Wednesday, June 25, 2014

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2: A FEAST FOR THE EYES

I didn't get a chance to see the first film in this series (I'm assuming more will come) but I did know enough to know what it was about. So walking into this one didn't leave me wondering for the first 20 minutes what was going on. It also helped that they sort of give you an idea from the start as well.

The folks of Swallow Falls have been relocated while a clean up of their food filled city is underway. Hero/inventor Flint Lockwood, the man who created the machine that turned items into food, now works at The Live Corp Company, owned and operated by his hero, Chester V, and responsible for the town's cleanup. There he will work alongside some of he greatest minds in the world creating all sorts of wonderful things. Or so he thinks.

One of Flint's first assignments is to return home to not only clean up the problem there but to find his original invention. It seems that it not only has created food from the skies but has also begun turning food into living beings. Not the hamburgers from cows sort but living breathing combinations of food stuffs into new creatures. In so doing Chester V also puts a wedge between Flint and his friends, something we know will eventually be corrected and at which point our unknowing hero will realize was a mistake as he uses them to help save the world. Yes it seems that Chester V actually has evil plans in store for Flint's invention and Flint and the gang must unite to put a stop to said plans.

Really the movie boils down to a simple story and that actually works in its favor. Rather than overcomplicate things it makes the movie easy for both kids and inattentive parents to follow. The real treat here is the visual imagery that is on display. The animation is fantastic (even though I'm not a huge CGI animation fan) and the colors on display make you ooo and aahh about once per minute. The combining of food into animals is amazingly inventive and works well within the guidelines of the story.

But the true test of how good a kid's film is lies in its ability to not only take us somewhere we've never been before but to make us want to visit it again and again. For myself I found the world presented here one that I'd love to see over and over again. Keeping it fresh will be the hardest part. Keeping it a feast for the eyes the easiest. In the end both kids and adults will find this one a movie worth adding to the collection.

Click here to order.

No comments:

Post a Comment