GENIUS inventor Flint Lockwood is back after already saving the world from his most infamous machine, which turned water into food. All is well until Flint finds out that his machine is still operating. Apparently, the machine is now creating dangerous food-animal hybrids known as “foodimals!”
Once again, the world’s fate is dependent on a stringy, goofy, geeky Flint Lockwood and his eccentric group of friends. Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 picks up where its prequel left off. Inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) has always dreamed of receiving recognition for his inventions.
His dream seems to come true when he is invited by his idol, self-labeled humanitarian genius (and multi-millionaire) Chester V, to join the Live Corp Company where the best and brightest inventors in the world create technologies for the betterment of mankind. But this process is disrupted when Lockwood’s machine from the past begins to again wreak havoc through its new function of combining animals with food, the outcome being ‘Foodimals’.
According to Chester V, these foodimals are destructive by nature especially the giant cheeseburgers who have a temperament similar to that of a lion. With the fate of humanity in his hands, Chester V sends Lockwood and his friends on a dangerous mission to destroy the machine where they will encounter the most interesting of beings, more specifically foods with a pulse. Some of these include hungry tacodiles, shrimpanzees, apple pie-thons and double bacon cheespiders, not to mention the aggressive cheeseburgers who seem to be the most prolific obstructers of them all.
A delicious plot to say the least! Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn, this film is visually superior to its prequel in terms of animation as well as depth.
Viewers with an appreciation of aesthetics will be wowed by some amazing colours and landscapes. Also, if watched in 3D like I did in Gateway’s fantastic Ster Kinekor cinemas, these aesthetic qualities are both sharpened and more apparent as they are jolted out to the viewer in a way that only 3D can do.
However, this film is no doubt almost exclusively one for the kids. Seeing their favourite food dishes turned into animal shapes and forms along with a fast moving plot (the run time is only 135 minutes), kids will naturally be thrilled throughout the film. The dialogues and writing are on par with the imagery.
This, along with voice overs from movie stars such as Bill Hader (Flint Lockwood), Anna Faris (Sam) and Neil Patrick Harris (Steve) make the characters immensely likable, even if they do say some silly things. Hence, this film is basically for kids; there are very few references to the adult world of comedy.
Nevertheless, an adult might find the clean cut comedy quite refreshing in a movie climate that seems to become more vulgar by the year. At my particular viewing, there was constant giggling from various families throughout the film, from both parent and child alike. This surely is what a family film is all about.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is not to be missed while it is out on the big screen where it can be viewed in 3D. Better than the first one, this film is a must see for the kiddies.
