enjoyed the first Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs back in 2009, but this predictable sequel sadly feels like leftovers, lacking the heart that made the charming original work so well.  Although there are some amusing moments, mainly courtesy of the adorable and selectively verbal monkey Steve (Neil Patrick Harris), Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is a hyperactive and unfocused animated film that will be most engaging for kids below a certain age and adults enjoying the film enhanced.  This isn’t a bad sequel, I just really wish it was better.

The Blu-ray includes four short films and deleted scenes, commentary with the filmmakers, numerous featurettes and a music video with Cody Simpson.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 Blu-ray Review By Erin V.

** (out of 4)

The first Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs came to screens in 2009.  While not my favourite animated film, it was entertaining for what it was and did quite well at the box office – well enough, in fact, for a sequel to be green lit.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up right where the last one left off, with all of the food that Flint’s (Bill Hader) food creation machine has strewn across the island of Swallow Falls where he and his friends live.  A weird scientist named Chester V (Will Forte) claims that he can help clean up the mess, but he really just wants to steal the machine.

When Flint finds out, he travels back to the island with his family and friends so they can try to fix things themselves.  But they are awaited with a surprise – the island is full of living food.  As in, vegetables and fruits with faces and resembling animals…  Like potato-hippos, banana-ostritch-dolphin looking things, and a weird little strawberry that looks like an animator drew two eyes on it.  The ‘foodimals,’ as they call them, oddly amused me due to their sometimes odd, sometimes oddly-cute, weirdness.  But, the film didn’t really focus on them, and the whole thing with the Chester V character completely lost me.

This is a sequel that really couldn’t be what the original was.  Most of the humour fell flat or was too on the nose, the plot was thinly written, and the new characters (and old ones) not really well developed.  If you really loved the first one and feel the need to check out the sequel, rent it.  You might get some amusement out of it, but overall I found it to be fairly mediocre.  Kids and enhanced viewers should enjoy the bright colours though.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 Blu-ray Review By Nicole

**1/4 (out of 4)

Five years ago, a witty film featuring food weather and a nerdy couple came out.  Now, in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and his girlfriend Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) find their former town of Swallow Falls is inhabited by “foodimals,” common food items come to life as various animals.  Flint’s childhood idol, Chester V (Will Forte) has assigned him to shut down his food machine, so the town can be cleared of living food.  However, the foodimals turn out to be cute and friendly, making Flint and his friends question Chester’s ulterior motive.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is predictable, and at 95 minutes, it drags as a kids film.  However, the foodimals are a delight to see.  From hippotatos to watermelephants, the food creatures are adorable, not too scary (in the case of cheespiders and tacodiles), and clever.  The “animals are not food” message is one I agree with.  Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is entertaining enough for adults, and a lot of fun for young children.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 Blu-ray Review By Maureen

**1/4 (out of 4)

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 continues where the original 2009 entertaining and often sweet animated movie left off.  Nerdy inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) is still trying to set things straight in his hometown of Swallow Falls after his invention turned water into food and buried everything in the stuff.  Flint thinks the town is finally going to be okay, until he realizes his machine is still alive and glitching, turning the remaining food into “foodimals,” strange food and animal hybrids.

Flint knows he can count on his girlfriend, Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) to help him solve the problem, but a chance to work with his childhood idol, fellow scientist Chester V (Will Forte) who runs Live Corp, has Flint forgetting who his family and friends really are.  Accompanied by his sidekick Steve the Monkey (Neil Patrick Harris), the best part of the movie, they try to take back their island home, taking on the odd creatures that include hippopotamuses, shrimpanzees and tactodiles to name a few.

The bright, colourful and odd looking foodimals are what makes this sequel fun for kids.  The baby strawberry and the little marshmallows are kind of cute in their own way.  The action moves along at hyper speed, making it a colourful mess at times.  However, kids who like their cartoons colourful, fast paced and super silly will be entertained by this “food can be a lot of fun” sequel.

While the first Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is a better movie, Cloudy 2 is entertaining enough to make the disc worth a look, especially for younger kids.

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Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 Blu-ray Review By Tony

** (out of 4)

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 deals with the aftermath of the disaster caused in the previous film by the young inventor Flint’s (Bill Hader) FLDSMDFR machine that caused food to rain on and bury his town. When the celebrity inventor Chester V (Will Forte) that inspired Flint offers to clean up the mess, Flint joins his team along with the meteorologist Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) and others from the previous film. They find their former home inhabited by mutant “foodimals” and that Chester V’s intentions are not what they seem.

CWaCoM2 is even weirder than its predecessor, if that is possible. Those fortified with psychoactive self-medication may be much more inspired than I was by the garish colours and admittedly whimsical critters (raised to the power of Veggie Tales, without the Bible-thumping) based on clever puns. At least the decent production and cast make the rather silly story watchable for those not at risk for sensory overload.

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Consensus: Although there are some amusing moments in this animated sequel, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 will be more entertaining for younger kids, making this a weaker film than the charmingly inventive original.  ** (Out of 4)