Revenge of the leftovers

The original Cloudy was a wacky, high-energy romp through the world of Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), inventor extraordinaire (well, if you count rat birds and spray-on shoes as deserving of such a title) and his creation of the FLDSMDFR (no, I am not spelling out that acronym for you, go look it up), a machine which takes water and turns into food. Any food. Obviously that all went horribly wrong (and yet so hilariously right), and the sequel picks up where the first film left off: Swallow Falls (Lockwood’s home island) is covered in enormous leftovers, and the entire population is to be relocated. So far, so predictable. The main antagonist (in the shape of a thinly-veiled mockery of Apple and the late, great Steve Jobs) is introduced, Flint goes to work for them, blah, blah, blah. Of course, once the old gang return to the island, things get considerably more interesting… I admit, that really doesn’t do the opening 20 or so minutes justice. Despite operating on a fairly flimsy plot (which works for a kids’ film, so I’m not convinced there’s much point in complaining), the film kicks off by generating consistent laughter, be it by sight gags, general slapstick, recurring jokes or (most importantly) simultaneously awful/hilarious puns. Oh, the food puns. Once the action moves onto the island, things only get punnier, with the ridiculously oversized array of the things dreamt up by the writers and designers coming into full force. There are some fairly obvious (but still beautiful) cutaway gags that accompany lines such as “there’s a leek in the boat!” (it’s in the trailer, I’ve spoilt nothing here), but the sheer quantity on display here means laughter is guaranteed frequently through-out the film. The voice-acting is pretty much spot-on, although the replacement of Mr T with Terry Crews as Earl jars slightly if you were a fan of the original, and Chester V (Will Forte) is such an incredibly irritating antagonist you’d almost rather the film just focused on the food animals and ignored the plot entirely. Which, to be fair, does happen for a significant chunk of its running time. The animation itself is beautiful, and the designs are near-faultless, although the 3D (of course it’s in 3D, what did you expect?) is almost a complete and utter waste, adding nothing to the film other than a little extra depth in some shots. Coming it at 95 minutes, Cloudy never manages to out-stay its welcome, and although it’s never quite as original as its predecessor it’s still a great deal better than many of its peers (it’s certainly more endearing than Pixar’s recent output, which is a sentence I never expected to type), and it’s certainly worth a watch, whether you’re a five-year-old or a fifth-year student. Just don’t go in expecting any real take-home messages other than more food puns than you can possibly remember.