January 12, 2010
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
Blake Matthews READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a CGI adaptation of the children's book of the same name by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett. Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) has grown up in the town of Swallow Falls all his live, the town which was once a thriving sardine canning town has fallen on hard times. Flint is a struggling inventor whose inventions have caused more than their fare share of disasters. But when his device that turns water in food is accidentally launched into space, and it starts raining food, it finally looks like Flint has succeeded. his town has attracted the attention of the national weather channel and upcoming weather girl Sam Sparks (Anna Farris) to the little town.
The mayor sees this as an opportunity to pull his town out of despair and make it a great tourist attraction, but he needs Flint to make the food bigger and better which leads to a malfunction and threatens to destroy the town. Now Flint, Sam and Steve the monkey must go to the device and stop it before catastrophe can strike.
The movie is fun, visually stunning and has a wonderful supporting cast -- look for Neil Patrick Harris, Mr. T, Al Roker, Bruce Campbell and James Caan in various roles. The book is rather limiting, and instead of a literal adaptation, the producers use that as the inspiration for the film with great success.
The Extras for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs are spread out over two discs, there's a commentary with director Phil Lord and Christopher Miller who engage in a lively discussion about all aspects of the film including their love for Mr. T and James Caan. There's also a featurette about the making of the film, one looking at the actors as they record their roles, a couple of extended scenes, progression reels, early development scenes, a music video and some games for the kids to play. All in all the movie is a fun flick that the entire family can enjoy.