The Film Buzz Official Review

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is an animation film produced by Sony Pictures Animation also released in 3D, following a young inventor who manages to invent a machine that makes food fall from the sky like rain and is based on the children’s book of the same name by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett.

The film has received very positive reviews from critics – Rotten Tomatoes reported 86% positive on it’s Tomatometer and IMDB received a rating of 7.6/10. At the opening weekend, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs made it to the #1 spot, holding onto that spot for the second weekend too.

The Plot

Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) is a young inventor who has always had a passion for inventing things – but they’re usually useless, faulty and often chaotic things. He lives with his fisherman father who despises Flint’s inventing and thinks Flint should help him out at the fisher store instead.  They reside on a small island with no name (because it sits underneath the ‘A’ in ‘Atlantic Ocean’ on the map) and the island starts to go through a very rough patch when the market for sardines dries up and soon all the residents can afford to eat are sardines. Flint decides to bring change to the island and save the people from having to eat only sardines for the rest of their life by inventing a machine that will convert water to any type of food and to be able to activate the machine, he must use a very hilgh voltage of electricity. He then goes to the nearby power station on the day of the grand opening of the Mayor’s (voiced by Bruce Campbell) ’Sardine Land’ adventure park, to test his machine again.

Meanwhile, a new weather intern Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris) has her big break as she is sent to report the events in Swallow Falls. She reports on as Flint’s machine destroys the theme park and flies into the sky, creating storm clouds and finally causing cheeseburgers to rain from the sky.

How will the residents of this island cope with the constant raining of food?

Other members of the voiceover cast include: James Caan, Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt and Neil Patrick Harris.

The Thoughts

An extremely unique plot served in a multitude of colours, you’re bound to be dazzled by the animation and the characters are absolutely adorable.  Not forgetting that this is a non-Pixar animated film, it’s the most original and impressive film that has hit the cinemas in that category. I enjoyed this film immensely with a permanent smile on my face all the way through.

Watching it in 3D is a real treat, so why not tuck in?

The Film Buzz Review Rating: 7/10

Release Date: 18 September 2009

Directors:Phil Lord, Chris Miller

Writer’s: Judi Barrett (book), Ron Barrett (book)

Links: IMDB, Official Site, Rotten Tomatoes