Cloudy with a
Chance of Meatballs
isn’t the film adaptation of the
book. It’s a movie that was inspired
by the book. Instead of food
randomly falling out of the sky in
the town Chewandswallow with a
little magic, science is involved
with a story centering our hero,
Flint Lockwood. Flint is an inventor
with the best of intentions. He
wants to be a great scientist and
inventor but something always goes
haywire in the testing phase of his
products. Finally he hits the
jackpot of mishaps with the a device
that converts water to food. When
something goes wrong in the testing
phase the machine gets launched into
the sky and it rains food to order
in the town. Things start to get
dangerous however when the portion
sizes coming from the sky become too
big and weather/food disasters start
in Chewandswallow and around the
world. Of course Flint has to right
his wrongs and reach his potential;
he has to save the world from his
own creation.
The book is vastly
different from the movie. The book
was based on magic whereas the movie
is based on science. Also, the book
didn’t take an incredible amount of
time to get through but it still
felt like it moved at a slow pace.
In the movie inspired by the book,
the action is fast and furious.
There are lots of differences in
tone and mood between the two
entities but their heart remains the
same… this is a great story for
kids.
Bill Hader is the voice of Flint
Lockwood and he’s funny here just
like he is in everything else he’s
been in. Anna Farris also is a main
character in Sam Sparks, a weather
girl who hides her inner geek. The
rest of the cast is rounded out by
the always funny Bruce Campbell,
James Caan, Andy Samburg, and Mr. T.
With most animated films it’s hit or
miss on voice talent. With this
movie every voice talent is
exceptional. Hader fits nicely into
a lead role even if he’s just the
voiceover talent. Anna Farris has a
goofy tone in everything she says
and that fits nicely here. Bruce
Campbell can talk with more energy
than anyone else alive without
trying and James Caan’s deep burly
voice fit perfect as Flint’s father.
The Blu-Ray features with this
release are good but not great.
There are some interesting things on
the disc including a way to watch
the movie while throwing food at the
screen. Not literally, just a Blu-Ray
feature where food flops on the
screen when you push a button and
that’s kind of cool. The packaging
is what’s a little disappointing
with this release. You get a Blu-Ray
and a DVD which is a great value.
But it also says you’re getting a
Digital Copy. You’re not. It’s a
digital copy that’s only importable
with Playstation 3 systems and then
exportable to your PSP. Not the
greatest arrangement in that
category.
Cloudy With a Chance
of Meatballs
is a great family film. It inspires
kids to dream and persevere and it’s
entertaining for all ages. An
excellent cast and a great concept
made a great film. The Digital Copy
in the packaging is a little
disappointing but ultimately
forgivable due to Sony proving Blu-Ray
and DVD copies of the movie in the
Blu-Ray packaging. The final verdict
though is that this is a great movie
for kids and a better movie for
families.
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