Review: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (cute but forgettable)

Based on the popular children’s book by Ron and Judy Barrett, “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” is a cute movie, but rather forgettable in the big scheme of things.  The graphics and animation are interesting, not to mention the idea of being able to order up whatever food you want and have giant amounts of it fall from the sky. So there’s that. But truth be told, it was more boring than I thought it would be.

Despite the impressive voice cast, there’s really only a couple of voices you’ll probably recognize. Mark Mothersbaugh, the lead singer of Devo, is the composer, but I never would have known that unless I looked at the credits. The music seemed somewhat canned.

The story follows a kid named Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader), who’s always been sort of a misfit. He’s a nerd who’d rather spend time in his makeshift lab inventing things than develop relationships with people. The kids at school make fun of him, and his bushy-browed dad (James Caan) would rather he work in his bait shop than on all his goofy inventions. Flint’s mom is more encouraging, but she passes away when he’s a kid, so he’s left to his own devices, so to speak.

Meanwhile, the town of Chew and Swallow is surviving on a steady diet of sardines, so Flint spends his time working on a device that will create food out of water. It isn’t going well, and Flint suffers through many embarrassing defeats. But the town makes news when his invention actually begins working, and an ambitious young weather girl named Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) is there to document it. If you saw “The House Bunny,” you’ll recognize her voice. She has just the right voice for a cartoon character – fun and enthusiastic.

Turns out that Sam is a nerd just like Flint, only she doesn’t want anyone to know it, so she hides her true self in order to make it as a weather girl. But she’s fearless and ready to help her new friend when his invention goes horribly wrong. It’s an adventure that takes them into space!

Other voices include Andy Samberg as Baby Brent, a bullying kid who has a change of heart; Bruce Campbell as Mayor Shelbourne; Mr. T. as Earl Devereaux, an over-enthusiastic cop; as well as Benjamin Bratt, Neil Patrick Harris, Al Roker, and Lauren Graham.

The best part of this movie is the creative ways food can be, well, created. Cheeseburgers fall from the sky, kids have snowball fights with ice cream, and Gummi Bears frolic like so many cute creatures. One of the best scenes is when Flint creates a giant Jello mold for Sam, who loves Jello, and the two make a giant bounce-house out of it.

But things quickly get out of control, as the machine starts making bigger and bigger food, until one pancake covers the entire school (the kids don’t mind). So action has to be taken, and a crew heads for space, where they encounter jagged peanut brittle (Sam’s allergic) and zombie-like chickens out to get them.

I would say to read the book instead, as it offers more bang for your food buck, but this movie is ok-fun, especially for kids in the 5- to 9-year-old age range. It’s offered in both 3D and conventional formats. I saw the conventional, although I would imagine this might be one of the rare movies that is actually better for being in 3D.

Note to Parents: Most of the PG rating comes from language such as “jerk,” “knuckle scrapers,” and “stupid,” as well as “hell hole.” There’s some flirting, and a kiss plays into the storyline throughout the movie. Violence includes a “perfect food storm” which threatens to wipe out Chew and Swallow, as well as other cities. Some peril involving a trip into the clouds to stop the storm, including Flint being lowered into a cavern by a string of licorice, as Sam tries to avoid being stuck by brittle (but fails, sending her into anaphylactic shock until she receives a shot). Flint creates “rat-birds,” which are creepy but don’t hurt anyone.

Image: Sony Pictures Animation