Movie Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Critical Critic: General Disdain | Published on: September 22, 2009 |
Filed under: Animated, Family
Directed By: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
MPAA Rating: PG
Starring: Bill Hader (voice), Anna Faris (voice), James Caan (voice), Mr. T (voice)
IMDB Link: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Movie Trailer: Trailer
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is one of those enlightening pick me up kind of movies great for a rainy day. It’s great for the kids too. This 3D animated adventure, based on a popular children’s book by Judi and Ron Barrett, delivers a “never give up on your dreams” message in a most peculiar way — with food raining out of the sky.
And that’s all thanks to an introvert named Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) and his convert water to any kind of food imaginable machine. Want hamburgers? You got it. Want Neapolitan ice cream? No problem. Want spaghetti and meatballs? Sure thing. But just like any good thing, too much of it is a bad thing. Bad is what happens when everyone in the town bombards Flint with vanity food requests. Bad is what happens when the mayor insists that Flint ignore his crude warning system and put the machine to task for his great town reopening.
Adding both of those variables together spells disaster for the small island of Chewandswallow (undergoing a rebirth as Swallow Falls) and quite possibly to the world.
But, after the spaghetti tornado and prior to the all food hurricane, the hero opportunity presents itself to Flint and fledgling weathergirl and would-be girlfriend, Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris). Together, with the help of Flint’s disapproving father (voiced by James Caan) they brave the assault of kamikaze pizza slices, and angry sentry Gummi bears and chicken breasts.
From a technical standpoint, the CGI for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs appears to have pushed the boundaries a bit further. The clouds, the waves and the various food stuffs are very finely detailed. The food avalanche must have used a lot of CPU cycles to generate. However, from a personal standpoint the modeling of the characters leaves something to be desired. Oversized eyes and exaggerated noses and hair abound. But the lazy-looking squarish fingertips really irked me, as that reminded me of some cheaply made 80’s Sunday morning cartoon. Children however, won’t notice or care if they did.
I did like Mr.T as the overzealous cop too. His flips and general zaniness brought about a lot of laughter from the kids in the audience.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a nice addition to the ever growing list of 3D animated family flicks. It’s got plenty going on to entertain old and young alike. And if anything else it teaches us to embrace our inner nerd. After all it’s been said, the nerds will inherit the Earth (just not the mineral rights).
 |
About: General Disdain I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that a bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies. |
Thanks for visiting! If you'd like, why not use one of the buttons below to subscribe or bookmark us for future updates?
At the very least, cast your vote on our poll over there on the top right!
Alan Vinart posted a response on: September 23, 2009 | Reply
I absolutely loved this movie (a lot more than inglorious basterds)… and it’s based on of the best children’s books of all time
Maureen posted a response on: September 23, 2009 | Reply
I’ve read so many good things about this movie I simply can’t wait to see it. I somehow missed the book so the movie will be the grand introduction. Unfortunately living on the otherside of the world and in a whole other hemisphere means I might have to wait a bit longer, but it sounds like the wait will be worth it.
Maureen Hume
Sienna posted a response on: September 26, 2009 | Reply
Cute movie.
On the subject of animation - did you notice that none of the characters had nostrils?
sikiş izle posted a response on: October 10, 2009 | Reply
thanks admin