CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2

year: 2013 cast: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Will Forte, Neil Patrick Harris, Melissa Sturm rating: ***

“Welcome,” says super genius/surreptitious villain Chester X when the island of food/animal hybrids are gloriously revealed, “to Jurassic Park.”

Okay, not really, but it’s not hard to miss the JP inspiration during this and another scene: where our lovable gang of underdogs are nearly trampled underfoot by a herd of… well with so many pun-inspired animal/food titles, to name them would take up most of the review…

There are even more homage situations, including a half built dome liken to the semi-constructed Death Star in RETURN OF THE JEDI and even an oceanic JAWS tribute... And for the really obscure cult cinema aficionados, the bad guy wants all food to become a candy bar wafer… SOYLENT GREEN anyone?

This sequel to the colorful children's disaster film CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS is more or less a "road movie"... that particular genre has shifted almost entirely to kiddie fare…

THE CROODS and the last ICE AGE had the same setup: a selected group journey through a mazy, often dangerous location. In this case the recently maligned child genius Flint Lockwood (and friends) must find something that will stop the creation of the mutant food beasts, which is what Hitchcock called a “McGuffin,” an important device that moves the story but doesn't mean squat to the audience...

After a technological setup, the best scenes occur on the island, a calorie-filled Narnia where the perpetually flowing adventure should keep everyone, of any age, mindlessly entertained.

The Steven Spielberg film that hugely inspired the second Cloudy...