Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs tells the story of an eccentric wannabe scientist, Flint Lockwood. His latest contraption is a miraculous device designed to solve the world hunger crisis. But when Flint bites off more than he can chew, he sets in motion a global disaster of epic proportions. Based on the #1 best-selling book by Judi and Ron BarrettJudi and Ron Barrett’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a much-loved, whimsical book about a tiny island where food falls from the sky like rain. The book serves as a jumping-off point for Sony’s animated, digital 3-D Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs which is not so much a retelling of the book as an exploration of what makes food rain from the sky on a small island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Flint (Bill Hader), a clever young inventor with a reputation for creations gone awry, has recently completed a machine that he claims will turn water into food. Like his past failed inventions, Flint’s new food-converting machine doesn’t work as planned, and on its initial test run it ends up getting launched into the sky where clouds form and begin to rain cheeseburgers. The falling burgers destroy the Swallow Falls community’s latest attempt to bolster its failing, sardine-dependent economy, but the Mayor’s (Bruce Campbell) initial fury quickly turns to greedy anticipation as he begins to realize that food falling from the sky could serve as an innovative tourist draw. As the entire town is caught up re-defining itself as “Chew and Swallow,” only Flint’s father (James Caan) remains skeptical of his son’s invention. Greed leads to some very strange weather events like spaghetti twisters and extra-giant food which, while providing a huge career opportunity for brainy weather intern Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) who’s masquerading as an air-headed television personality, also threaten to destroy the town and its inhabitants. In the end, only the collaborative efforts of Flint, his father, and Sam can save the town of Chew and Swallow from certain destruction by the out of control invention. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a funny, imaginative film that’s well-animated and immensely entertaining for kids and adults. Rated PG for brief mild language, but appropriate for most ages 5 and older. –Tami Horiuchi
Stills from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (Click for larger image)
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Buy “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs “ For Only $10.99
January 3, 2006
#1
The themes of resource over-consumption & being careful what you wish for might just very well glaze under the radar of this targeted at kids four films in one animated classic. In other words; the special effects & landscapes depicted would equate to half a dozen normal live action flesh & blood films. Sure, there are idealistic notions about the pulling power of romantic love, but the fact that no third world countries were given free food & how the rich countries were deftly encouraged to exploit technology for their own selfish genes, or economic gluttony saddens the spirits.
Apart from that, the special effects are truly mind blowing & surrealist in scope/grandiosity. It even encouraged me to sell all my non-animated DVD & just focus on the technicolour world of cartoons. Sure, some might misperceive the film trailers as Jimmy Neutron on steroids. Flint really has a synthetically Generation X&Y flashy & urban adeptness about him. & yeah, the film does exploit the science fiction genre, doomsday & messiah complexes: but really this is where all the best material comes from in the grand scheme of life. I can’t wait for the CD, DVD & merchandise to hit the shops.
January 3, 2006
#2
The original written story had a humorous creative charm to it but Sony, as it has shown a history of doing, uses the quickest and cheapest studio resources to produce a mass appeal product with plastic and stereotypic characterizations & animations, trite dialogue, and factual ineptitude that will take teachers years to undo in visually impressionable young minds. Really Sony, how much effort is there in presenting the story in a way that actually educates – in some very small way. For example, water always will be water & hydrogen & oxygen – that’s it. There’s no nitrogen, no genetic material. Anyway, it takes “work” for a studio to create a fantasy story that has a magical and, perhaps, believable quality to it. See “Ponyo” or any Hayao Miyazaki movie for a comparison.
January 3, 2006
#3
The movie started out cute and imaginative, but it quickly lost its appeal. If you watched the previews, you’ve seen the best parts of the movie. It had its funny and interesting parts, but halfway through the movie I was ready to turn it off and go to bed. I’m glad I rented this movie first.
January 3, 2006
#4
I would give this ZERO stars, if possible!
Looks like it would be a fun little movie- the animation looked great, decent sound, etc.. UNTIL it got to about the 19 minute mark, then it started freezing, stuttering, spitting, and then froze up totally! I tried EVERYTHING to get it past that point. Fast forwarding, skipping ahead, going to the scene selection, etc. I cannot access ANYTHING past the 19 minute mark! I even let the thing sit the next day, thinking maybe the buffer could get past that point, no luck. After about 5 minutes of sitting, it goes back to the menu.
I very recently updated the firmware on the Blu Ray player.
I’ve had numerous problems with Sony DVD’s and Blue Ray disks in the past. They write these movies so that they mainly work with Sony products!!
Also, a big reason for so many SONY problems is that they write the movies to be VERY copy-protected. To the point of stupidity!! I know this because I have a friend whom is an industry insider.
I have 3 DVD players in our home, and 1 Blu Ray player, and this has been an on-going problem. Our Sony DVD player is usually in our basement study, and I typically have to go down and fetch it if we want to watch a SONY dvd in our living room! Our other DVD players are a Panasonic and a Toshiba. These players are nice, newer, higher end players, and they NEVER have any problems playing any other disks! But if I put a SONY disk in there, I know there are going to be problems!
Now the older SONY disks are usually okay, but any movie released in the last couple of years, big problems.
Back to the Blu Ray- our Oppo player never has any other problems with any other movies at all. We watch 5 blu ray movies a week minimum, and only ever have problems with SONY Blu Rays!
And I can certainly say that we will NOT be purchasing a SONY Play Station 3 just so that we can watch the SONY movies!
Based on these experiences, we made a decision a long time ago that we do not buy SONY products.
Terrible form, SONY.
January 3, 2006
#5
What a boring movie. the animation is awesome, but the story is so stupid i found myself and my guests (4 nieces and 3 adults) just watching the tv with no laughter or anything. I don’t see what anyone saw in this movie. good thing we rented it and wasn’t purchased. save your money.