Sony Pictures Animation
Weather reporter Sam (voiced by Anna Faris) and nerdy scientist Flint (Bill Hader) behold his cloud-induced Jell-O palace.
A tornado of spinning spaghetti; blizzards that cover houses in rainbow scoops of ice cream; Vesuvial fountains of nacho cheese ...
Part Jerry Bruckheimer, part Betty Crocker, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" begins as a jokey, slapstick, computer-generated cartoon for kids and expands into a clever and even thrilling disaster-movie spoof that should delight fans of all ages -- it's "Armageddon," with super-sized extra toppings of everything.
Sony Pictures Animation
Weather reporter Sam (voiced by Anna Faris) and nerdy scientist Flint (Bill Hader) behold his cloud-induced Jell-O palace.
Columbia Pictures' and Sony Pictures Animation's "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" will be the most delicious event since macaroni met cheese. Inspired by the ...
Rating: PG for brief mild language
Length: 81 minutes
Released: September 18, 2009 Nationwide
Cast: Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, James Caan
Director: Christopher Miller, Phil Lord
Writer: Chris Miller, Phil Lord, Judi Barrett, Ron Barrett
"What if we've bitten off more than we can chew?" asks one character, in a foodie update of the famous warning against meddling in things man was not meant to know that was heard in "The Invisible Man" and almost every other vintage science-fiction film. Another knowing touch: In a reversal of the typical transformation found in old movies, the heroine -- an earnest and attractive TV weather reporter -- becomes more alluring to the nerdy scientist hero when she puts up her hair and puts on her glasses. Apparently, brainy is the new pretty.
Borrowing its title and premise and little else from a 1978 children's picture book by Judi and Ron Barrett, the movie really knows how to stretch a meal, cooking up a thousand tasty variations from what could have been a one-joke recipe: What if the skies dropped food instead of rain?
The young man responsible for this initially welcome but eventually devastating plague of edibles is self-styled scientist Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader), a dreamy young misfit who resembles a cross between a Muppet and a Bendable and resides on Swallow Falls, a small island hidden on maps under the "A" for Atlantic.
When the island's sardine industry collapses, the mayor (cult fave Bruce Campbell) decides to convert Swallow Falls to sardine tourism. (Note any parallels to Memphis music here?) But Flint discovers another solution when his latest invention, a Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator, seeds the clouds with foodstuff. The resulting hamburger rain attracts world attention, not to mention a weather reporter named Sam (Anna Faris).
"You may have seen a meteor shower, but you've never seen a meatier shower," is typical of Sam's broadcast quips. Despite her puns, Sam catches Flint's inexperienced eye; a shy courtship scene set inside a giant palace molded from bouncy golden Jell-O is one of the film's many visual highlights.
At first, Flint is able to cook up weather to order: hot dogs for some, fruit for others. (The mayor, a glutton, swells until he could be one of the bloated Earth refugees in "Wall-E.") But eventually, of course, Flint loses control of his creation, like the sorcerer's apprentice, until the resulting "foodalanche" -- a cascade of gargantuan corn-on-the-cob, house-flattening flapjacks and sentient roasted chickens -- threatens to destroy his town (in 3D, yet, at select theaters).
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" could be interpreted as a commentary on the potential perils of genetically engineered "Frankenfood," but the movie doesn't sweat the message. If it lacks the grandeur of "Wall-E," it's also utterly unpretentious; unlike the Pixar films, it's an unheralded surprise. Feel free to enjoy it simply for its monkey-vs.-Gummi bear spectacle (don't ask), and for its arguably overcooked cavalcade of "Simpsons"-style non sequitur humor.
The fourth feature from Sony Pictures Animation (after "Open Season," "Surf's Up" and "Monster House"), "Meatballs" was written and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller. Eschewing auteurist glory-hogging, the opening credits generously refer to the production as "a film by a lot of people." That could be said about almost every movie, but it's especially true in the case of animated features. "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" doesn't have a chance of beating "Up" for the Best Animated Feature Oscar, but like that Pixar effort, it took years to make and required the participation of hundreds of animators and technicians.
-- John Beifuss, 529-2394
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