DVD Reviews

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - Blu-ray Review

By Dana Rae Jan 6, 2010, 16:22 GMT

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 Barrett ...more

Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures animation bring us a weather-stopping animation delight, and its Blu-ray + DVD release will certainly delight younger audiences.

Cloudy takes a unique concept, the idea that food such as cheeseburgers and pizza, could fall from the sky.

Wrapped up in weather reports, the food does get a little messy, and its all enhanced by the 1080p picture. Lots of greasy high def here.

A unique as the concept might be, the characters seemed a bit stale (from an adult’s point of view). Bill Hader voices the main character, Flint, who is an overly ambitious inventor who just wants to make something that will help people. However, he seems to mess up quite a lot - his inventions go wrong and cause more mayhem than help.

Perhaps we have seen it too many times before: the bumbling genius inventor (lovable but still a loser) that no one believes in who tries too hard and ends up being laughed at, and then he succeeds. That is Flint put very nicely in that stereotypical nutshell.

Kids will identify; adults might just nod and give a well-placed yawn. We have seen it so many times before in many other animated films: Meet the Robinsons, Robots, Ratatouille, Igor. The message is quite loud and clear. Different is good, even if a bit off and seemingly insane at first, being different will finally bring success.

Voiced by a decently talented cast, other characters include: Anna Farris voice for Sam Sparks, James Caan voice for Tim Lockwood, Andy Samberg voice for Baby Brent, Bruce Campbell voice for Mayor Shelbourne, Mr. T voice for Earl Devereaux, Benjamin Bratt voice for Manny, Neil Patrick Harris voice for Steve, Al Rocher voice for Patrick Patrickson.

The premise is that the town of Swallow Falls, whose main source of economy is fishing and packing sardines, is going bankrupt. The Mayor decides that some tourism might be worthwhile (without consulting anyone). Sam is the up and coming reporter who will cover the events.

Of course, Flint messes up the town’s one and only chance to redeem itself (or so it seems). Earl the policeman tries to stop him and Flint’s food-making invention gets shot into the sky, thus creating the phenomenon of food falling from the sky. Sam is there with her camera and reporter’s voice as the cheeseburgers began to drop, and she is also the token friend/love interest of Flint.

Things get a little more interesting as more and more food falls from the sky, and at first, it seems that the town has received the attention it needed to save its economy. But things get very messy very fast, and take a turn for the disastrous. My personal favorite was the spaghetti tornado with spinning meatballs.

Based upon the children’s book by Ron and Judi Barrett, many things in the original story have been changed to fit the animation process, and one might do better to read the book. I will admit I have not, but I was informed by my 10 year old that the book is better. His words, not mine, though he did seem to enjoy the movie.

Packed with special features that include sing alongs and music videos, pre-production featurettes, and extended scenes, the extras really make the movie worth the money.

Exclusive to Blu-ray features include an interactive “Splat” button where you can throw food at the screen while you watch the movie (my kids really like that feature!), and a Flint’s Food Fight Game. DVD special features include a director’s commentary with Bill Hader and full and wide screen version options.

Kids will certainly enjoy this movie, whether they have read the book or not, and the extras included are a lot of fun. The characters might be a bit over-done (lovable loser finally succeeds, has love interest, disappointed father, bombastic mayor, etc.) but it is imaginative fun.