[Review] Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs



I took my niece to see this film a few weeks ago -- then went back to see it in 3-D a week later.  It was surprisingly fantastic.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is loosely based on a kid's book with the same name.  My understanding is that the movie is nothing like the book.  However, this is one of the few cases where that fact is irrelevant.  The movie's visuals are amazing and the jokes are quite hilarious, if one can put aside his/her biases to simply enjoy an entertaining movie. 

The film begins with young inventor/protagonist Flint Lockwood being encouraged by his mother after a day spent getting ribbed at school.  A fast-forward to the present day shows an adult Flint with few social skills, an underground lab on his family's property, his mother having passed away years ago, and his dad encouraging him to work at the family bait and tackle store.  But Flint has a surprise for the whole world: a machine that converts water into food. 

The gags are almost non-stop, and many of them -- both visual and auditory -- are written at an adult level.  I found myself laughing far more often than the kids at the theater were.   On top of it all, Mr. T plays an unforgettably funny key role in the story.

It's difficult for me to recommend a movie more highly than this one.  Go see it, bring the kids/nieces, nephews/cousins along -- hell, go see it with grownups.  You won't be disappointed. 

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