Picking up where the first Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs left off, this sequel is nothing if not silly and wittingly cute. The food doesn’t just fall from the sky this time, it moves, breathes and develops its own ecosystem. The result is a film in which the environment, the “Foodimals,” end up more interesting than the characters or story.

My kids could not stop talking about these imaginative creatures after seeing this movie. A number of large foodimals roar and chase after the good guys (in something of a Jurassic Park send-up), which results in lots of sprayed cheese, special sauce and scattered bits of lettuce. But ultimately we find out that the living food creatures are all friendly and relatively tame. In fact, the foodimals later team up with Flint and his pals to battle against a group of robot-suited attackers. (The robot-suits sport ray guns that freeze humans and foodimals in blocks of ice.)

The character development is very surfacy, but let’s be honest our kids are more wowed by colors and animation than looking for deeper meaning when they watch a movie. I enjoyed the message that these “foodimals, ” some scary looking were just misunderstood, just like some of our animals are too. There is some crude humor and LOTS of puns.

The world of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is a cleverly-conceived one, the design of the film is engaging on all levels, and the voice cast is great. Your kids will laugh along with you, and you will leave looking at your food differently. 😉

By the way, in going with the recent food truck rage, Cloudy 2 has created menu items to go with them all around the country. To find a Foodimobile near you, click here.