Movie review: Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2

Much like the first edition, Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs 2 is wacky, colourful and lighthearted animation filled with slapstick comedy and goofy characters who will entertain younger kids.

This sequel charges on from where the original story left off. Our accident-prone inventor Flint Lockwood (Hader) finds himself working for his idol, investor Chester V (Will Forte), at The Live Corp. But when one of Flint's "celebration" bombs goes off at an inappropriate moment, his job and dream of becoming a world-renowned inventor comes to an end. Chester V, however, is prepared to give him a chance to redeem himself.

It turns out Flint's FLDSMDFR (for those of you new to this series, that's his Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator) is still operational and creating foodimals (food-animal hybrids) that are running rampant at Swallows Fall. Flint and his sidekicks, weather girl Sam Sparks (Faris), policeman Earl Devereaux (Terry Crews), simian Steve (Neil Patrick Harris) and Dad (Caan) must return home to destroy the FLDSMDFR and foodimals before they make it to the mainland. Imagine

Jurassic Park

as a brightly coloured oddball comedy with foodimals and you've got the picture.

Kids will be delighted with the crazy collection of tacodiles, shrimpanzies, cheesespiders and an adorable walking strawberry named Barry, who will have the audience oohing over him. The sardine-loving pickles and their cheeky sense of humour remind you of Despicable Me's Minions, while a leak on a boat leads to overuse of the "there's a leek in my boat" gag.

There's little subtlety or character development and the plot is thin, but if the snappy psychedelic visuals and fanciful storylines captured your kid's attention first time around then it should do once again.

Stars:

3/5

Cast:

Anna Faris, Bill Hader, James Caan

Directors:

Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn

Running Time:

95 mins

Rating:

G

Verdict:

Colourful, fun and harmless entertainment for the littlies

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- TimeOut