Sequels
scare me. Especially if I really like the previous film as much as I liked
Cloudy with a chance of meatballs. There definitely is some wisdom in not
fixing something that isn’t broken. But therein lies the paradox ; if you are
making a sequel, by definition it has to be a new film and yet you can’t quite
let it stray too far from the original either. It’s a tricky job, sequels. It’s
also the reason they so often go very wrong. I mean think about it, save a few
notable examples (The Godfather trilogy being a notable one) really GOOD
sequels are very few and far between. This one is not bad. It is not the first
film – but definitely not bad.
So, the
second story picks up pretty much where the first one left off. The clear-up
operation is about to begin when the cavalry barrels in unannounced and
definitely uninvited. The cavalry is “Live Corp.”, the world’s number one high
tech company. And they have a miraculous proposition. Not only will they clear
up the island, they are offering Flint a job! For the young scientist this is
an opportunity he simply cannot miss. Not least because it affords him the
opportunity to work with his all-time science hero Chester V. So it seems like
a very exciting new start for Flint, Sam and all our old friends from Swallow
Falls. However they quickly realise that often, if something looks too good to
be true – it often ain’t… The problem is, Flint may just be so blinded by Live
Corp and his hero-worship for Chester that he may just miss all the warning
signs…
There were
a couple of things about this film that really made me laugh. First up, let’s
call a spade a spade, Live Corp is very, very clearly Apple. The whole idea
that Apple “pure evil” etc. is of course a common joke – at least in the adult
world. There are also quite a few food related puns floating around there and
um… Ok here is where it starts to get a little tricky - cause yes the puns a
funny but there are way, way too many of them. This is what makes me think this
film edges slightly closer to a kid’s movie as opposed to an adult one. Because
let’s face it, a steady
stream of bad puns are a lot funnier if you’re around 10 as opposed to around
30. The same thing goes for the animals or rather the foodimals. I mean, don`t
get me wrong, they are funny and amazing. The creators of the animation must
have had SO much fun creating them. But they`re just… Presented to untidily. I
mean I know the island is an ideal place to present it - the machine spews the animals out all random and
higgledy piggledy so this is the perfect way to present them. In completely
random order. I would have slightly preferred
some kind of rhyme or reason. That and the whole sexless reproduction
thing had me in stitches - in the same way the puns and random order of animals
did this may escape the attention of younger viewers but for the older ones… Oh
yeah, the machine just spits out the babies. The foodimals just adopt them and
that`s that. Such typical Disneyesque family values, I had to laugh.
So… Yeah.
It`s a bit more of a kids film. Which is possibly why I was slightly
disappointed watching it. But then again, I suppose there is nothing actually
wrong with old fashioned values. Back in the day animation was a medium almost
exclusively for children`s films – cartoons for adults are a relatively new
phenomenon. And I mean come on, almost all animation fans are big kids at heart
it is not that hard to adapt to be absolutely honest… But well… It`s the whole sequel thing, isn`t
it - these are characters you know well
and you have high expectations personally tinged with your own personality and
imagination. It can be a bit tough to be faced with the objective reality of it
at the best of times. Then there is the fact that now the angle has subtly
shifted and it`s now a tiny tad more of a kids film which puts you in an odd
position vis a vis the film. I mean, if you think about it – the strawberry (thisll
mean more to those of you who have seen the film) but yeah, think about it.
Isn`t it the typical cuddly cute sidekick (who typically can`t speak – think telletubbies).
So in a sense the characters we know haven`t developed but have actually
infantilized (also, while I think of it, remember the one and only kiss between
Sam and Flint right at the beginning of the film - the puffed out cheeks as the
tips of their lips come together). I mean as a marketing ploy, I get it, cinema
is an incredibly competitive market and appealing more to the kids (who can
very effectively get their parents to spend money) makes sense. But yeah… If
you don`t have a niece or nephew or little one to take to the movies you may
find yourself wondering what the heck you are doing there at some point… That
said, I can think of worse ways to spend a Sunday morning…
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