The action picks up shortly after the events from the delightful 2009 original film, with inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) discovering that his food-creating machine is now creating “food animals.” The key supporting characters are back to help Flint—including his meteorologist sweetheart Sam (Anna Faris) and sort-of-talking monkey Steve (Neil Patrick Harris)—plus Chester V, a Steve Jobs-esque tech pioneer-cum-guru whose slippery movements are echoed in Will Forte’s oily vocal performance. Mostly, though, it’s a fast-moving adventure patterned with a wink after
Jurassic Park. Sure, 75 percent of the gags may be built around the pun-filled mutant hybrids like the fla-mangoes. But there’s also marvelous stuff like Steve’s battle with a novelty birthday candle—the kind of gags that makes
Cloudy 2 feel like the rare animated film that’s genuinely fun for the whole family.
By
Scott Renshaw