‘Cloudy’ is back with a good chance of funny

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)

Directed by Cody Cameron and Kris Pearn

I saw “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2” last week, and I’m disappointed with how it has been reviewed. I loved the first one. It tickled that rare spot on my funny bone that only clean, childish humor can reach. And the sequel was just as funny. In fact, in a year when “This Is the End” and “The Heat” made me laugh only a couple times combined, “Cloudy 2” might have been the funniest movie I’ve seen all year. In fact, it was. I laughed more on a Tuesday evening watching a PG-rated movie with my sister than I had watching either of those other two movies in theaters. I was just that fun. It’s a feast of food puns, a social commentary on corporate greed, a delicious adventure. It’s like “Jurassic Park” meets “Paula’s Home Cooking.” Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Neil Patrick Harris, Andy Samberg, and Terry Crews voice the lovable bunch of kooks that we met last time. They’re hilarious. My only beef is the weak character of Chester V, the forgettable villain voiced by Will Forte, and his irritating talking ape, voiced by Kristen Schaal. As the group bumbled through a world of food animals in order to find the FLDSMDFR and stop it from continuing to produce living food, the monstrous animals they encounter (like the Taco-dile Supreme, a large crocodile made of tacos) are enough of a threat without these annoying villains. They had little comedic value and only left a bad taste in your mouth. But “Cloudy 2” is on the whole a hilarious, entertaining, exciting, and darn-near adorable movie. Berry, the small, living, squeaking strawberry (seen left), is rivaled only by young Mike Wazowski in “Monsters University” for the cutest animated character in years. YEARS. It’s a lot of fun for kids, but I’m a 21-year-old adult and I thought it was a blast.

7/10