Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

I wanted to but couldn't!

Best movie of this year hands down!

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This family friendly film is about an inventor who creates a machine to distribute food instead of water around the world. When the machine gets out of control, the world could be destroyed by an abundance of food. I did enjoy the film's super animation with its realistic people and settings. The colorfulness in the environment is well received. Anna Faris plays a likable weather forecaster. Bill Hader plays the voice of the inventor. The story is unrealistic but the film does manage to pull it off. I found the film weakest in the storyline and character development. I rarely recognized the voices of notable actors and actresses in their characters. Their characters were developed and their voices weren't necessary needed by A-list actors and actresses. The only two voices that mattered were Hader and Faris who did a stunning job in their roles. Their characters weren't developed enough though and the film's storyline is overshadowed by its poor development. For a family film, it is enjoyable all around. The effects are just stunning and the visuals are brilliant with colors.

I did not know what to expect from this movie. I like animation films, but having been spoiled by Disney and Pixar, I don't really watch that many other types of animation. However I'm glad I gave this one a shot.Cloudy with a chance of meatballs has it all. A likable protagonist, an easy straight forward story, an occasionally creepy vibe when the food comes alive (those deep fried chickens crawling down from the ceiling like the orcs from The Felowship of the Ring, were pretty creepy). But what really got to me, was the relationship between the hero Flint and his blue- collar father Tim really pulled at the heart strings. It was beautifully crafted and had a good heart. Check it out.

I first saw this film at the cinema with a member of support staff at my former care home five years ago and we both enjoyed it a lot. Recently my mother purchased the DVD for me when she got it for a special price with another purchase at HMV and when I watched it this evening, I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time around.The animation is consistent for the most part with some good uses of squash and stretch, especially in the Jell-O scene, but it was sometimes rapid and jarring, particularly on Earl towards the end of the film and while the character designs are cartoonish with a few blocky elements (particularly the nose of Flint's father and Earl's hands) and not as realistic as those in the Shrek franchise, the visuals were inventive, the backgrounds were full of vibrancy, especially the enormous Jell-O 'palace' and when the film's setting was covered in ice cream, and detailed. It was funny when a banana 'boomerang' knocked the Columbia lady out of her spot in the opening logo and this is the most creative use of the logo since 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle' (in which the camera zooms into the fire of the lady's torch and links to a real fire in the film itself). I also like the use of hybridity. While the majority of the film is 3D computer-animated, I liked the use of the cute dog film to provide a background for a weather summary, the animated photograph of a cat and the 2D special effects plus also the brightly-coloured 2D end-credits sequence if it was jerky in parts. The story is unique and, as other reviewers have said, full of originality due to using the food theme in a way that has never been thought of in animated film before while the dialogue is witty and smart. Some of the funniest moments included Baby Brent's repeated "Uh-oh!" line and Flint's monkey Steve (the second animated primate I've heard of with that name, the other one being from childhood favourite 'Spot the Dog') wanting gummy bears and eventually fighting them off during the climax. I did agree with a previous reviewer about Earl's line, "I love you, son," being repetitive but it was really sweet nonetheless. Despite the majority of the voice cast being lesser known, the voice acting is one of the best assets of the film and the cast members I seem the most familiar with are Anna Farris as Sam and 'The A Team's' Mr T as Earl. While the music is not the most memorable feature, I liked the song 'Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows' by Lesley Gore as well as Miranda Cosgrove's (who went on to voice Margo in the 'Despicable Me' films) 'Raining Sunshine,' the one playing over the 2D-animated portion of the end credits and the incidental music playing while an allergy-swollen Sam tries to pull up Flint with a Twizzler is beautiful. Both Flint and Sam are worthwhile leads while Earl and his son, the mayor, Baby Brent, Flint's father and Steve all provide great support.In spite of the animation being slightly inconsistent in places and a couple of repetitive lines, this film really is a feast for the eyes and is without doubt one of the most creative I've ever seen. 8/10.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meat Balls is a really fun movie that the whole family can enjoy. There are a lot of jokes for the adults to like but the kids will also be glued to the screen for the whole thing, which is great.It's not something adults will love from start to finish but there are pretty much zero movies like that around any more, Frozen is probably the best example of that that I can come up with or a few of the best Pixar movies.The voice acting is really good and there is just a lot of great, zany, wacky fun.