Starring: Bill Hader, Will Forte, Anna Faris
Having saved his hometown of Swallow Falls from his own food producing invention, Flint Lockwood (Hader) and the other inhabitants of Swallow Falls are temporarily relocated to San Franjose whilst a team of scientists, working for Flint's hero Chester V (Forte), clean up. Now working for Chester himself, Flint is eager to please and when he learns that the food on Swallow Falls is literally taking on a life of its own and may invade the world, he and some old friends decide to go and shut off Flint's machine, now producing these creatures,
A bright bouncing ball of fun, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs hits screens in 2009 and has returned with a sequel (although there's acres of exposition at the opening so don't worry too much if you haven't seen the first). Cloudy With. A Chance Of Meatballs 2 is a perfectly fine, but inferior followup. The film works to its strengths when we're in the now-transformed Swallow Falls with bright colours and jokes that will make pun lovers feel like they're in heaven but in the buildup the film feels lacking in momentum, despite the bright colours and an energetic performance from Will Forte, who even in this animated universe, his Chester V is a very odd creation. The film's final showdown could've easily have been spoiled but the energy that it provides and some intriguing performances, one from a strawberry of all things, saves it.
Most of the cast from the first film has returned, but sadly missing are the vocal talents of Bruce Campbell and Mr. T, although T's replacement in Terry Crewes, playing the same role as over-enthusiastic and very manly cop Earl Deveraux does a fine job as well. Thankfully, Benjamin Bratt has more to do as the ever-brilliant and versatile cameraman, Manny and Kristen Schaal turns up as a talking orang-utan named Barb (although the character's story-arc feels a little underplayed). The film's 3D angle seems to have little rhyme or reason as the film's animation seems to focus more on bright and dynamic colours rather than flying objects but whilst those who didn't care for film one will not be won round by this follow-up, fans of the first film will probably derive some enjoyment from it.
Next time, masseuse and divorcee Julia Louis-Dreyfuss feels she may of met a good man in James Gandolfini. Unfortunately his wife (played by Catherine Keener) is a client of hers and happens to be Gandolfini's ex-wife, unloading all of his negative aspects onto her in Enough Said.
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