FILM AND ANIMATION

THE TRIUMPH OF CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS

and the tragedy of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

By Micha Bernal

Life's not easy

The animated film Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, is a transformative experience. It is technically innovative and touching. More than any of its other achievements, the most important is how it has changed the way many of us view our lives and feel about the world. The story is about what it means to keep moving forward as an individual, and as a human being. One could say that it is about perseverance. The film is worthy of every bit of praise and accolade it has received from audiences and critics alike, and is still deserving of more.

However, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is not only a betrayal of the beauty of the first film, but also a betrayal of everything the original film stands for. It is a disgrace of the greed-driven motives of Hollywood and how they care more about product than art. The critics who praised the first film so lavishly must have been brainwashed when watching the second. This is a horrible sequel, and the fact that critics and audiences haven’t recognized that yet infuriates me.

Flint gives his invention a go

The first film is a deeply humane story that clearly cares about people, how audiences feel, and what they enjoy. It’s about Flint Lockwood, a young inventor, who struggles to do what he should clearly do, which is invent. When Flint creates a machine that turns water into food, he finally gets the hard-earned recognition he’s always wanted. However, the machine goes haywire, producing too much food and endangering the world, and Flint hits rock bottom. His masterpiece is a disaster. But, with some motivation from his dad, Flint does what he does best: he confronts the problem, goes back to inventing, and most importantly, he perseveres. By confronting this gigantic failure, he gains back his friends, makes some new ones, and risks it all to save the day. The emotions that Flint experiences are realistic and relatable, and watching him struggle to overcome his problems is empowering and emotional.

The sequel is a half-assed attempt at replicating what the first film did so effortlessly. It reuses the likeable supporting characters and shoves them into the plot simply out of obligation. The story is weak and the plot twists are underwhelming and lazy. It recycles the high points of the first movie and what people remember to try and create a good enough experience to reproduce the first film’s monetary success. In every element of the film there is a lack of care and Hollywood cynicism that betrays everything that made the original great.

1.

This lack of drive is clear in how the supporting characters are dumbed down to a single trait. Characters such as Baby Brent, who was a compelling and rewarding character in the first film, is reduced to “Funny Stupid Man-Baby” and adds nothing to the story by being there. He exists simply to remind viewers that this is just like the first movie you know and loved so much. Baby Brent is one of the most terrific characters I’ve ever seen in film, television, or novels. He enters the film as a stereotypical popular bully who’s had everything handed to him his whole life, but as Flint gains popularity, Brent struggles to figure out his place in society. When everything goes wrong, Brent realizes he can do more with his life and he has a chance to start over, and he offers to help Flint even though Flint is the reason he’s lost everything in his whole life. Ultimately, Brent sacrifices himself and becomes a chicken so that Flint and Sam can go save the world.

Baby Brent becomes a chicken

Baby Brent isn’t even a chicken in the second movie, which is the first mistake. His character development is also completely discarded in a sad attempt at creating conflict. Chester V, Flint’s idol, convinces Flint that Baby Brent can’t be trusted because a bully can never really change. For some reason, in a completely out of character moment, Flint believes this, and starts being mean to Baby Brent. Flint literally witnesses Baby Brent completely change for the better when he saves Flint’s life, so it makes no sense for Flint not to trust him in the second movie. Flint has had no problem talking back to authority figures in the past, so realistically he would’ve told Chester V that Baby Brent is trustworthy and realized it was suspicious that Chester V was villainizing him. Instead, the new creators disregard the meaningful relationship Brent and Flint established in the first film, just so they can use Brent as a prop to create conflict.

2.

The lousy and overused visual gags come in the form of more Baby Brent slander. There’s about one and a half jokes about Baby Brent being the largest character in the first movie, and that seems to be the only thing the new directors remember about his character. Baby Brent’s new chicken costume is suddenly eaten shortly after arriving back to Chew-and-swallow, and he has to borrow a pair of Flint’s clothes. Baby Brent struggles to put on the way-too-small jeans, and wears them for the rest of the movie. This joke continues as well, with more visuals of Brent struggling to run and getting stuck every time he enters through something. Brent’s chicken-transformation from the first movie was silly but powerful and metaphorical. The way he’s stripped of his chicken costume and literally forced into Flint’s clothes in the sequel is completely unnecessary. This decision is representative of how little the directors must have cared about his character development. His character was literally destroyed just for some cheap fat jokes.

3.

The storytelling of the first film is masterful and perfect, every scene and every joke hits the mark and the reason I still watch this movie over and over again after a decade is because of how effortlessly the story flows. Instead of several small insignificant scenes that lead up to one big important scene, there are several important memorable scenes tied together by smaller scenes that take you step-by-step to the powerful ending. There are two specific scenes from the film that exhibit the film’s masterful storytelling.

Ice Cream is great!

The first scene is when Flint uses his invention to make it snow ice cream for Earl’s son. This scene emphasizes the relationship between Earl and his son, directly parallel to Flint’s relationship with his own dad, which is essential to the plot’s later development. The second scene is when Flint creates a huge jell-o bounce house for Sam. Through this, Flint gains her affection and important parts of Sam’s character are revealed. Scenes like this are not only great opportunities for hilarious jokes and puns, but they move the story along with memorable scenes. They offer reflection and character development for Flint, and make the climax where everything goes wrong even stronger. This is because Flint is losing more than just fame, he’s losing those emotional and memorable moments as well.

Is this strawberry interesting?

The sequel’s pacing is painfully slow and seems to wander for an hour until the rushed climax at the ending, and for the most part, the story just stays place because the filmmakers aren’t really interested in telling a story. The best example of this is the worst character to enter the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs franchise: Barry. Barry is a sentient strawberry that Flint and company find by accident upon returning to Chewandswallow. His introduction to the film goes on for way too long, with nothing really happening as they needlessly acknowledge Barry’s existence for ten minutes. For another ounce of forced conflict, Barry eats an important USB that Flint needs, but promptly poops it out ten minutes later when Chester V shows up. Several more scenes ensue throughout the movie where Barry shows up and does nothing important just to stretch out the runtime of the film. Barry’s only purpose occurs near the end of the film when he informs Flint that his friends have been captured, which is information that Flint could have received in several different ways, but apparently Barry the cute marketable character needed to serve some purpose as an excuse for being there.

4.

Every aspect of the first film is commendable and goes above and beyond its intended job, even the music. The music in this movie is emotional, fitting, and most of all, iconic. Fans of this movie would recognize each song the second it begins, and first-time watchers would no doubt feel those same chills. The soundtrack truly has it all, dramatic build up, wacky feel-good tunes, and an iconic inspiring theme. Even the pop songs put into the film work well and lend to the story. During the montage when Flint makes it rain food from the sky, “Sunshine Lollipops” plays.

It is the perfect upbeat song that gets overwhelmingly cheery and borderline anxiety-inducing as Flint’s machine overworks itself and goes into the danger-zone. By far, though, the best use of music is near the end of the film. In a fast-paced and inspiring montage, Flint has to use all his failed inventions and newfound determination to stop his machine and save the world. The scene has callbacks to the beginning of the film and Flint being his unique and quirky self. Of course, to top it all off, there’s an emotional swelling masterpiece of a song accompanying it that makes the viewer feel alive and invested in the story.

If only we could fix the sequel like Flint fixes his invention

The sequel does what it only knows how to, recycles from the first movie. All of the background music in the sequel is just the main theme song from the first movie, but repurposed depending on the tone. For sad scenes, the main theme is played slower and in a minor key. For cheerful montages, the main theme is played faster and in an upbeat tone, and so on. Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, the music falls especially flat when it has the most potential to alter our feelings.

One of the most promising scenes of the movie is when Flint and his dad have to put their vastly different interests together to save the day. Flint and his dad have a distant relationship and as a follow up to their first-time bonding in the last movie, their developing relationship has enormous potential to be both emotional and uplifting. While the whole scene is just a lame montage that doesn’t deal with who these characters are, the music really lowers the results. Had the music been like the iconic and lively soundtrack of the first movie, it would’ve added texture and insight to the drama. However, what they give you in the sequel is a generic pop song. It feels like an insult.

The sequel could use some friends like these

As shocking as it might be that such a perfect and life-changing film has a heinous abomination as a sequel, is not uncommon for Hollywood. Even though Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is visually creative, exceptionally paced, and hilarious, all behind a humane and inspiring story, its financial success alone demanded a sequel. Nonetheless, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was never meant to have one, but a well-made one could have been created, if it was given the same time, dedication, and passion as the first film. Unfortunately, it’s new and uncaring directors just give us a sloppy plot with bad jokes. It’s unjust to the first film and disappointing that critics and audiences have failed to call out Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 for the way it undermines the first movie and everything the it stands for. The sequel is bad. I would equate watching it to walking into a bakery, paying to smell the baked goods, and then leaving.

©Micha Bernal and the CCA Arts Review