This last week saw the release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, the sequel to the relatively successful Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. If you have never seen the first one or need a quick recap, here we go…

 

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a story about a determined scientist-come-inventor called Flint Lockwood (Bill Harder) who lives in Swallow Falls, which is a tiny island under the A in Atlantic on the map of the world. The island was once prosperous due to its fishing fleet and sardine industry until the world realised that sardines are gross. As a consequence of this, the inhabitants’ diet had become dull and boring, consisting only of sardines. To this end, Flint Lockwood decided to create a machine to produce food from water in order to bring taste back to the island. However, the machine malfunctioned and was fired into the atmosphere above Swallow Falls, spewing food down as rain over the entire world. Flint Lockwood, a weathergirl, policeman, and grown-up child actor, went to stop it and believed to have destroyed it.

 

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 opens with the machine falling from the sky and landing in a puddle of water. Also, a worldwide clean-up operation is put underway by Flint Lockwood’s childhood hero Chester V (Will Forte), a brilliant scientist and inventor who plans to bring out his amazing new food bar 8.0. The basic premise of the film is that the machine begins to malfunction even more so than before and starts creating a food ecosystem with food animals and plants, but evidence shows that the food-animal-hybrids are attempting to learn how to swim in order to leave the island and devour the world, forcing Flint to go back to try to stop the machine with his friends. Little does he know that Chester V has other plans for the machine, hoping to make his new food bar better and cheaper than ever before.

 

This is a Jurassic Park the Lost World meets Despicable Me film, aimed primarily at children. It is described as a comedy; however, I did not find myself laughing during any point in the film. What is more, the characters and plot are more uninteresting and unmemorable than in the original film. I honestly did not particularly enjoy this film, but then again, I didn’t particularly hate it either. Yet, I do not believe I will watch it again nor buy it on DVD when it comes out.

 

On the whole, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 was a great disappointment to me, though I do believe it would be an excellent and enjoyable film for younger viewers. Due to this, I think it is the perfect film for children who may get a great deal of fun out of it. With very few funny moments and a less than scary bad guy, for me this film has been one of the least enjoyable or memorable films that I have seen this year. I pray that they do not decide to make a third.