Movie review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

by John P. Meyer

Young Flint Lockwood (voiced by Max Neuwirth) is a precocious, yet frustrated, inventor. On his bedroom wall hangs a rockstar-style poster of his hero, Nikola Tesla. In science class, Flint does a show-and-tell of his latest invention (his first one, really): spray-on shoes. Unfortunately, he forgets to invent spray-on shoe remover.

Having grown to adulthood -- and with a series of similarly ill-conceived (yet successfully executed) creations under his lab coat -- Flint (now vocally portrayed by Bill Hader) thinks he may have made a crowd-pleasing breakthrough, in the form of a water-into-food transmutation device. If he can just eke out enough electrical power to get the dang thing up and running, there'll be cheeseburgers for everyone in Swallow Falls -- and lots of 'em!

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is the latest animated 3D adventure to hit theater screens, and it's a jolly good one that will appeal to adults as well as kids. (Just ask mrs. film guy, who joined me at the preview screening.) Sony Pictures Animation is definitely angling for some of that Pixar moviemaking magic -- and landing it, I'm pleased to report.

You might as well get used to the fishing metaphors, because Swallow Falls is a community built on sardines. Flint's unibrow dad, Tim (James Caan) owns and operates a bait and tackle shop in town, and he's about as adept at communicating verbally with his son as Hank Hill is with Bobby. ("When you dip your line into the ocean, son, you won't always hook onto a big one" -- or something like that.)

The village's Mayor Shelbourne (Bruce Campbell) sports a bouffant 'do that Blagojevich would be proud of. Shelbourne's got an idea to save Swallow Falls from the oblivion that's been threatening since folks around the world came to the realization that -- rotten luck! -- sardines don't actually taste very good. He wants to make the town a tourist destination, based rather ironically on its history as a sardine fishery. He'll employ former pitch-kid "Baby" Brent (Andy Samberg) -- now rather larger than when his diaper-clad visage appeared on sardine cans, but still sporting a diaper -- to promote Sardine Land. (Which shapes up to be nearly as good an idea as Flint's bio-engineered ratbirds.)

It's to cover the grand opening ceremony of Sardine Land that apprentice weather girl Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) is sent to Swallow Falls for some on-the-scene meteorological reportage. Early appearances indicate she's bitten off more than she can chew, as her poise before the camera -- already on shaky ground -- is rendered nonexistent when Flint's efforts to juice up his food transmutator finally bear fruit. Unfortunately, the sputnik-sized device takes off on a bee-line toward Sam, with Flint holding onto a cable for dear life. The last glimpse network viewers get of her coverage is of Sam's squished visage plastered against the videocam.

Flint's mad machine ends up in the stratosphere, where it begins sucking in moisture and doing what it was designed to do: spitting out food. Flint has a kind of control panel down in his backyard laboratory from which he can send up recipe requests, and the resulting storm fronts deliver whatever he orders up. Everything's going swell, but when Flint forgets to check the readout on the Dangeometer, it's a cinch trouble's brewing.

Watching the whimsical goings-on in Chew and Swallow Falls (marveling at them, really), adult movie mavens may note nods to at least two Roland Emmerich films -- but kids will be too busy squealing with delight (internally, one hopes) at the good/bad puns (poultry in motion!), imaginative situations (ice cream snowmen!) and fantastic visuals flashing across the screen. (Pastanado, anyone?)

The 3D effects are seamless, unobtrusive, and spectacular. When Mayor Shelbourne leans against a chain link fence, it appears to move back and forth in the visual field; when we gaze along with Tim through the plate glass window of his bait and tackle shop, it actually appears to be a plate glass window with decal lettering, existing in space between the foreground interior and the outside street scene. (Hard to describe, but when you see it, you'll get it.)

Stealing the show is a squat, deadpan, Italianate character named Manny (Benjamin Bratt), who comes to the laconic rescue with a series of unexpected abilities when the foodstuff hits the fan. Mr. T performs memorably as the voice of Earl Devereaux, the local beat cop. And Neil Patrick Harris essays the vocals for Steve, Flint's trusty simian sidekick.

Don't hesitate to order up tickets for this toothsome smorgasbord of an entertainment.