Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

As a parents of 6-year-old twins, my general movie going excursions have been limited to seeing animated children's films. Sure, my wife and I get the occasional chance to see a regular movie, courtesy of a babysitter or relative who watches our children, but generally speaking, animation makes up the majority of our movie theater experiences. However, that isn't such a bad thing.

In recent years the digital revolution in animation has made the films more enjoyable to the adult population, especially with the inclusion of underlying adult humor that is there for adults to understand, but hidden from the prying ears of children by the distracting images on the screen. Ever since Shrek, going to an animated film with the family is no longer a guarantee of a one and half hour nap. Sure, there have been some stinkers (Bee Movie and Ice Age 3) and some hidden gems (Horton Hears A Who, and Meet The Robinsons), but you generally know what you're going to get.

That brings us to our latest family film frolic, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, based on the story by Judy and Ron Barrett.

I have to tell you the truth, I didn't know much about the film before going into it. My wife and kids had seen the preview while partaking in Up, and I had never read the book myself. Still, they were excited, so off we went.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs follows the story of Flint Lockwood, a young man who has always dreamed of being the next great inventor, but through one mean or another, has always done more damage than good. Flint's latest idea is designed to make food from water, a sure-fire way to get him back in the good graces of the people of Swallow Falls, who have been forced to eat sardines after the factories fell out of favor. Of course, the invention goes haywire, rocketing into the atmosphere above the town, and raining the town in food, which in turn creates a media phenomenon and hi-jinks ensue.

The strength of the film is its clever script, penned by Phil Lord and Chris Miller of How I Met Your Mother fame, as well as the brilliant work of the voice actors. Bill Hader plays Flint Lockwood, while Anna Faris voices his love interest, the weather girl Sam Sparks and Andy Samberg gets his vocals down as the former symbol of the town, Baby Brent, who has long since outgrown his diapers. James Caan, who channels Alec Baldwin from Outside Providence, Bruce Campbell, Neil Patrick Harris, and Mr. T of all people round out the voice cast.

Visually the film is stunning, designed to work in 3-D, but colorful and imaginative to engage children of all ages. Like Horton Hears A Who, the text was expanded to create an entire world where food of all desires falls from the sky, up to an including a hilarious scene inside a Jello castle.

The film also projects a strong message for kids, reminding them that dreams are worth striving for and not giving up on. Over indulgence is also a subtle lesson to be learned, as the town's people get their comeuppance after pushing Flint's invention too far to suit themselves.

Overall, I have to give this film 4 out of 5, as it was immensely enjoyable from beginning to end. My only reason for not giving it the fifth star is that I think I missed part of the experience by not seeing it in 3-D, although it doesn't appear to lose much in standard formats.

I highly Cloudy With a Chance For Meatballs for you next trip to cinema with your rugrats. Just bring your umbrella.