DT: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs ~ 2009

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Hello my friends, and welcome to the next instalment of Duckyworth's Thoughts! :w00t:

 

If Felidae was a film that made you lose your appetite, today's film may be one that will bring it back. :D Sorry if it's been almost a year since you read my review of Felidae and lost your appetite due to it... ^^;

That's right, let's take a look at the appetising all-you-can-eat film buffet, which is probably one the stupidest films I've ever seen – CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS! :yum:

 

  DT 95 - Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs by Duckyworth

 

Now, I know you read the word 'stupidest' and are probably a bit confused... but I'll just say this...

I LOVE this film. :D I my opinion, although it's not the BEST film around, it's still one of the essential animated films that you should see... But it's stupid as heck! :lol: It's stupid and silly in a GOOD way, enjoyably so, not mentally retarded like The Wild, The Reef, The Flight Before Christmas or the remake of The Cat In The Hat.... :phew:

From the same animation studio that brought us Hotel Transylvania, Surf's Up, Open Season, Arthur Christmas, The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists and......... urgh, the SMURFS remakes.... :nuu: , this film is either the perfect film to watch when you're hungry... or not, depending on whether you're eating or not.... :XD:  But still, this film seems to not only be a parody of the disaster film genre, I'll explain that later, but it KNOWS it's making fun of a lot of clichéd things and ideas – it seems to mock many questionable actions taken in other films by some stupid characters (the 'let's rock his car back and forth' bit :XD: ), older generations adapting to and using technology (let's face it everyone, that's an unfortunately common problem... When I'm older, and IF I have children, I feel new technology will probably confuse ME a lot as well^^; ) 

 

The story revolves around a young genius named Flint Lockwood, who lives in a small town named Swallow Falls. All his life, Flint has been mocked and ostracised for being smart – I identify quite a bit with that, as I was often bullied for that as well.... I know, what a stupid thing to bully someone about! And... where's the teacher? Is she just ALLOWING the class to mock Flint? :iconwthplz: - and he longs to make his mark on the world and prove that he can contribute to society – and to prove to his father that he's not a nobody, as his mother, who died from the fatal off camera disease :iconfacepalmplz:, seemed to be his main comfort in his childhood. As he grows up, his inventions continue to be.... less than spectacular... ^^; The best one being a device that allows his monkey assistant, Steve, to communicate with him – how THAT doesn't get him any recognition is anyone's guess, but anyone who makes RATBIRDS probably won't get too much recognition.... :lol:

 Seen as Swallow Falls has had the reputation of making most of its money by canning sardines, and everyone in the world has realised sardines are 'super gross'... No, really, that's the wording they use... :laughing:, the town has been stuck with eating the fish that nobody else likes. Knowing this, Flint makes his latest device – the Flint Lockwood Diatomic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator – or the FLDSMDFR :XD: , a device that can convert water into food. After a series of unfortunate events (and no, Lemony Snicket has nothing to do with it :rofl: ) the device gets thrown into the stratosphere, which results in Swallow Falls having constant food-related weather. First off, this works well – all the townsfolk, except his father, who worries about any negative ramifications of the machine's actions - love Flint for bringing flavour back to their lives, especially a young weather reporter, Sam Sparks, who has experienced a boost in her career due to the food weather, and she and Flint develop a romance.

However, the Mayor of Swallow Falls, tired of being an unknown mayor of a tiny town, tricks Flint into overloading the machine with requests in the hopes of making the town more and more popular... This results in the food over-mutating, which results in food related weather disasters being sent not only to Swallow Falls, but to the rest of the world as well.... Soon, it comes down to Flint, Sam, Steve, a guy called Brent and Sam's cameraman Manny to save the day by confronting and shutting down the FLDSMDFR, and saving the world from endless food weather.... Wait, I don't care if the food is huge – I'd do ANYTHING to KEEP it raining food.... :lol:

 

So, yeah, like some films I've reviewed, this film may have some clichéd moments – the mom passing away, the main character being ostracised for having different ideas, the bully character, for example – but like many films I've reviewed, it still manages to keep the audience interested by throwing in some new fresh elements. :aww: This film, for me, is like Ratatouille mixed with old classic disaster films.... And it seems to make fun of a lot of elements about disaster films, like how the disasters always seem to hit important landmarks FIRST, the way characters react in disaster films, and actions of the bully character that are always... for some reason, are overlooked – when he knocks down a pile of cans Flint has packed up, people say 'How delightful' to him... :XD:

 

The main character of the film, as you've probably gathered, is Flint Lockwood, played by Bill Hader – who was also a Gazelle in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, The Voice in Scott Pilgrim Vs The World and the referee and slug in Monster's University. :D As far as his character goes, he's a typical brainiac who is ostracised for being smart – but he still manages to bring a smile to my face. :lol: One reason why I find Flint Lockwood hilarious is due to his expressions... nearly every one gets me laughing – especially when his face goes all stretched when he's staring in awe at the food clouds... :XD: As if KEANU REEVES didn't look funny enough when he was shocked... :iconkeanugaaarghplz: At times, it almost looks like the animators drew influence from anime or that one scene in Robots where Fender says 'Give me big anime eyes!' :iconcuteeyesplz:

Some of you may remember that I put Flint as one of my favourite smart characters – he was the number 8 spot – and the reasons why this is is because he is not only very erratic and funny, but I love all of the inventions he makes (failed or not) and the original reason why he made his invention – to bring taste back to the people of his home town. :aww:

As well as finding some of the expressions funny in a strangely cute way – like when he puts his hands under the materialising cheeseburger and when he stares in awe at Sam Sparks' scientific analysis... :D While he's not the most original character in terms of personality, I just love the fun that they have with this character's emotions, and of course, I really love all of the funny inventions he makes – including a Flying Car (without wings :lol: ), Spray On Shoes (a clever idea, as untied shoelaces were, and still are, a common problem with children :XD: ) that you can't get off, a Remote Controlled TV (the TV becomes sentient :rofl: ), Ratbirds (Rats spliced together with birds), a Hair Unbalder (Hair Tonic that works WAY too well, making Flint's dad look like the Wolfman :lol: ) and, perhaps his only successful invention so far, a device that allows you to hear the thoughts of whoever wears a headband attached to it, which he uses to communicate with his monkey assistant Steve.

First of all, I LOVE the way that they animated this character – as well as the hilarious facial expressions, I love the way that this animation studio does rubbery body movements – it's like they took the body movements of the characters from Adventure Time and applied it to CGI animation... :lol: It's similar to the exaggerated body movements of the characters in Hotel Transylvania (which I WILL be reviewing in October :evileye: ) – I mean, the way you see him stacking tins of sardines in his father's tackle shop just cracks me up. The same goes for the way he flails his arms about madly when he's taking part in the snowball fight. :D Wow, and I though SQUIDWARD went over the top when he took part in a snowball fight.... ^^; And the one slow motion run he has when he rushes to his lab is also pretty funny. And like Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove, he has his own theme tune that he hums often... :XD:

While I do find it a bit clichéd how the villain plays on the main character's hopes of being accepted to get his needs, I still find it pretty nice how Flint is simply wanting to bring taste back to the lives of those in his hometown. :aww: And in that way, I think the film does actually have a moral – there can be too much of a good thing. In a way, this aspect of the film reminds me of a more extreme version of one of Grimm's Fairy Tales I liked reading when I was about 6, in Primary School – The Magic Porridge Pot. Here's some more info – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magi… but in this respect, the films does remind me of a similar scenario of getting too much of a good thing..... :wow:

Flint also gets a ton of funny lines in the film – like when Sam says, in response to the ice cream weather, 'I don't know how you're going to top this!' to which Flint replies, 'How about with HOT FUDGE?' :iconrimshotplz: And then, his expression when he laughs is just HILARIOUS. :lol: Who says smart people don't have a sense of humour? :nerd: I also like the way that Flint often carries out his actions, like in the cool montages when he's making the FLDSMDFR, when he's calling Sam out on a date (or activity, as he calls it :lol: ), and when he's redesigning the Flying Car.... I love those cool and funny montages. :meow: Another thing I find a little bit questionable is how he thinks that having allergies would make him more attractive.... ^^; Speaking of which, one part I do find really hilarious is when he puts a pair of glasses on Sam, and when Sam's vision goes from blurry to restored, Flint suddenly transforms from looking like a butch guy to a.... well, dork, let's be honest.... :XD:

One thing that some people could question about this character is a line in the scene when he takes his father out to the roofless restaurant.... Throughout the film, Flint keeps wanting to prove to his father, Tim, that he can make something out of himself – and no, he doesn't sing 'Riff-raff, street rat, I don't buy that, if only they'd look closer...' Even though he is as much of an outcast as Aladdin was.... All throughout the film, Flint keeps trying to prove to his dad that his invention is helping people, and it won't mess up like his earlier inventions have in the past, but sadly, Flint's hopes of everyone finally accepting him seem to blind him from the fact that the food is becoming bigger.... And then, Flint says a line which I find myself questioning as well – 'It's making everybody happy... Everybody except YOU. When are you going to accept that this is who I am instead of trying to get me to work in some boring tackle shop?'

:ohnoes: Okay, I at least understand in this case that Flint has been rejected all his life, and he just doesn't want to be left in the dirt again, but still... Come on, that's a little bit of a nasty way to get your point across, Flint... I mean, nowhere near as mean-spirited as the scene where Cobalion doesn't consider helping Keldeo in Kyurem Vs. The Sword of Justice, but still, I feel that he could have worded that a little bit better.... :no: But at least in this sense, when his father leaves, Flint shows some regret for what he said, unlike that horrid scene in Shrek Forever After when Shrek blows up at Fiona and doesn't seem to show ANY regret for what he said...

So, again, while there may not be that much I can say about this main character, similar to Danny in Cats Don't Dance – because the personalities aren't really THAT original – I just think that there are some really nice things about this character – Flint's voice fits well, I love how he's animated, he gets a TON of funny body language and facial expressions (when he disguises himself as an olive, for example :lol: ), a ton of funny lines (for example, when he pokes his hand out of the huge jelly castle and says 'Join me' :giggle: - that always cracks me up.... ) and I just find myself liking the smart scientist kind of character – especially one that makes a machine that converts water into food.... Oh, and he has an awesome ringtone... :lol: Why do I get the feeling this is the kind of scientist that SkekAyuk from The Dark Crystal would commission?

And in a way, if the food was harnessed properly, I was thinking, when seeing the trailers, that Flint was thinking about ending world hunger with this invention.... But still, bringing flavour back to his tasteless home town is still a noble cause...:wow:

 

Flint's assistant, a monkey named Steve, played by Neil Patrick Harris, is yet another character that gets quite a few funny moments. In fact, one thing I like in this film is that ALL of the characters get jokes that work... :aww: Very FEW films manage to do that, in my opinion. :D Strangely enough, something about the way he moves, his voice and his erratic personality reminds me of a monkey version of GiR from Invader Zim... :lol:

For example, one running joke in the film is that he's completely and utterly obsessed with Gummi Bears... Whenever Flint has requests for food rain, Steve ALWAYS yells out 'Gummi Bears'... :lol: This results in a really funny moment later on, when sentient Gummi Bears start attacking the Flying Car, Steve attacks them, and also rips out and eats the heart of one of them! :lol: And he's also obsessed with pulling moustaches... He tries to pull Tim and Manny's moustaches... :D

He also looks pretty cute at times.... Not counting the time when he's throwing about 'chocolate snowballs'... :x

 

Sam Sparks, played by Anna Faris, is a ditzy news reporter who has received her big break by reporting the food weather in Swallow Falls... However, she used to be a huge brainiac like Flint, who was obsessed with the weather, but all of the other children mocked her for it, and she dropped the smart stuff... Again, WHERE is the teacher in that flashback? Do teachers just ALLOW students to mock each other like that? :iconwthplz: Are they as deaf, blind and incomprehensibly stupid as the guards were in Quest For Camelot when Kayley escaped in that cringeworthy scene where the guard just let her go? :icondoublefacepalmplz: At least a funny part here is a literal satire of mocking songs children sing – 'Four eyes, four eyes, you need glasses to see' .... Seriously, I remember insults when I was younger that, looking back at them, WERE as stupid as that.... Almost as stupid as the idiots throwing those insults at me! :giggle:

 The funny thing is, I actually think she looks as pretty as before when she wears the glasses and the scrunchie – maybe even more so. :aww: You know the saying 'Thine own self be true' from Shakespeare? Well that rings true here – she looks prettier when she has the glasses and scrunchie on! :wow:

A pretty surprising joke they make is when Sam, who is allergic to peanuts, gets anaphylactic shock when she gets cut with razor sharp peanut brittle.... I mean, I find it hilarious when Brent says 'Doctor Manny's got the medicine for your face' and 'She touched a peanut or something' , but I wonder how allergy sufferers would find that joke.... I also question what's up with Flint and Sam puffing up their cheeks when they kiss at the end.... :confused: Weirdest kiss since Evil Ash and that woman in Army of Darkness... ^^; But at least it isn't HORRIFYING like the one Bridget gives Benny in The Wild.... :fear:

 

Sam's cameraman, Manny, voiced by Benjamin Bratt, is kind of your everyman, who used to be a doctor and an airplane pilot. :XD: While there's not really much I can say about him, I just love how he's often very quiet and calm, and his voice for some reason cracks me up.

 

While I do find it pretty clichéd that this film chooses to kill off the MOTHER (seriously, WHY does this happen so often?! :iconwthplz: ), and I do wish that it could address the mother-child relationship like Brave, to its credit, decided to try, but still.... I find myself liking the father character, Tim Lockwood, quite a bit. :aww: Voiced by James Caan, he's a pretty technophobic guy who has always had problems understanding his son's inventions, instead abiding by the traditional business of Swallow Falls – running a bait and tackle shop. Having had problems understanding Flint's inventions, he always talks in fishing metaphors, but he means well – so in this film, it's not a bad parent at all, it's just extreme misunderstanding.... So, in this film, even though the father and son have arguments at times, I don't see any parenting mistakes in this... :phew:

One thing I find pretty funny about this character is his design - he looks like he had Dick Strawbridge's moustache grafted onto his eyebrows... and then he cloned it for his own moustache... :rofl: The one part when Flint tries to look his father in the eye and tell him that the invention won't mess up always gets me laughing because of the way Tim's eyebrows just lift up... Flint, if you think it's difficult looking your dad in the eye, just be glad you weren't there when BROCK opened his eyes.... :iconbrockofaceplz: Now THAT was creepy....

And unlike the fathers from Chicken Little, The Flight Before Christmas, The Wild, Pan's Labyrinth, Lord of the Rings Return of the King and Destiny Deoxys, and the guardian from The Secret of Kells, who make a TON of parenting mistakes are REALLY despicably unlikeable, you end up feeling sorry for Flint's dad. :( All throughout the film, he keeps saying that he doesn't understand science very well, and I can actually hear the loneliness in his voice when he says he could use some help around the shop. The same can be said for the part after The Roofless – he tries to tell Flint about the problem with the food becoming bigger and everyone being in danger, but Flint is too caught up in the concept of making everyone happy and says his point... rather harshly, and then when we see Tim alone in the tackle shop, I actually do feel pretty sorry for him... Especially with his facial expressions... even WITHOUT seeing his eyes, his monobrow can be pretty expressive. :lol:

Also, he does show some genuine concern for his son when he comes across him lamenting his mistake in a rubbish bin, and he does inspire him to try to set things right – and says one of his classic fishing metaphors in a pretty clever way. :D Also, at the end, you legitimately feel the sorrow he feels for his son.... even though we can probably guess that he's NOT dead, because these films often fake us out :XD: - while I do think the moment when they keep saying each other's names drags on a bit... Seriously, I keep expecting SpongeBob to join the name shouting ^^; - but we do get a pretty nice scene when Tim communicates with the monkey translator... :D

He also gets a REALLY funny scene when Flint asks him to go to his lab, starting off with his elevator ride, when he looks into the lab and his monobrow AND moustache rise in shock, and when he has problems using Flint's computer... :lol:

And in the end credits, I like how Flint and Tim come up with a better use for the Spray On Shoes – using it as roof sealant. :D

 

The FLDSMDFR brings forth something I LOVE about this film – the food is not only animated as beautifully and delectably as in Ratatouille, but I love the design of it as well... :yum: All those dials on it when Flint first creates it (Mild/Spicy switch (:iconlemongrabplz::iconsaysplz:MILD OR SPICY?!) Sour/sweet dial, Dry/Saucy, Crunchy/Chewy), the code Flint writes when ordering 'breakfast rain' (INPUT FOOD CODE: MENU <BACON>;V, 'CRISPY'; (CIN>>EGGS)OVEREASY, //N++(TOAST); />>LIQ,(O_J)N: (NOPULP) <) – I wish when I was doing my course in Computer code writing, we got to write that! :giggle: This is actually something that Psyches the Xatu would write when converting computer code into physical food for his Porygon-Z friend Hacker in my Pokemon comics. :D

The food is animated incredibly well – my favourite food design is how well the jelly castle is designed, and how they animated the jelly shaking (when Flint is playing the jelly piano and when he bellyflops onto it :D ).... as well as being a really funny scene, it is so beautifully animated... And it shows that while the animation can be REALLY energetic at times, it knows when to take a rest for the more atmospheric moments – similar to Hotel Transylvania. :) I also love the way that they make boats out of food items, like toasted bread and cheese sails. :D Best vehicle design since the planes in Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines! And some more great puns come up, like the fortune cookie that says 'You are about to be crushed by a giant corn'. :giggle: Wow, I don't think NICODEMUS from The Secret of NIMH would be able to make predictions that great... :lol:

Even though I doubt whether microwave radiation would REALLY make food sentient, this IS a sci-fi film, and at least they give a possible REASON for it – it's over-mutating.... Unlike in Quest For Camelot, where they never explain to us why the plants move in the forest.... :facepalm: But still, we get even more creative designs here – the pizza splitting up and chasing them, armies of mutated headless chickens, boiling fat oil rivers and fondue torches... :yum: MMMM... This film never ceases to make me hungry.... ^^;

 

Even though I question why the FLDSMDFR ITSELF becomes sentient at the end.... :confused: An even more confusing way that something becomes sentient than the way than that ice in Rise of the Guardians.... :lol: It does still make a pretty cool way that Flint defeats it, by overloading it's funnel with Spray-On Shoes... :wow: But I doubt whether that's the last we see of it – as we still have sentient food in the sequel.... :excited:

 

But when I was watching this film recently, something popped into my mind about a possible PROBLEM with this film – there are, understandably, TONS of leftovers, and seen as they're just thrown into a big mountain of leftovers.... I've heard some people say that the townspeople seem a bit wasteful in this sense...

^^; ..........Yeah, that's actually a bit of a problem with this... I mean, luckily, the leftover food will be resolved in the sequel, which I probably will be interested in watching, but still, it does seem like a little bit of a problem that has bothered some people, and even though I don't get bothered by this fact as much as everyone else is, I can see where people are coming from when they question this fact...

 

Brent, voiced by Andy Samberg, comes across as the stereotypical bully in this film at first... ^^; As a baby, he was the mascot for the Baby Brent Sardine cannery, and because of this, he's become the town celebrity, and, of course, he's bullied Flint since the beginning... :iconthatsgreatplz: While his voice did ANNOY me at first, I eventually found it more tolerable as the film went on.. :phew:

But luckily, he gets quite a few funny moments too – when he's running with the golden scissors, when he says 'Glad I'm wearing a diaper' ^^;, when he dive bombs into Flint and Sam when they're diving into the meateorite – and when he says he wants to find out who he really is, and then gets eaten by a headless chicken, and... rather weirdly, becomes Chicken Brent... :iconshockedfaceplz: Probably like a parody of characters who want to discover who they really are in films like this... :lol: And at least he does go to help out Flint and Sam.... he's a more tolerable, less clichéd version of that annoying bully from ParaNorman... :phew:

 

Mayor Shelbourne, the villain of the film, is the mayor of Swallow Falls, who wants to become known around the world, so people can say he's a big mayor.... And he's voiced by the King of B-Movies himself, Bruce Campbell...

:iconashplz::iconsaysplz:Groovy....

Bruce Campbell's voice fits pretty well for this villain, and while not an intimidating villain, he does actually manage to come across as pretty slimy and unnerving at times – especially when he begins playing to Flint's hopes to be loved by everyone... In that way, he's more of a Jigo from Princess Mononoke kind of villain – not necessarily intimidating, but still managing to make you feel uneasy... :ohnoes:

Again, while not the most interesting villain, he, like all of the other characters, gets quite a few funny moments. When he says 'That's why, without consulting ANYONE, I spent the entire town budget on the thing that is under this tarp'... :rofl: As Flint sends his invention into the stratosphere, the Mayor becomes obsessed with the food weather, and uses this opportunity to trick Flint into overloading his invention, offering the prospect of people loving Flint and his invention, when he really wants to promote the town and make himself more well known... And he also becomes LITERALLY a big mayor – as he begins to become morbidly obese... :ohnoes: Oh, sorry, but I have to put in this Army of Darkness line – 'AAAGH! IT'S GETTING BIGGER!' :lol:

The way he's animated when he's moving his arm when he imitates what Flint said 'Blah, blah, blah, science, science, science, BIGGER' -  but I do get a little bit grossed out when he says 'I know I do!' with a full mouth... :puke: Oh, and he gets this funny moment – 'Nice to BEET you!' *throws a RADISH at Flint, while Flint jumps over it and yells 'THAT'S A RADISH!!'*

Luckily, as he is the one pretty much responsible for the disaster, when he orders a Las Vegas style all you can eat buffet, at least he gets his comeuppance in the end, when he eats the food boat he's on, and sinks... :w00t: I have a hearty appetite like this character, but I guess I either have a higher metabolism, exercise more or just don't eat QUITE as much as he does... :lol:

 

Probably my favourite character in this film is the policeman Earl, played by MR T. :laughing: Okay, that's pretty cool casting... :D He plays this hilarious, no-nonsense, in your face policeman who is always jumping about, seeing Flint as a troublemaker... And spouting typical Mr T lines like 'My chest hairs are tinglin', something's up!', 'You're a shenaniginzer, a tomfool!', and a rather funny relationship with his son Cale, always calling him his angel-son, and asking Flint if he could make it rain ice-cream for his son's birthday. All we need now is for him to say -

:iconmrtplz::iconsaysplz:'Quit yo-jibba jibba! You ain't hurt, yo pathetic! If I ever catch ya actin' like a crazy fool again, you're gonna meet my friend PAIN!' (From THIS advert - www.youtube.com/watch?v=NySN_p… )

He also gets some cool moments, when he starts tackling Flint to the ground (often :giggle: ), running for the sea with his food boat, and THROWING Cale to his wife.... :XD: Also, he gets a funny bit with a contact lens -'You see this contact lens, Flint Lockwood? This contact lens represents you, and my eye represents my eye. I've got my EYE ON YOU...' He also tightens his buttocks at one part, and at least he brings everyone to attention that they are just as responsible for the disaster as Flint is – I'I know Flint made the food, but it was made to order, and now it's time for all of us to pay the bill.' :clap: In a way, Earl is even more Mr T than Mr T is... :lol:

He's kind of like what you would get if you mixed the policeman from Rock and Rule together with Zach Hammond in Dead Space... But he DOESN'T get ripped to shreds... :lol:

 

The puns start off from the very start – the opening credits say 'A film by a lot of people'... :XD: This film has pun after pun after pun being thrown at us, and best of all, unlike The Reef, most of them end up working – true, one or two fall flat, for example, when the Mayor keeps repeating the word 'choice' to imitate an echo, that wasn't TOO funny, the part when they try to pronounce FLDSMDFR dragged on a bit, and many of the jokes we've come to expect about people making fun of Flint and Sam were a bit predictable and Balto-esque mean-spirited (for example, I hated it when the news reporter said Sam didn't look appealing, and when he yells 'HEY, FOUR-EYES!' :rage: ), but luckily, for every failed pun the film has, it has a HUNDRED more up its sleeve. :D For example, when Flint shows Sam and Manny a cute internet video for THREE HOURS while he tries to create a satellite to communicate with his invention. :XD: Another bunch of puns it has is the way that the problems in disaster movies are caused – characters just thinking bad things will never happen, commenting on the fact that the major landmarks are always hit first, and different weather disasters being mixed with different food – the hot tea rain, spaghetti tornado and the 'foodalanche'. :lol:

But I will say this – what do some American films have against the UK? :iconspongebobwutplz: I mean it, did we do something wrong? In this film, the UK is made fun of quite a lot, and in the end credits, when we see all of the world's cities have food makeovers, making them more sunny and food based.... London is left looking rather dark and dingy..... :( I mean... really? Maybe it's just me, but I find these jokes a bit... questionable... It's like the common joke that the French are often portrayed as cowards... Come on, did anyone making that joke remember the FRENCH RESISTANCE in World War II? Even VALIANT knew that the French weren't cowards! :hmm:

Sorry, I'm really getting sidetracked in this one... ^^;

 

As you've probably gathered, I LOVE this film's animation... :D

As well as being really energetic at times, and making some awesome facial expressions, the film also really makes the food look great – it's as realistic as the food in Ratatouille :love: - but best of all, it knows how to slow down for the atmospheric moments. :aww: The colours are also really pretty to look at, the shading is great, the character designs are really fun, and the settings are also brilliant – like the tackle shop, the food related sets, and Flint's lab. One of my favourite shots is when they're flying up to the FLDSMDFR and we see the water going into the top of the giant meatball... We also have the jellybean rainbow, the ice cream snow, the jelly castle, the really realistic maple syrup on top of the giant pancakes, and the spaghetti tornado... :yum: Oh, stop it film.. My mouth is watering! :love: This animation studio really knows how to balance speed and energy of animation with the more atmospheric moments.... It's MUCH better than in A Fox's Tale, The Reef, The Wild and The Flight Before Christmas.... :phew:

The animation in THIS is not only CONTROLLED and CONTAINED, but it has great, beautiful colours, hilarious body language and expressions, and brilliant character designs. And luckily, the QUICK animation is not as hard to keep up with as that one scene in Hotel Transylvania when Johnny is hanging onto the witch's broom – that bit is the one bit of animation in that film that seems TOO energetic.... ^^;  But this animation studio proves itself with the great animation in that film too. :clap: I think this animation studio, after the film Surf's Up, decided to step up the speed in their films, as this film had quite fast animation in places compared to Surf's Up, and Hotel Transylvania became even faster... :XD:

By the way, which CGI film WAS the one who started the tradition of putting 2D animation in the ending credits? :hmm: I don't mind it, of course, but I still find it pretty weird that nearly ALL CGI children's films now have hand-drawn animation in the credits... :hmm: I think it was one of the Pixar films that started off this 'tradition'. :shrug: And, am I the only one who's reminded slightly of The Yellow Submarine when I watch the end credits animation? :meow:

 

I will admit I'm not usually a big fan of pop songs like the one in the end credits, but I do find myself liking the song 'Raining Sunshine' quite a lot. :headbang: Strangely enough, the music at the beginning is another example of a piece of music that actually gives me CHILLS when I listen to it because it's so awesome – yes, CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS has music that is THAT beautiful... :aww: I also think the 'Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows' song is also well placed, as it is literally talking about food based weather... It's not like in the remake of The Cat in the Hat or The Wild where they throw in misplaced songs just to promote the soundtracks of those films.... ^^;

 

:iconvuk-91::iconsaysplz: This movie made me hungry

:icondisneycow82::iconsaysplz: I almost feel hungry every time I watch this film and wish that one of us had the power to make food fall from the sky and feed both homeless people and animals. In a way, I was kind of like Flint Lockwood when wanting to be accepted and make others happy with my talents.

:iconpokerouge::iconsaysplz: Admittedly, I don't remember this film but I remember having fun with it :)

:iconvindurza::iconsaysplz: Not a bad film good humor interesting visuals, I fell asleep watching it once kind of ashamed about doing that

:iconailemadragonprincess::iconsaysplz: It's a good film that's funny and some heart. Heck, one of my friends listed it as one of her favourite films.

:iconeeveeextreme::iconsaysplz: Those puns. So many...

Sam: "Designing the ice cream to accumulate into scoops? I don't know how you're gonna top this."

Flint:"Maybe with hot fudge?"

:iconrimshotplz:

:iconcrazynutbob::iconsaysplz: Amazing how you bring this up as I'm really hungry and making myself some lunch--haha, but enough of that.

I thought it was pretty funny with all the cartoonish designs and food puns and whatnot. :XD:

It's one of those hunger movies. :XD: Not sure if I want to see the sequel; I kind of doubt it's necessary... :hmm:

 

:iconreadplz: Once again, if there's something you feel I haven't commented on, feel free to tell me in the comments below. :aww:

I haven't read the book that this film is based on, so I'm not sure if it follows it well... But it is a brilliant film on it's own. :D

As well as being a film that NEVER fails to make me hungry, it's got a TON of funny jokes and puns (which don't fall as flat as the ones in The Reef, The Wild or Shark Tale :phew: ), the animation is brilliant, the story is fun and it manages to make fun of a lot of funny disaster movie clichés.... And as for this animation studio, I will be returning to it soon – I will be reviewing Hotel Transylvania in the future. :excited:

 

And speaking of monsters, my next review will be the prequel to the Pixar great, Monster's Inc.....

MONSTER'S UNIVERSITY! :w00t:

 

COMING DUCKYWORTH'S THOUGHTS –

:iconbluebulletplz: Monster's University

:iconbluebulletplz:Tron Legacy (:yawn: )

:iconbluebulletplz:Basil The Great Mouse Detective

:iconbluebulletplz:We're Back - A Dinosaur Story

:iconbluebulletplz:The Princess and the Goblin

:iconbluebulletplz: Stan Helsing (:iconfacepalmplz:)

:iconbluebulletplz:Twilight – New Moon (:icontwilightsucksplz:)

:iconbluebulletplz:All Dogs Go To Heaven

 

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The-Psychid's avatar
Oh, I remember watching this film a couple months ago.  It was pretty good, though the only complaint I have is that I felt it was fifteen minutes too long.  (I'm referring the part where Flint and the gang go inside the meatball to deactivate the machine.)  As I think about it, part of me wanted to scream:

:icontomservoplz::iconsaysplz:END!!! EEEEEEEEEEEENNDD!!!!!!

Still, I enjoyed watching it, and I hope to get myself to watch the sequel soon. :giggle: