Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Release date: 2010-09-30
Country: USA
Language: English|French|Spanish
Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Production Co: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Rating: 6.9/10
Length: 1h 30min

Storyline

Flint Lockwood thinks he's a genius. But none of the things he invented are things that make sense or are useful. However, he has the support of his mother but when she dies, he's left alone with his father who thinks he should give it up. When the community that he lives in is in an economic crisis because their primary source of income, a sardine cannery, was shut down, Flint decides to try his latest invention, a machine that can turn water into food. But something goes wrong and the machine ends up in the atmosphere. Later it starts raining food. The shifty mayor tries to use this as a way to help their community, but when Flint senses something wrong with the machine, the mayor convinces him to ignore it. However, as Flint predicts, chaos ensues.

Plot Keywords

based on book, dummy, selfishness, torch, missing, celebrity, boyfriend girlfriend relationship, mother son relationship, family relationships, death, wilhelm scream, food in title, subjective camera, altered version of studio logo, first part, glasses, nerd, surrealism, death of mother, computer animation

Short Review

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is visually inventive and exuberant, and has some neat running gags. But its characterisations are a little disappointing.