[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw6dECrl-BE]

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2

Release Date: September 27, 2013
Cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Terry Crews, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Neil Patrick Harris, Will Forte
Director: Cody Cameron, Kris Pearn
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
Distributor: Columbia Pictures
Genre(s): Animated, Science Fiction, Comedy
Sequel to Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Rating: ★★★★☆
Review Spoilers: Low
IMDB | Rotten Tomatoes | Wikipedia

So I’m going to give you my top ten reasons for seeing this movie, because it’s one of those movies that you either will love or you’ll be annoyed with. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. It was full of puns and adorable at every turn. People who weren’t fans of the first one should probably sidestep this one as well, it follows much of the same humor. But those who enjoyed the first one, are going to adore this one. In the sequel, the food have come alive on Swallow Falls and it has literally created it’s own food life forms.

1. Food Puns

The food puns are great in this. Literally. With names like watermelephants, flamangos, pearots, fruit cockatiel, it’s hard not to laugh when they are mentioned. Even the more menacing foodimals are great, like the Tacodile or the Cheespider. The movie reaches a real high point when they get to the island and you meet the foodimals, which are undoubtedly the pinnacle of the movie.

2. Adorable Food Animals/Beings

Yeah, foodimals are adorable. They range from animal-inspired food, to just living pieces of food. And apparently their diet is not just stuck to plants, since the pickles really seem to enjoy sardines.

3. Adorable Animation

The animation is adorable in this film. From Chester V’s fluid like arms and his Live Corp design to the detail gone into the specific animals and scenery in Swallow Falls.

4. Chester V is Steve Jobs

Seriously, in the most unsubtle way, somehow the villain of the story is actually a spitting image of Steve Jobs. Sure, Steve never had holographs working for him (or did he?) or an ape with a human brain (or did he?), but it’s undoubtable how strong of an influence the genius had on Chester’s character. That being said, most of his scenes were hilarious for just that reason.

5. Steve and Barb

We get another monkey this movie! Well… ape. And no, not those shripmanzees. But Barb’s character, although kind of creeped me out in the beginning, really hit her stride as the movie started to close in on the end. Her relationship to Chester plays a great foil for Steve and Flint’s relationship and it’s kind of great.

6. A Concise Story/Cast

Ok, so a problem I kind of had with the first movie was how it somehow always seemed to be all over the place. The whole town kind of slowed the pace of the movie. I’m ok with the story just being about Flint and his ability to deal with his friends over Chester. This movie improved and downsized the cast, creating much more development on Flint’s end.

7. Papa Lockwood and Pickles

Tim Lockwood’s role in the first movie was kind of depressing, if we’re honest. Half of the movie I was angry at Flint for neglecting his only living parent. The other half of the movie I was uncomfortable at how disagreeable Tim would be with Flint’s interests. But in this movie, we got to see just Tim, on his own. Well with some Pickles. I’ll admit the pickles reminded me more of minions as the movie went on, but they were adorable and it was nice to see Tim’s playful side.

8. Location Location Location

Seeing Swallow Falls transformed into a world of magic was just half of how awesome it was. Exploring it through the movie made it even better. From the boneyard docks filled with massive food, to the tropical jungles and syrup bogs, to the big rock candy mountain. They clearly spent a lot of time on this landscaping, and it is made awesomer because of it. Not to mention Chester’s Live Corp headquarters, which is essentially a huge lightbulb with some pretty hilarious features. Or the town of San FranJose that the citizens of Swallow Falls get dumped into.

9. Humor

I obviously enjoyed the humor in the story, but other than just an incredible amount of puns, we have the same humor we always had. Earl is still being a manly man. Brett is simple but laugh-out-loud hilarious. Flint and Sam are awkwardly in love. It’s the same group of people. A lot of the jokes being thrown around are entertaining to people of all ages, with several layers to most of the jokes.

10. Heartwarming Tale

Overall, it’s just a story about friends. The movie does a good job on telling that story. Friends are important, especially faced with obligations that may or may not be honorable. Flint spends a lot of the movie stuck between what Chester wants and what he knows is right deep down, and it’s his friends who ultimately convince him of that.

Final Thoughts: It has enough humor to satisfy adult viewers with it’s puns and references, but is technicolored and adorable enough to entertain the youngest child. Fans of the first movie, should definitely see it. Fans of animated movies, should as well.