Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers : Movie Review



Director: Cody Cameron & Kris Pearn
Starring: Andy Samberg, Anna Faris, Benjamin Bratt, Bill Hader, Neil Patrick Harris
Cert: U
Length: 95 mins

Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers (2013)This follow up to the 2009 film of the same name took a good long while to hit cinema screens (and home entertainment) suggesting that a sequel was questionable. If the first film was a huge hit, then why wait half a decade to release a follow up? But there is plenty of fun to be had in this crazy sequel voiced by a top cast of returning stars including Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Andy Samberg. In fact it’s one of the biggest draws of the film that the characters are well written and brought to life believably by the cast. The characters might well be animated but they are well drawn and full rounded characters. You’ll certainly wonder why it took the makers so long to produce this sequel and it’ll make you believe that a third film is very likely to follow fair more quickly.

Based on Judi Barrett's 1978 children's book, the story has been nicely adapted for film. Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) is the wacky inventor scientist who invented a machine that created weather/food hybrids such as cheeseburger rain and spaghetti tornadoes in the first installment. In this new (minor) twist on the original plotline his machine now creates animal/food hybrids such as buffaloafs, bananostriches, tacodiles, shrimpanzees, hippotatomuses and cheesepiders.

Swallow Falls island is now overtaken by foodimals, and although the foodimals are harmless it feels like some sort of mutated zoo or Jurassic Park. The island is full of life, it has it’s own weather and eco system, the weather machine being the source of life, which when removed leads to the island beginning to die.

Anna Faris plays Sam Sparks the meteorologist girlfriend of Flint. Her cameraman Manny (played by Benjamin Bratt) and ‘Chicken’ Brent (played by Andy Samberg) are all on hand to help to keep things on track and exciting.

The animation is suitably colourful, sharp and well detailed and is offered on Blu-ray in 2D or 3D.

Younger viewers - and those young at heart - will love Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. There are plenty of silly antics for children and enough jokes for adults to enjoy as well. It’s that sort of balance that we have come to expect from the top animated films and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 succeeds in keeping young and older viewers happy.

Author : Kevin Stanley