Cloudy
With A Chance Of Meatballs 2 (2013/Sony
Blu-ray w/DVD)
Picture:
A/B Sound: A/B Extras: C Film: C
Whereas
I exclaimed praises for Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs,
demanding second helpings, the second film tastes more like reheated
leftovers, than a fresh meal.
In
Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs 2 we
pick up (quite literally) where the last film left off. After
shutting down the FLDSMDFR, which plagued the world with giant
helpings of giant foods; Flint (Bill Hader) and Sam (Anna Ferris) set
out to clean up the mess that was left behind. Scientist Chester V
(Will Forte) enters the film as the hired
gun
(AKA world renowned scientist) to aid in the cleanup efforts. It
just so happens that Chester V is Flint's lifelong idol and who
inspired him to be a scientist/inventor. As was clearly demonstrated
throughout the previews of this film, the issue becomes that the once
edible foods have now evolved and SPRUNG to life. So, not only is
the world plagued by a giant mess, but now ferocious (and not so
ferocious) food beasts. It will become the task of Chester, Flint,
Sam, and the inhabitants of Shallow Falls to slice and dice the
beasts into submission; but in the end what you see may be more than
you can stomach.
The
film is brilliantly animated, fun, and has a lot of heart. Sadly,
the film recycles many of the jokes from the first film (reviewed in
Blu-ray 3D and Blu-ray 3D editions elsewhere on this site); which
were once fresh and inventive are now stale. The first film banked
on its oddball humor and inventiveness, but in Cloudy
2 that
inventiveness has fallen to the wayside instead feeding the audience
pun after pun. The film starts off in the right direction, but
quickly shifts back to Shallow Falls, where a rehashing of the first
film (albeit with food monsters this time) takes place.
The
film will be fun for younger audiences and will peak adults/first
film fans interests for a bit, but in the end the film falls flat.
Far from horrible, Cloudy
2 entertains
but the bland humor and lack of ingenuity won't have fans clamoring
for seconds (thirds?).
Whereas
the film itself may have disappointed to a degree the HD quality
surely does not! The 1080p/AVC encoded, MPEG-4 image is astoundingly
flawless, and something we call in the tech world… demo worthy.
The image is crisp, clean, and clear throughout without any issues.
The colors are bright, the blacks are inky/framing, and shadowing is
spot on. The detail on humans and food monsters alike is out of this
world and will have your HD sets ablaze. A 3D version was also
issued as it was released in many theater screenings. The sound is
equally astounding in its 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) lossless track
that surrounds the viewer from beginning to end. The lively tracks
has solid prioritization and panning effects coupled with crisp,
clean dialogue. From a picture and sound perspective Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is
flawless.
The
extras are somewhat disappointing and host only a few noteworthy
features (mostly the audio commentary). The special features I found
to be all too short to be valuable and the longer ones seemed
somewhat slapped together. Extras are as follows:
Audio
Commentary
Deleted
Scenes [HD]
Foodimals-Funimal
App [HD]
Mini
Movies
Cloudy
Café: Who's on the Menu
Production
Design: Back in the kitchen
Building
the Foodimals
Anatomy
of a Foodimal
Delicious
Production Design
Awesome
End Credits
The
Movies Visually Style: Discussed by Production Designer Justin
Thompson
Music
Video
Making
of La
Da Dee
Music Video
I
love the characters of Cloudy
with a Chance of Meatballs and
the world it created, but this sequel was too much of the same to
make the impact of the first film.
-
Michael P. Dougherty II
