Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) thought his troubles were over. At the end of the original Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, the fledgling inventor had disconnected his "Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator" (or the FLDSMDFR, for short). And he was looking forward to starting a new life with the scientific research company Life Corp. But we wouldn’t have a sequel if Lockwood’s problems were solved. It turns out the FLDSMDFR is still operating, cranking out strange combinations of food and animals – of “Foodimals” – which Lockwood and his crew must contain. 

 

With Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 coming to theaters on September 27, we reached out to Sony Pictures Animation for clarification on the array of Foodimals that will populate the sequel. Brace yourself for a towering wave of food puns as we run through the creatures that have been forecasted for the next Cloudy adventure.  

 

Shrimpanzee

You are going to see that most of the Foodimals profiled in this piece are catchy, word-driven food puns like this. The “Shrimpanzee” gives us chimps with arms, legs and a tail that are made out of delicious shrimp. And in the Cloudy sequel, we have a plethora of monkey creatures, from Flint’s chimp Steve to the intelligent orangutan Barb (Kristen Schaal). But there’s always room for more monkey business when the Shrimpanzees are on the screen. 

 

Barry the Strawberry

Easily the most adorable Foodimal, Barry is a helpful berry who begins his Cloudy 2 adventure by swallowing the USB device Flint needs in order to succeed on his mission. But Barry (voiced by codirector Cody Cameron) knows something isn’t right on the island of Swallow Falls, and he’s determined to get Flint and Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) out of a jam… pun intended. 

 

The Cheespider

Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese… and a vicious hunger that has Flint and his crew running for their lives. With French fries for legs and gooey ketchup for teeth, the Cheespider prowls the island of Swallow Falls like the velociraptors that plagued Isla Nublar in Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park.

 

“The idea (of) the Cheespider became organically driven by the need to have a monster in our movie," said codirector Kris Pearn, and this makes for one tasty threat.

 

The Pickles

Three dill pickles with a taste for sardines, these creatures rank as Bill Hader’s favorites in the entire movie. “I think the reason I like the pickles is because they have a Gremlins feel," he says. "They're very sweet. But their minds are not fully developed."

 

But when Flint’s father (voiced by James Caan) needs help fishing for fresh sardines in the heat of battle in Cloudy 2, it’s the pickles who help get him out of, er, a pickle… so they are much more than comic relief in the long run. 

 

Fruit Cockatiels

You could spend hours combing the backgrounds of the Cloudy 2 scenes on Swallow Falls for the endless combinations of food and animals. The animators really blew the doors off of the franchise, creating sad-faced tomatoes, dinosaur-inspired vegetable monsters, meatballs with walrus teeth and frogs made out of melting butter. I’m going to single out the Fruit Cockatiels as one of many examples of clever combinations that are celebrated in Cloudy 2. 

 

The Leek

OK, so the Leek basically exists so that characters can deliver the easy punchline, “There’s a leek in the boat!” They love the joke so much, they actually use it twice. Which is fine. It’s very funny. I’m not 100% sure why the Leek screams in terror late in the movie when he/she receives an infant leek. Maybe that will be explained in the inevitable Cloudy 3.

 

The Tacodile

There are multiple Jurassic Park references in Cloudy 2, and if we’re continuing the analogy, the Tacodile would be the T. rex that stomps through key scenes and creates havoc. My favorite part of the Tacodile? When he roars, he spits lettuce, tomato and shredded-cheese bits, which is equal parts disgusting and delicious.

 

"The tacodile was kind of a home run," Pearn told USA Today. "I think it's because it rhymes with crocodile. Our scary creatures are all sandwich based. Folding foods make for great teeth."