"Uh oh"
Picking up mere moments after the first movie ended, Cloudy 2 shows Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader) being asked by his lifelong hero Chester V (voice of Will Forte) to help him in cleaning up the town of Swallow Falls. The island is evacuated, and Flint goes with his friends and his Dad to California while things are being cleaned up. Six months later and working at Chester V's corporation Life Corp., Flint finds out that the clean-up crew has disappeared and that his machine, the FLDSMFR, is still running creating food monsters, such as Flamangos, Cheespiders, Watermelephants, and Bananostriches. Joined by Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), Steve the Monkey (Neil Patrick Harris), Brent (Andy Samberg), Officer Earl (Terry Crews), Manny (Benjamin Bratt), and his own father (James Caan), Flint must shut down his machine, or the food-imals may take over the world. Or will they?
This animated sequel does carry a very intriguing premise. The food-animal hybrid concept is fairly original. The new characters fit very well into the films' cartoony world. And the villain is nicely-done, even if it may not be who your little kids expect. The animation (while not much different from the first movie and far from being the most realistic animation I've ever seen) is a visual feast (pun intended), with the food hybrids being well-crafted, and the food characters being given clever names and memorable personalities, especially Barry the Strawberry and the pickles.
The voice cast does a decent job, with Faris bringing spunk to Sam Sparks and Caan bringing heart and wisdom to the role of Flint's 49-year old father. Hader gives a Bill Nye-like whimsy to the role of Flint, and Samberg is as zany and crazy as ever as Brent. The screenplay, while not carrying as much clever laughs as its' predecessor, is filled with hilarious gags and one-liners. The films' main message is valuing your friends over your ambitions in life, which is a good (if formulaic) lesson. There's also a solid example each on the dangers of greed and the benefit of father-son relationships.
That being said, the films' zaniness and craziness is enough to actually mar the overall enjoyable experience at times. Its' even more mindless than that of Despicable Me 2 from earlier this year. And while majority of the silliness is no different from the original Cloudy, I found myself a few times putting my face in my hands in eye-rolling humor. I also found the message of the movie to be not as moving as last time, which actually had the strongest encouragements against gluttony, bullying, and greed I had seen in most other movies.
Comparing Cloudy 2 to the rest of this year's animation line-up, this ranks among the weakest entries of the year, alongside Smurfs 2, The Croods, and Planes. But considering this has been a great year for animation (and with Frozen and Free Birds still to come), it doesn't necessarily mean this is a bad movie. This sequel, at best, matches its' predecessor in terms of wit and humor, and for any animated sequel for that matter, that's not easy to do. But where this film falls short is on the first film's charm, whimsicality, and heartfelt moments.
In fact, doesn't it seem a bit odd the sequel has nothing to do with the title anymore?
Still though, with a fun premise, engaging visuals, and hilarious moments, I find this sequel to be an overall satisfying second helping.
Lets' just see if the filmmakers are full before even trying to go back to the ideas buffet for a third movie.
Content Problems Families Should Be Aware Of:
Language: Some may think the term "BS-USB" as a double-entendre. "Oh crapballs" is said a few times, as is "oh, fudge".
Adult Content: A couple of kisses. Brief partial rear nudity (in the end credits).
Violence: A cheespider chases our characters. Some other characters are nearly pummeled by bananostriches. Characters are nearly grounded by a grinder. Someone is eaten. Some other slapstick shenanigans.
Drugs/Alcohol: None.
Other: Steve writes with a brown crayon, causing everyone to ponder, "where did he get it?". Officer Earl cuts the cheese, both literally and figuratively. A few other scattered bathroom jokes and assorted silliness.
