Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: Meh

Food comes alive in Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, Sony Pictures Animation’s follow-up to the 2009 reinvention of the classic children’s book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.

This film picks up where the first left off: after the catastrophic food-storm, Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) and his friends are left with a big mess to clean up. Thankfully for them, Flint’s childhood hero, adventurous inventor Chester V (Will Forte), steps in to help with the food disposal. In addition, Chester V offers Flint a job at The Live Corp Company, every budding inventor’s dream office. As the residents of Swallow Falls are evacuated to allow Live Corp to move in and clean up, Flint’s friends begin to wonder if Chester V really is the benevolent scientist he claims to be. Once Flint is recruited to head back to the island to save humanity from “evil” food monsters, it becomes apparent that maybe the foodimals, as they are called, aren’t bad after all.

Although this tale is riddled with clichéd morals and life lessons seen in most children’s films, it is dominated by an pun-based script. Unfortunately, the clichés take the forefront, with Flint learning that friendship and family are the most important things and that sometimes the people we idolize most aren’t who they seem to be.

The screenplay, written by John Francis Daley (from Bones) and Jonathan M. Goldstein, was surprisingly smart, almost too smart to be directed towards a younger audience. While I could certainly appreciate the puns of the foodimals’ names (including “mosquitoasts” and “shrimpanzees”) and the funny little quips that the characters would dole out towards each other, some of the jokes seemed to soar way over the heads of everyone in the audience, including the supervising adults. For instance, Chester V gives Flint a device called “The BS USB.” Of course, in the film those letters stand for something very scientific, but I was instantly able to figure out that this device wasn’t what Chester V said it was. However, I don’t think any of the kids would be able to understand that little joke, or at least I certainly hope they couldn’t. And it wasn’t necessary that they understood in order to figure out the plot; all was revealed in the end. But that kind of “joke” seemed like it was trying to be funnier than it actually was. Thinking back, most of the jokes in the film were almost trying too hard to be clever or funny and in turn ended up being completely un-funny and even sometimes cringe worthy.

In fact, there were rarely any points of laughter during the movie. I felt like I was being hit over the head with childhood morals, which made me enjoy the fun little foodimals less and less with every scene.

However, I did appreciate the environmentalist undertone throughout the film, which is normally the plot point that oversaturates the audience. Unlike The Lorax, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 focused more on morals than pure environmentalism, which I think made me more receptive to the environmental aspects of the film. Flint and his lady-friend, meteorologist Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), slowly figure out that the foodimals produced by the food-machine are not evil; they have created an entire functioning ecosystem on the island. When Chester V takes away the food machine to use it in his new factory, the ecosystem begins to die. He cuts down trees and takes the foodimals to use in his new food bar and utterly destroys everything in his path. Although the concept of the foodimals is unrealistic, it is a neat parallel to human relationships with the ecosystems we inhabit without labeling Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 as a purely environmentalist film.  In the end, the basic childhood messages receive the most emphasis, but the environmentally friendly aspect helped the film not become too childish.

As a children’s film, however, I think that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is successful. It is just enough funny for kids to remain entertained and there are so many cute little foodimals throughout that children under the age of 10 should enjoy the experience. Honestly, the foodimals were the best part for me; they showcased creativity, cuteness, and were fun to watch throughout the film. The story did a great job incorporating many different types so the creatures never got too monotonous or boring (my personal favorites were the marshmallows). And, although much of the humor seemed a little too clever, there were still many adult-directed puns and jokes to keep parents at least somewhat entertained. All great animated films have those jokes to keep the parents interested, because, after all, it is the parents who buy the films. Some are definitely better than others, and I would put this film more towards the bad end than the good, but the overall film itself was a success. I think it turned out exactly how it was intended: as a logical continuation of the first film with a simple, familiar plot, a few laughs, and super cute foodimals.