It’s an approach the film just about gets away with, overcoming the slightness and familiarity of its main narrative with strong characters, a healthy dose of frenetic madness, and some of the most delicious looking food seen on screen since Stanley Tucci’s Big Night. It’s a dream come true for Flint, but not the kind of dream where he leaves his old friends behind. And in particular, that means we get more of his father, Tim Lockwood (voiced by James Caan), and hairy security specialist Earl Devereaux (with Terry Crews replacing Mr T on voicing duties there). In fact, one of the main merits of the Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs films is there’s a supporting cast who can generate a good chuckle when required. In this case, new characters are drafted in too, with similar abilities, most with no shortage of vitamin C. The plot, which has a mild echo of the main story of Up (and the film throws in some of the style of I Am Legend), goes through motions you’ll see coming fairly easily, and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 doesn’t pretend otherwise. This gives it at least a little bit of wiggle room to subvert scenes slightly when it can, not least when one character does their inevitable ‘walking away from the other in disappointment’ moment. They’re not quite enough, in truth, to paper over the pretty obvious path the sequel follows, and it does feel that there was a better idea than an outright story here (ironically, the first film had a better story, but it didn’t quite stretch convincingly across the full feature). Yet there’s enough fruity fuel in its proverbial tank once again, and Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 is a welcome, quality sequel, which very much makes the idea of a third instalment a welcome one. Don’t duck out of the lovely end credits, either. It’s worth it for the quick horror sequence a couple a minutes in… Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
