Animated films often come wrapped in an ingenious design full of spirited characters and powerful messages. The latest animated feature of 2009 is no exception.
As a feast for your senses, ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ also carries a delightful story about acceptance, believing in yourself, and giant food threatening to destroy mankind. With quirky humor that applies to all ages of the family, audiences might be surprised to hear this is one great animated film that wasn’t dished up by Pixar.
This story of an aspiring childhood inventor named Flint Lockwood is brought to you by Sony Pictures Animation. Even as a kid, Flint (Bill Hader) wasn’t afraid of failure simply because he failed often. He created spray on shoes you can’t take off, a remote control TV that runs away, and rat-birds that do nothing but terrorize his town. In the stage of his life where his father wants him to get a job, all Flint dreams of doing is inventing something that people can appreciate. Therefore, when the mayor stages an event to save the town, Flint decides to debut his latest invention that turns rain into food.
While some of the film spends time being a hysterical spoof of disaster movies, it’s not always about what it would be like if food started pancaking schoolhouses or defacing national monuments. Aside from an underlying commentary on eating disorders, ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ clearly aligns with its main character’s state of mind. Flint’s desire to show the world his talent holds a lovable nerd-syndrome that has him doing things like humming his own theme song. Thanks to these small details of wacky character traits, the animators are able to make their kooky film about raining meatballs just as meaningful and as it is crazy.
Maybe what more films need are characters like Flint Lockwood. In an industry that’s full of rehashed failures and copycat backfires, spontaneous originality breathes life into otherwise bizarre story-lines. A talented voice cast that includes surprising turns by Benjamin Bratt and Mr. T, ‘Meatballs’ keeps the belly laughs coming with equally eccentric dialogue and a whole-hearted jubilant spirit.
Since it revels in oddity rather than artistry, ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ could have easily been one of this year’s worst films. Thanks to wonderfully endearing characters, this is one cinematic treat that surprisingly delivers the goods.
