With a worldwide gross of $243 million, 2009’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs didn’t become a smash hit. However, the folks at Sony figured it made enough bucks to warrant another chapter, and that epic arrived via 2013’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2.

Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) created the “FLDSMDFR”, a device that transformed water into food. This went amiss and left his hometown of Swallow Falls submerged in eats.

After the population temporarily relocates and clean-up begins, Flint learns of changes in the FLDSMDFR, as it starts to create living food. This brings another challenge, as Flint and his pals need to keep the threat of the sentient food from the mainland and potential havoc.

Back in 2009, the first Cloudy offered a delight and it put writers/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller on the map. Lord and Miller chose not to return to these roles for Cloudy 2, so we get new writers and directors.

Would Cloudy 2 have excelled with Lord and Miller back at the helm? I don’t know, as they don’t enjoy a good history of sequels.

Granted, this is a limited legacy, but 2014’s 22 Jump Street became a big step down from the fun of 2012’s 21 Jump Street. Of course, Lord and Miller got fired from 2018’s Solo as well, but that’s a different story.

In any case, we’ll always need to wonder if Cloudy 2 would’ve been more satisfying as a creative endeavor with Lord and Miller at the helm. As it stands, the movie offers a tale that fails to approach the wacky heights of the original film.

Not that I consider Cloudy 2 to bring us a bad flick, especially on second viewing. When I watched it theatrically, I felt much more let down, as I expected something as zany and inventive as its predecessor.

On subsequent screenings, I still see that Cloudy 2 falls of the standards set by the first movie, but it’s more entertaining than I initially thought. No one will confuse it for a great comedic tale, but it keeps us reasonably entertained.

Honestly, if I saw Cloudy 2 without a prior viewing of the original, I’d probably like it more. It’s really just the comparisons to the original that make it look lacking, as it comes with decent value independent of that source.

Cloudy 2 touches on the same beats as the first movie, but it does so with less crazed abandon. At times, it can feel a little tepid, as it needs the loose wackiness of its predecessor.

Still, Cloudy 2 does come with more than a few laughs. Granted, it throws way too many food-related puns out way, but it still musters reasonable humor at times.

I also like that it manages to create a fairly new story for itself. Cloudy 2 seems reminiscent of the Jurassic Park flicks and King Kong via the ways it explores the impact of the living food, and these moments allow for moderate creativity.

The actors provide competent turns. Like the script, none of the performances match up with the work from the original, but all involved seem reasonably invested in the material.

All of this leaves Cloudy 2 as an acceptable follow-up to the prior flick. While it lacks the first movie’s cleverness and wild abandon, it still musters a more than watchable affair.

Footnote: some fun bits appear through the first half of the end credits. Once Paul McCartney’s “New” starts, these conclude.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 appears in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Computer animated films tend to look good on Blu-ray, and Cloudy 2 followed that rule.

Sharpness was fine across the board. The movie delivered satisfying definition, with no obvious softness on display.

No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and edge haloes were absent. Of course, print flaws never manifested themselves.

Colors tended to be broad and bold, though the film opted more toward orange/teal than expected for an animated tale. Even with those choices, the hues still boasted nice range and impact.

Blacks were dark and deep, while low-light shots offered nice clarity and smoothness. This became an appealing visual presentation.

With Cloudy 2, we got a DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack that offered a lively soundscape, especially during the action sequences. Those fleshed out the spectrum in an involving way and gave us many chances for movement.

This allowed the surrounds to play an active role. The track worked well enough in the early stages but it picked up more as it went, especially as the film neared its climax. The various channels got a good workout in this engrossing soundscape.

Audio quality seemed pleasing. Speech always sounded distinctive and concise, while music was peppy and rich.

Effects offered solid reproduction, with clean highs and deep lows. I liked this mix and thought it gave the movie life.

This package includes both 2D and 3D versions of Cloudy 2. The picture comments above reflect the 2D edition – how does the 3D compare?

In terms of visual quality, the pair seem fairly close. The 3D rendition does display a little more softness at times, but those moments remain rare, and the rest of the image shows similar colors, shadows and delineation.

I also really liked the 3D effects of Cloudy 2. Though the image usually provided depth – and high-quality depth, at that – it also indulged in enough active 3D imagery to add a layer of fun. Plenty of tidbits pop out of the screen, and these make the 3D Cloudy 2 the best way to watch the film.

The disc includes many extras, and we begin with an audio commentary from directors Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, animation and technical areas.

Much of the commentary comes across as “annotated narration”. Much of the time, Pearn and Cameron describe the story and add production thoughts, though they often simply just name animators who worked on various scenes.

They also laugh a lot and make this a genial track. Despite these traits, we still get a decent look at the production, one that improves as it goes, but it remains a frustrating and inconsistent chat.

Four mini-movies arrive: “Steve’s First Bath” (5:02), “Super Manny” (4:22), “Attack of the 50 Foot Gummi Bear” (5:58), and “Earl Scouts” (6:39). All four offer amusement and become fun additions to the set.

Four Deleted Scenes follow, with a total running time of two minutes, 20 seconds. Given their brief lengths, none of these provide narrative substance, but they’re entertaining.

Featurettes follow, and Back in the Kitchen goes for six minutes, 50 seconds. It involves Cameron, Pearn, producer Pam Marsden, art director Dave Bleich and production designer Justin K. Thompson.

“Kitchen” looks at production and visual design. It becomes a taut overview of the subject matter.

With Cloudy Café, we get a six-minute, 53-second reel with Cameron, Pearn, and actors Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris, Benjamin Bratt, Andy Samberg, Terry Crews, James Caan, Will Forte, and Kristen Schaal.

“Café” discusses cast, characters and performances. It’s not a deep program but it comes with a few good notes.

Anatomy of a Foodimal spans six minutes, four seconds with remarks from Faris, Hader, Crews, Marsden, Cameron, Pearn, Bleich, Schaal, Samberg, producer Kirk Bodyfelt and visual development Andre Medina.

In this show, we get notes about the design and creation of the movie’s living food. It becomes another semi-superficial but still fairly informative piece.

Under Awesome End Credits, we see a six-minute, nine-second clip that features Cameron, Pearn, Bodyfelt, end credits designers Pete Oswald and Craig Kellman, end credits animation producer/director Mark Cabellero, and end credits lead puppeteer Robin Walsh.

As expected, this one examines the film’s end credits sequence. It becomes an insightful take on the topic.

With Building the Foodimals, we get a three-minute, 50-second animation reel that features commentary from senior animation supervisor Peter Nash. This doesn’t turn into a great reel, but Nash offers a few useful thoughts.

Delicious Production Design operates the same way, as we see animation accompanied by commentary from Thompson. It goes for five minutes, 11 seconds and delivers Thompson’s remarks about various visual design choices. Thompson gives us a mix of strong notes.

Next comes The Mysterious Sasquash, another mix of animation and commentary. It goes for three minutes, eight seconds as VFX supervisor Pete Travers discusses this “Easter egg” character. It’s mostly comedic, but we do get to see all the hidden appearances of the character in the film.

We get a music video for “La Da Dee” by Cody Simpson. It’s a mix of movie footage, lip-synch and a minor plot in which Simpson woos a diner waitress. It’s pretty mediocre.

We also see a Making of program for the video. It lasts a whopping 59 seconds and features notes from Simpson and video director Paul Brown. It tells us little of use.

The 2D disc opens with ads for Hotel Transylvania, Smurfs 2 and Angry Birds Toons: Season One. Previews adds promos for The Swan Princess: A Royal Family Tale and One Direction: This Is Us.

The 3D disc also boasts 3D trailers for Hotel Transylvania and Smurfs 2 as well as Pirates: Band of Misfits. No trailer for Cloudy 2 appears here.

A third disc provides a DVD copy of Cloudy 2. It includes everything but the deleted scenes.

When compared to the original film, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 disappoints, but on its own, it brings fairly good entertainment value. The movie delivers just enough amusement and cleverness to keep us with it. The Blu-ray boasts excellent picture as well as strong audio and a pretty strong roster of bonus features. Cloudy 2 becomes an acceptable sequel, and the 3D version turns into a fun way to view it.

To rate this film, visit the original review