Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs review

A lovely, whimsical kids book gets the Hollywood treatment here, and while it doesn’t have much in common with its source material, this animated movie is nonetheless a yummy treat.

Flint (Hader) has invented things since he was a kid, but none of his inventions have been too successful. He lives with his dad on the island of Swallow Falls, where the locals live on the sardines they fish, so Flint comes up with a new idea to improve the menu – a machine that will turn water into food. Things don’t go to plan, of course, Flint accidentally launches the contraption into the atmosphere, and before you know it, food – hamburgers, spaghetti, etc – begins to rain down on the little island. Weather reporter Sam Sparks (Faris) is there to report on the phenomenon, but while some tasty food plopping down from the heavens starts off as fun, it’s no laughing matter when you get squashed by falling pizza and the town mayor (Bruce Campbell) gives new meaning to the phrase power hungry, causing the machine to overload and produce gigantic portions.

A few morals are woven into this fun tale (greed is not good, for starters), but there’s also terrific one-liners, zippy animation and great vocal performances from Caan (as Flint’s dad), Mr T (the local cop), and Neil Patrick Harris (Steve the talking monkey). Fun for all the family, but remember not to watch on a full stomach!