Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Plot

Following the FLDSMDFR incident in Swallow Falls, Chester V, the CEO of Live Corp and Flint Lockwood's childhood idol, offers his company's services to help clean up the island, while temporarily relocating its populace to San Franjose, California. Chester hires Flint to work at Live Corp as he strives to receive a promotion. Six months later, Flint is publicly humiliated when his "Celebrationator" invention is accidentally set off by Steve after the promotion was being given to another employee.

Chester later informs Flint that the seemingly-destroyed FLDSMDFR is still functioning and creating sentient food creatures known as "Foodimals", one of which attacked his employees stationed on Swallow Falls. Chester tells Flint that he needs to personally travel to the once inhabited island, find the FLDSMDFR and insert a "BS-USB" to shut it down. Flint takes along his pet monkey Steve, his meteorologist girlfriend Sam Sparks, her camera operator Manny, police officer Earl Devereaux, and former Swallow Falls mascot "Chicken" Brent. Flint additionally reluctantly accepts the help of his widowed father Tim, who takes them to the island using his fishing boat. When Chester learns that Flint is not alone, he and his much-abused orangutan assistant Barb gather some of their employees and follow.

While Tim stays on the boat and befriends some living pickles, Flint and his friends work their way through the jungle-like environment of food that now completely covers the island. They encounter many foodimal species, including an innocent living strawberry Sam dubs "Barry". A Cheespider that previously attacked Chester's employees, chases the group before Chester arrives, scaring it off and joining the mission. Sam becomes suspicious of Chester's motives as his claims about the foodimals being dangerous do not align with her observations. Flint is too afraid of failure to listen, eventually leading Sam and the others to go off on their own. They re-encounter and befriend the Cheespider, discovering that it was only acting hostile towards people wearing Live Corp gear. When the group deduces that the foodimals have realized something sinister about the company, as the "live" part of its name is simply "evil" spelled backwards, they attempt to warn Flint but are captured by Chester's employees.

Flint, Chester and Barb track down the FLDSMDFR. Flint watches it create sentient marshmallows, who immediately befriend him, and realizes Sam was right. He defies Chester and refuses to shut down the FLDSMDFR. Chester fights Flint and inserts the BS-USB, now revealed to be a reprogramming device, into the machine himself. With the FLDSMDFR now under his control, Chester pushes Flint into a river and starts capturing foodimals, planning to use them as the key ingredients for Live Corp's upcoming line of food bars. The marshmallows rescue Flint and reunite him with Tim and Barry. The Lockwoods realize that, without the FLDSMDFR, the entire island's ecosystem will die out. Flint feels responsible and becomes demoralized, until he discovers that the foodimals, having watched archived footage of the FLDSMDFR's creation, revere him as their creator. Inspired, Flint vows to set things right.

Voice cast

Bill Hader as:

Flint Lockwood, an inventor and Sam's boyfriend.

The FLDSMDFR, as he did in the first film.

Bridget Hoffman additionally portrayed the former's younger self in the film's prologue. She replaced Max Neuwirth for the role.

Archival recordings of Neuwirth as the young Flint are heard in the beginning of the film.

Anna Faris as Sam Sparks: a weather intern from New York City and Flint's girlfriend.

Will Forte as Chester V: Flint's childhood idol who is a world-famous super-inventor and the CEO of Live Corp. Forte voiced Joe Towne in the first film.

James Caan as Tim Lockwood: Flint's widowed fisherman father.

Andy Samberg as "Chicken" Brent McHale: Flint's former rival and bully and the former mascot of Swallow Falls' sardine cannery.

Neil Patrick Harris as Steve: Flint's pet vervet monkey who communicates using a thought translator that Flint invented; however, he only has a limited vocabulary and mostly just says his name, says a few random things and reminds Flint that he is hungry. He later becomes Barb's love interest.

Benjamin Bratt as Manny: Sam's Guatemalan camera operator and a former doctor, pilot and comedian.

Terry Crews as Earl Devereaux: Swallow Falls' athletic police officer. Crews replaced Mr. T From the first film, Mr. T was asked to reprise the role of Earl for the sequel but he declined to reprise the role so Crews was brought on to replace Mr. T, though the latter's archival recordings are heard in the film's opening.

Production

Development

The sequel was announced on April 12, 2010, when website io9 reported that the original film's directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller, would not return for the sequel. In December 2011, it was reported that Cody Cameron, one of the story artists on the first film, and Kris Pearn, the head of story on the first, would direct the sequel, with Lord and Miller serving as executive producers. John Francis Daley, Jonathan Goldstein, and Erica Rivinoja wrote the screenplay, which is based on an original story idea, not on Pickles to Pittsburgh, Ron and Judi Barrett's follow-up book. In February 2012, it was announced that the sequel would be titled Cloudy 2: Revenge of the Leftovers, but it was later retitled to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Casting

Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Neil Patrick Harris, and Benjamin Bratt reprised their roles from the first film. Mr. T was asked to reprise the role of Earl Devereaux the athletic cop from the first film but he declined to reprise the role so Terry Crews was brought on to replace Mr. T as Earl. Kristen Schaal joined the cast to voice Barb, a talking and lipstick-wearing orangutan with a human brain. Will Forte, who voiced Joseph Towne in the first film, voices Chester V, a world-famous super-inventor who commands Barb and is the head of the Live Corp Company. On January 17, 2013, concept art from the film was released.

Music

The music was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh. Cody Simpson provided a single, from his album Surfers Paradise "La Da Dee", which was played at the film's end credits. Simpson also performed in a music video that incorporated footage from the film. Paul McCartney's single, "New", from his 2013 album, was featured in the film.

In the Japanese release, the band TEMPURA KIDZ provides a song "Tabechaitaino" and voices a Marshmallow.

Release

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 was initially scheduled for release on December 20, 2013, but was pushed back to February 7, 2014, before it was later moved up to September 27, 2013.

In promotional events before the film's release, Sony Pictures Animation partnered with some produce companies to provide more than 200,000 pounds (91 tonnes) of produce for Feeding America's action to help children and families in need. Several food-packing events across the country were organized, with Anna Faris and Will Forte attending the main one in Los Angeles. Sony teamed up with marketing partners in the United States to promote the film through Subway Kids Meals with a set of 6 customized bags.

Home media

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on January 28, 2014. The home media was accompanied by a quartet of animated shorts based on the main feature: Super Manny, Earl Scouts, Steve's First Bath, and Attack of the 50-Foot Gummi Bear. Two of the shorts, Super Manny and Earl Scouts, were already released online before the media release, premiering in October 2013 on Univision and Fandango, respectively. David Feiss directed all four shorts, which feature a computer-generated wraparound animation and a hand-drawn animation, provided by Six Point Harness.

Reception

Box office

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 grossed $119.8 million in North America, and $154.5 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $274.3 million. Its budget was reported at $78 million.

In North America, the film earned $9.3 million on its opening day, and opened to number one in its first weekend, with $34 million. In its second weekend, the film dropped to number two, grossing an additional $21 million. In its third weekend, the film dropped to number three, grossing $13.8 million. In its fourth weekend, the film dropped to number five, grossing $9.7 million

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 71%, based on 122 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "While not as clever or inventive as its predecessor, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 compensates with enough dazzling visuals to keep younger viewers entertained." Metacritic, gave the film a score of 59 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A−", the same as the first film.

Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying "While not as delightfully breezy as the original, an engaging voice cast and hordes of 'Foodimals' still manage to serve up a tasty sequel." Linda Barnard of the Toronto Star called it "fun, even if it is occasionally so chaotic it tramples the movie's flow like a herd of stampeding Buffaloafs." Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune thought it "better in every respect than the original film. It's also more fun than all three Ice Age, Monsters University, Planes, Epic, Despicable Me 2, and though I could go on, I won't." Jordan Hoffman of the New York Daily News gave the film four out of five stars, saying "Cloudy 2 is loud, weird and chaotic—just as kids like it. ... sometimes it's good to have a sugary treat." Dave McGinn of The Globe and Mail felt it "promises more fun and laughs than it delivers, and this meal tastes like too many that have gone before it." Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic reviewed it as "the rare sequel that takes the spirit of the original and runs with it, coming up with something uniquely good in its own right."

In a lukewarm review, Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph said "For all its properly surreal mayhem, this flick isn't quite as nimble or emotionally rounded as its predecessor." Sean O'Connell of The Washington Post wrote "Kids will chuckle, for sure. But parents who were pleasantly surprised by the original film's intelligence will miss Lord and Miller's guiding hands, as what once felt so funny now leaves a stale taste." Rafer Guzman of Newsday thought it "relies on the usual noxious recipe for junky kid flicks: loud noise, pop music and poop jokes." Miriam Bale of The New York Times felt it was "sometimes so strange, colorful and wildly cute that it may end up becoming a Yellow Submarine for a new generation." Tom Russo of The Boston Globe gave the film two out of four stars, saying "It's another brightly rendered effort, but, as the title indicates, a lot of the real creativity seems to have been used up the first time around." Mike Clark of USA Today gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "There's not a surprise or moment of tension to be found here, but the film is all energy and color that makes the discomfort of 3-D glasses seem worth it."

Video games

A video game titled Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, published by GameMill Entertainment, was released on September 24, 2013, for Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. Its gameplay mechanic is similar to Fruit Ninja.

A free mobile game titled Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2: Foodimal Frenzy was developed by PlayFirst and released for both iOS and Android devices. The game was removed from the App Store in 2015 and is no longer available to download.

A downloadable app titled Foodimal Funimal was released for free by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment on iOS and Android mobile devices on August 20, 2013.

Proposed sequel

A day after the film's release, Cody Cameron discussed the possibility of a third film, saying "I don't know that will happen, we're going to have to see what it does on September 27th, I definitely think we've set up enough character, basically enough stuff in the second film that we can branch off and do multiple stories for a third film – but you know it's kind of hard to think about that right now."

In September 2023, almost 10 years after the film's release, Phil Lord stated that a script was completed for a third installment before the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, entitled Planet of the Grapes, which was a direct reference to the recently released film, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.