JUST TO PROVE THAT EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE : "CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS"

A goodly dollop of good, old-fashioned belly – laughs, lots of imagination and adventure. These are usually the essential ingredients of good animations (aimed for adults) these days. I was under the rather misguided impression that Cloudy with a chance of meatballs was rather mediocre. And Ok, it doesn’t exactly change film history. But it is also one of the funniest, sweetest and most imaginative films I have seen in a long while. This is why I thought it essential to put it in the blog, it has a bit of a tendency to get lost in a crowd of films “just like it” – and I wouldn’t want you guys to miss out.
Swallow Falls is a small island just off the US east coast – just under the A of Atlantic. It is home to Flnt Lockwood, an inventor by vocation and generally considered something cross between a hopeless nerd and a public menace by all who know him. His inventions tend to be slightly off the wall and to have “unexpected” results. Swallow falls is famous for sardines. The population fishes, and there is a massive sardine packing plant on the island too. Until it closes. The island is hit hard and all the islanders have left to eat are the sardines no one else wants. There are plenty of sardines, don’t get me wrong, but as we all know “sardines are gross” (I’m quoting the film here people, don’t get mad. Although I do tend to agree with the sentiment, it’s technically their words not mine! =) ) Then, Flint has an idea. He will invent a machine that will turn water into food, any kind of food, thus solving the food crisis on the island… As per usual however, his endeavors will have, well… Unexpected results…
Now, this is an ideal film for people with kids. The film is bright and colorful and the general tone means that younger audiences can actually follow and enjoy it. However there are subtler jokes aimed at older audiences (by older I mean properly older. I mean, I’m on the wrong side of 25 and I LAUGHED my head off). One of my favorite gimmicks is when our hero (aged mid to late 20’s I guess) tries to get his completely computer illiterate dad to e-mail him a file from his computer… Now, anyone who has gone through the process of introducing a parent to technology (and I guess that is most of people my age) will not only recognize some of the things that go wrong and laugh until tears are in their eyes, I can almost guarantee it. A second good part of the film is that it seems to take nothing too seriously. As you can imagine, Flint's invention will at some point “threaten world safety” , at which point the film takes on the air of a spoof (animated) disaster movie, but nothing, no convention of these movies that we know and sort of accept are safe from being poked and prodded. I guess what I’m saying is that the film doesn’t entirely rely on the endless possibilities on offer from technology and computers but it is also intelligent and witty. Something that I have come to miss in normal films, much less in animations… In short, a very, VERY pleasant surprise and a great way to spend a couple of hours…