Fresh out of the oven and on DVD shelves is ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,’ an animated comedy served up by Sony.
It was released back in the fall in 3D, but I just now got to see on DVD. Shame too, because I bet it would have been real eye candy on the king-sized screen.
The film centers on a scientist named Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), who, ever since he was a little sprout has cooked up bizarre inventions, from a half-bird, half-rat creature to a walking television.
One day Flint creates a machine that turns precipitation into food. In an effort to help his city’s starving need for publicity, the chunky Mayor (voiced by Bruce Campbell) uses the town’s ability to rain food to bring in tourism and rake in the dough. The raining food phenomenon even brings in a hot tamale of a weather girl named Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Farris), who is the apple of Flint’s eye.
But soon, the machine Flint built does not do egg-zactly what it is supposed to do, producing large food that threatens to pancake the entire city. Flint and his friends must not be chickens and ban together to stop the machine.
This is, first off, a very funny movie. My friends and I did more than snicker at some of the funny jokes and quirky mannerisms of the characters. Take Flint’s father, for example, a uni-browed, technological illiterate and hard-shelled man that does not care too much for his son’s fruity inventions.’
The animation is bright and fun and garnishes the story well. For a story as imaginative and fun as this, it’s a good idea to go light on the animation and rely on the story to fill you up.
Usually I would wine about watching a kid’s movie, but this movie was a tasty good time. It did not reinvent the animation plate like films such as Ratatouille, but it’s no chopped liver, either.
Note to anyone who thinks I just used my film review this week as an outlet to make cheesy food puns the whole time: you may be onto something.
Enchiladas.
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