Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, answering all of those questions from the end of #1, is silly fun. Which is a good thing, seeing as how it's a cartoon aimed at little kids. And me, naturally. This was right up my alley.
It's a simple story. That wonderful machine created by Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) that bestowed food falling from the sky for the island town of Swallow Falls has been deactivated, thanks to a plethora of food and a desire for people not to be harmed by chunks of sustenance dropping on them. Now the island must be cleaned up, and the corporation Live Corp., run by Flint's idol Chester V (Will Forte) gets the contract. The town's citizens are relocated temporarily while Flint realizes his lifelong dream and becomes an employee at Live Corp. The problem? It seems that the food created by the machine has become...sentient. And it's fighting back! Flint and his friends - Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), cameraman Manny (Benjamin Bratt), policeman Earl (Terry Crews, stepping in for Mr. T), Chicken Brent (Andy Samberg), Steve the Monkey, and Flint's dad Tim (James Caan) - head back to the island. The mission: locate the machine and shut it down. But it seems that Chester and his orangutan assistant Barb (Kristen Schaal) have other plans, plans too devious to mention in detail here, lest your eyes be singed.
Anyway, here's the cool thing. The sentient foodstuffs are basically tangible portmanteaus of food and animal, like the wild tacodile, the watermelephant, the pie-thon, the cheespider, and the bananostrich. Luckily, most of these creatures were benign to begin with. I mean, there aren't any lions or tigers or bears or scorpions. Now, setting aside the question of what these Foodimals would eat, since they themselves are made up of food, these are creative inventions. Almost makes you want to buy one or two as stuffed animals.
Meanwhile, back at the boat, Tim bonds with sentient pickles over fishing. I swear, I am so glad this movie was rooted in reality. I mean, sure, pickles probably couldn't cast that well, but still - kudos are deserved here.
This is about Flint's needing to choose between his idol and his friends and family, between doing what he knows will help his inventing career and what he knows is right. It's about being reminded about those closest to you, lest you disdain their influence. It's also about being able to change one's mind in light of new evidence, and it's about not killing anything that has eyes and/or talks. It's also about 95 minutes.
Hader is terrific, as is the supporting cast, even when they're not given much to do but run and hide. Or cackle evilly. I was more impressed with the vocalizations of the Foodimals, such as Barry the strawberry or the pickles, voiced by codirector Cody Cameron. Kind of thought Frank Welker had stumbled on set.
No meatballs, ironically enough.
