The Clouds Sweep In

I was pleasantly surprised by the film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. It was visually impressive, fun, loaded with puns, and had just enough sentiment to be more than "empty calories." I liked it enough to be curious about last year's sequel.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 was still visually impressive, still fun, even more loaded with puns, and still aspired to a few dramatic moments to bolster the comedy. But nevertheless, it was still missing something. And I later found out that that something was probably writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Those two creative forces behind the first film decided to serve only as executive producers on the sequel and contribute story ideas. They instead went off to make The Lego Movie (and I think we all know how "awesome" that turned out).

The new folks certainly understand what made the first movie good, but they don't quite seem to understand how to replicate or build on that. There's a sort of paint by numbers quality to Cloudy 2; the result is pretty enough, but it doesn't seem particularly inspired. But certainly, it's never boring. I'll go ahead and torture the food metaphor by saying the film is a visual feast, and ideas keep coming at you course by course, enough to satisfy any appetite.

Nearly all the voice cast from the original returns. (Mr. T's role as Officer Devereaux is taken over by Terry Crews, while Will Forte takes on a different role from the first film.) The hilarious Kristen Schaal is also added to the mix. They give generally good performances all around, though the story doesn't really ask too much of them.

It's a fun movie while it lasts, but is ultimately rather forgettable. (Here come the food jokes again.) It's a dessert where the first movie was a main dish. I give Cloudy 2 a C+.