While I was out and about shopping on Sunday, my wife remembered that she had two free passes to a 3D movie at the theater. It seems that when my wife and son went to see Ice Age 19 in 3D, the projector stopped working properly, so they received passes to come back for any show. Since both of them had been waiting anxiously for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, we bought one extra ticket and hit up the show.
After watching the same 3D preview for Avatar, and a really good preview for A Christmas Carol, starring Jim Carrey, the show got underway. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs tells the tale of Flint Lockwood, a budding inventor who feels that he has to make his mark on the world with one of his creations. After several failed attempts at lace-less shoes, ratbirds and other assorted items, he stumbles into his success with a creation that can take in water and output food. Of course, Flint starts to thrive off of the fame that he receives with his invention, to the point of endangering his town. There is a love plot in the story as well that involves plucky rookie weather reporter, Sam Sparks, played well by Anna Faris. She is striving to become a great weather reporter, while trying to forget her past as a school kid nerd.
There are several themes that work their way through Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, including trying to win the approval of a stubborn parent, being who you are, not someone else and the sin of gluttony, but none of them are ever really delved into on any serious level. It is kind of a sad point, because the film had been so heavily marketed towards many audiences, but never really delivers to anyone over the age of 10.
The 3D work in the movie is done with great effect, and never to the point of using 3D for the sake of 3D. There is a few times where they project stuff out of the screen, but nothing that captures you enough to reach out for things. The scene that is witnessed in the trailer, with cheeseburgers raining down upon the city was a great highlight of the 3D work, but nothing else really stood out from my memory.
A few solid sub characters come to memory as the standout points of the show, with Mr. T playing a cop that is all into fitness and family, and Benjamin Bratt as the lowly cameraman that ends up being a lot more than people thought of him. Benjamin Bratt was a huge surprise, as I did not even realize it was him. Bruce Campbell plays his normal smug self as the town mayor, always looking for the next gimmick to save the town from its mediocrity.
This biggest fault of the film is that it never reaches the heights of being able to go past its kid focus audience. While a Pixar film will normally speak on two levels, involving both the adults and children in the audience, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs fails to deliver to an adult audience any message. Kids will love it for its offerings of fun special effects, and funny food jokes, but adults will most likely be watching the clock, wondering when the film will end. My wife was let down, as she had been looking at this film as a big title, but left with more of a ho-hum average feeling, My son on the other had, laughed throughout the movie and thought it was pretty funny, but a bit slow at points. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs gets 4 out of 5 Squirtles if you are under the age of 10, but a 3 out of 5 for those of us taking the under 10 crowd to the movie.
