It's rare for sequels to be better movies than the original, let alone for animated movies. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" was a surprisingly great and fun movie and it would take something very special to surpass it. This sequel is anything but special however, though at the same time, it's still far from a terrible one as well.
Now, when compared to the first movie; I did have some problems with this movie. For one, it's obvious that this movie wasn't done by the same directors as the first movie. Sure, the style is still the same, the characters are the same and the humor is pretty much the same as well but it are the little things that make it all too obvious that this movie had some very different people at the helm of it. The comedy all feels slightly more forced and exaggerated but most notably, the storytelling feels far more rushed.
The first movie was actually a pretty subtly told one, that took the time to set up the story and all of its characters. This movie doesn't have to set up its character anymore, since it obviously features most of the same ones again and is taking place right after the events of the first movie. That means that this sequel throws us right into the 'action' and doesn't ever really slows down again, at any point, which was something I wasn't all too happy about.
This also is definitely a more generic feeling animated movie, when compared to the original one. The story is a typical one, without any surprises in it, in which our heroes have to travel from point A to B, while having to resolve a conflict. But here is the problem with it; I still don't really get its story. I still don't really understand what the villain was trying to achieve and why he went to so much trouble for it. And I also still don't really get why the island was taken over by food-animal hybrids. You can choose to ignore all of this and simply enjoy the movie but personally, it did bother me all quite a bit, especially once it became obvious to me that the movie wasn't ever really going to explain any of its plot details, or delve deeper into things. But this movie decides to be as simplistic as possible, by not doing or telling you too much, making this movie also definitely more kid oriented, which may disappoint some of the adults who liked the first movie and were hoping again for one just like it.
But even so; this movie remains better and more fun to watch, than lets say, the average modern animated movie. The characters are all good and fun ones and the movie introduces some new good and cute ones as well but not too many though. It mostly reintroduces lots of characters from the first movie again and gives some of them some bigger parts to play this time around as well.
It's perfectly entertaining and harmless fun to watch all. A great movie to simply have a good time with, as long as you aren't going to compare it too much to the original, or else you may end up feeling disappointed.
It's also a great looking movie. It has a very colorful and cartoonish look to it, which also really suits the premise of the movie, in which some strange looking food-animal hybrids show up. Very creative and great stuff to watch and maybe even the best and most entertaining aspect about this movie.
Far from being as great, surprising, funny and creative as the first movie but still a pretty good and enjoyable as a movie on itself.
7/10
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