“Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” is a recipe for fun
by Helen Lutz
H
ow many times have we heard, “Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it!”?
In “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” we meet a young inventor, Flint Lockwood who is full of ideas and good intentions. His “Show and Tell” project of spray on shoes amazes the class until the town bully points out that the shoes don’t come off – ever. Encouraged by his mother, Flint (voiced by Bill Hader) grows up and continues to invent some rather weird things which aren’t always well accepted by the town, such as ratbirds. The story is set on a small, very small, island in the Atlantic whose sole business is sardine canning. Everything is sardines. When the bottom falls out of the sardine market, Flint creates a machine which, when water is added, results in fabulous food. Especially kid food like cheeseburgers, pizza, jelly beans, ice cream and gummi bears! Upon testing his machine, Flint discovers he needs more power. So, like any wacky inventor, he sneaks into the town’s power plant and hooks up his food machine. As the machine misfires and shoots though the town with all its new found power, destroying the new amusement park; once again, Flint becomes the town troublemaker. While Flint’s father (voiced by James Caan) now insists he work in the family tackle shop, Flint’s machine is rocketed into the upper atmosphere where it is fed by an unlimited water supply. The result: it begins to rain cheeseburgers! The opportunity to eat something other than sardines catches the immediate attention of everyone in town as well as the media. Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris) is the reporter sent to cover the event as well as to become the love interest of Flint. The amazing machine can create anything and everything; but there is a lesson is to be learned. Greed always seems to spoil a good thing. The more orders for special culinary delights, the greater the overload on the food machine. The consequence is that the food mutates into larger and larger portions until a tornado of spaghetti spewing meatballs along with a storm of epic proportions is created – resulting in destruction by giant bagels and threatening life on the planet. We see the effects of too much of a good thing in “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.” Shown in 3D, the colors and pictures are mesmerizing – the “cheesy” 3D glasses are hardly noticeable. The cast of voices do an amazing job of bringing the story to life, especially Mr. T. The story is fun for the entire family. The kids love every minute while most adults sit and chuckle throughout the cartoon. The script is truly written for enjoyment by all audiences. Get an extra large popcorn and gummi bears, this movie will definitely make you hungry!
Helen says: I was totally surprised by the movie. From the trailers I had decided that this was one stupid movie that I didn’t really care to see. I was wrong; it was nothing but fun! ♥♥♥ (Little) Samantha says: I really liked all the food, especially the ice cream! Tom says: The kids couldn’t take their eyes off the screen and laughed though the entire movie. I enjoyed the story, lesson and script as well. ♥♥♥1/2 Mary Ann says: I wondered how it could rain meatballs – now I know. I loved the movie as did my grandkids. ♥♥♥♥ Art says: I liked the script being written on two levels and the parody with the Weather Channel. I just couldn’t figure out how they kept the hamburgers together all the way down. ♥♥♥