Because Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Needed A Sequel

So apparently the folks over at Sony Animation really thought Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs needed a second visit.

Anyway, I went to see it and the majority of its hour and thirty minute run time is a waste of space. Pretty much every single food pun you could think of gets utilized and then strangled to death in an impressively short amount of time. But there is a slight bit of heart lost somewhere deep within that well of anti-humor.

The mega-corporation that serves as this films easy villain feels like a metaphorical Apple.

And there are some parallels to the reality of how Steve Jobs probably treated the "friends" of his that originally helped him to found that company. Still this film feels like it's picking on that reality and completely alienates the potential truth of that man's personality.

A great family film will connect with kids and adults alike. A piss-poor family film will miss the mark and go for cheap laughs, cheap thrills, and generally speaking miss every mark a filmmaker needs to invest in understanding. So as I see it, Cloudy 2 is an okay family film. It mostly lacks any creative insight, but probably still connects very well to at least half of its audience. I can only assume children eat this up and there is just enough there to get the parents through it. But it is the kind of film that is unsustainable. Just a quick buck that will mean almost nothing to anyone in about ten years.

So, while I like the original very much, Cloudy 2 is not a must see. If you're really bored one night and you need something easy to watch, you can give it a chance... though I can think of at least fifty movies off the top of my head that would be better suited to that scenario.