It’s sometimes hard to remember that animated films are mainly targeted at children with how much they cater to the older crowd in terms of humour. It’s gotten to the point where we almost look at them as comedies over family features, and while there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that, as a critic I sometimes have to step back and remember just whom they’re making this movie for.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is the perfect example of this. It’s a 95-minute feature that’s packed with laughs for both young and old. Though, the story itself isn’t exactly all that engrossing – at least from a character standpoint. This is where the ratings get skewed a bit, as there’s just been so much strong competition in recent years in terms of story-driven animated films, that when one arrives that only looks to entertain, it kind of catches you off guard and feels like something is missing.
While the first film played off of disaster movies in terms of its tone, this time it has a more “monster movie” vibe. The movie picks up the second the first film finishes, and our hero Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader) is now making plans to start up a lab with all his new friends. These plans are interrupted when a hologram of Flint’s childhood hero – Chester V (Will Forte) – shows up and announces that everyone must relocate to San Franjose while his Live Corp Company cleans up their island town.
Six months pass and Flint learns that the cleanup isn’t going well, and that he didn’t exactly destroy his water-to-food invention like he initially thought. To make matters worse, it’s now begun creating animal-food hybrids called Foodimals that have taken over the island with the risk of attacking the mainland if Flint and his friends don’t stop them.
First and foremost, the Jurassic Park vibe the film gives off is fantastic. The island town of Swallow Falls has been completely transformed into a majestic self-contained world filled with unique and funny (yet quite dangerous!) terrains. I won’t give too much away, as discovering them as you watch is half the fun, but just so you get the idea, some of the foodimals include Apple Pie-thons, Flamangos, and Shrimpanzees.
In terms of scares, there’s a chance that some of the younger audiences may get a bit tense when some of the more monstrous foodimals arrive on the scene; however, by the time the movie is finished, odds are they’ll love them all and see there’s nothing to be scared of. The island itself, while eerie, is also brought to life with such wonderful colours that it helps give the world more of a fantasy vibe over dark and evil.
As a whole, the exploration on the island is fast but fun, the foodimals are brilliant, and the dialogue delivers wall-to-wall laughs for audiences of all ages; but there isn’t much reason to care about the characters this time around, and as mentioned earlier in the review, that’s where the movie falters most. While the first film made it so that Flint was an underdog that audiences could get behind and feel sympathy for, this time out the focus is more about the wacky adventure at hand over any sort of real character development.
While it would’ve been great to have a bit more heart found within his tale, it’s clear that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is meant to be 95-minutes of pure, simple entertainment that’ll keep kids glued to the TV for repeat viewings, while also being packed with so many laughs that the parents won’t mind it one bit. With that in mind, it’s safe to say that this is a second helping that shouldn’t be skipped.
The Blu-ray video transfer is flawless. The picture is sharp, and the colours are bright and vibrant at all times, which is exactly this movie needs to be viewed. The audio transfer is also superbly done, making this a top-notch Blu-ray purchase in terms of audio and visuals.
On the special features front there’s actually a solid amount of interviews with the cast and crew that delve into the characters and story. Younger fans will likely enjoy the four bonus shorts that come with this package, adding over 20 more minutes of bonus content.
The Mysterious Sasquash – While the four mini-movies will be a big selling point, and the other featurettes are all brief, yet fun, if you choose to only watch one thing, let it be this. It’s a hilarious three-minute featurette that touches on the history of the mysterious Sasquash – and you’ll be amazed at how often it showed up right in the middle of the screen during the movie without you ever noticing!
Director’s Commentary – Both Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn (who co-directed the film) give their thoughts on the filmmaking processes, as well as plenty of interesting information that’ll keep those who enjoy commentaries interested throughout!
Mini-Movies – There are four mini-movies to be found here, all done in 2D with a 3D introduction by the main characters involved in that particular short. While kids will likely enjoy all four, I found two to be “okay” and two to be really entertaining. The movies are as follows:
Steve’s First Bath – This short is five minutes in length and focuses on Flint creating a robot to give his pet monkey Steve a bath. It’s okay the first time around, but will only warrant repeat viewings if you have kids that find it entertaining.
Super Manny – This was my favourite short, even though it’s the shortest at just under four and a half minutes. It focuses on the man of few words, Manny (voiced by Benjamin Bratt) as he tries to make it to a “breaking story” all while constantly having to rescue a cat from certain doom.
Attack of the 50 Foot Gummi Bear – This was another “okay” one that kids will likely find more entertaining than adults. There’s nothing really wrong with it, it just gets a little long in the tooth at just under six minutes.
Earl Scouts – This one comes in at almost seven minutes, and is pretty much an homage to Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (or Sam, for those who know the show well). Here we see Berry and Pickle going one on one to see who can get a badge from the Earl Scouts, because as Earl puts it at the start, “It’s all about survival. Kill or be killed.” This one works for repeat viewings almost instantly.
Deleted Scenes – There are only four deleted scenes that come in at under three minutes in length. When it takes so much time to make a scene, while also costing a fortune, it’s not exactly shocking that they try to keep the cutting room floor as clean as possible. Not much to see here.
Production Design: Back in the Kitchen – This featurette comes in at just under seven minutes and sees a lot of the crew talking about how things have changed since the first time out, and how they all but had to start from scratch this time around. It’s fast and definitely worth checking out, as are all the featurettes.
Cloudy Café: Who’s on the Menu? – Again, this featurette comes in at just under seven minutes in length, this time with the cast talking about their characters in brief segments. It was quite funny to learn that Steve the monkey is voiced by Neil Patrick Harris, who talks about the hardships of his job in the movie. Quite entertaining!
Anatomy of a Foodimal – This six-minute featurette sees cast and crew talking about the foodimals, how they came to be, and what some of their favourites were.
Awesome End Credits – This six-minute featurette is pretty self-explanatory, as we meet up with the End Credit Designers and Supervisors, Lead Puppeteer, and Animation Producer/Director as they talk about what goes in to making the film’s final credit sequence.
Building the Foodimals – Here we get a brief look at what went in to creating the foodimals found in the film at different stages.
Delicious Production Design – It’s interesting to learn about the various artistic techniques that went in to bringing this captivating world to life. This featurette that runs at just over five minutes focuses on different ways they did so, with commentary by Production Designer Justin Thompson.
There’s also a Music Video for the song La Da Dee by Cody Simpson, as well as a brief Behind-the-Scenes look at the making of said video.
Columbia Pictures Presents a Sony Pictures Animation Film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. Directed by: Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. Written by: John Francis Daley, Jonathan M. Goldstein, Erica Rivinoja. Featuring the voices of: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte, Andy Samberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Benjamin Bratt, Terry Crews. Running time: 95 minutes. Rating: G. Released: January 28, 2014.
