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I had the most
pleasant surprise a few days ago. I sat
down with my family to watch the Bluray
for “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.”
I say surprise because the only thing I
knew about the movie was that it was based
on a popular children’s book (that
I have not read) and only saw the original
movie posters and trailer.
For some reason, the thought of an animated
film based on raining food didn’t
seem that interesting, and the trailer didn’t
make we want to see it all that bad. I thought
it looked colorful, but not much more.
The surprise came when after only a few
minutes into the movie I began to laugh.
And laugh hard. I ended up laughing throughout
the entire film and enjoyed it so much that
we have already watched it three times since
receiving it.
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Not only was it one of the funniest animated
films of the year (“Up” being the
absolute BEST animated film of the year), but
it was so broad in its comedy that it appealed
to my daughter and wife and much as it did to
me. The humor comes at you fast and furious and
quite honestly it takes several viewings to catch
every joke.
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
is set in the small town of Swallowfalls off the
Atlantic Coast. The town used to be prosperous
because of its Sardine Cannery, but when it was
learned that sardines were ‘yucky’,
the plant went out of business. One of the town’s
residents, Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), is introduced
to us as young boy who wants nothing more to be
a great inventor. Unfortunately his experiments
always seem to go wrong. As a man, his father
(James Caan) wants Flint to give up his dreams
and join him at the family’s Bait ‘N
Tackle Shop. But Flint knows that he has one good
invention in him and creates the Flint Lockwood
Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator
(which the hysterically pronounced acronym for
still keeps my daughter and me laughing). Of course,
everything goes wrong… well seemingly wrong…
and soon it’s raining food.
I can’t tell you how much I ended up loving
this movie. It’s a great comedy, not just
because of the great script but also due to the
terrific animation and voice performances. The
entire cast, which includes Anna Faris, Mr. T,
Andy Samberg, Benjamin Bratt and B-Movie Icon
(and personal hero) Bruce Campbell, delivers every
line with punch line accuracy. Even the multi-talented
Neil Patrick Harris, who only has a few lines
thanks to Flint’s monkey thought translator,
offers huge laughs.
Sony’s Bluray set of “Cloudy with
a Chance of Meatballs” offers up a DVD version
of the film (so the kids can watch it in their
room as well) and a Digital copy. The only complaint
I have about the Digital copy is that it only
works with Sony’s PSP. I don’t get
not making it available for iPods as well. Someone
needs to tell Sony to get off of its proprietary
high horse and give consumers more of a choice.
Anyhow, the Bluray disc really enhances the animation
in terms of detail. While the film’s style
is very cartoonish, the amount of detail that
you can see is astounding. And if you have a decent
surround system in your home, the sound is perfectly
mixed and makes for a very immersive experience.
As for special features, Sony did a pretty nifty
job of putting together quite a few to entertain
the masses. First up is a commentary by Bill Hader,
who is joined by co-directors Christopher Miller
and Phil Lord. Hader is an especially funny guy
and he keeps the commentary light as they discuss
the film’s animation style and some of the
director’s choices in making changes from
the original book. After that I took a look at
the ‘Making of’ featurette, which
shed a good bit of light on the process of book
to film. I especially enjoyed the “Key Ingredients”
feature which introduced all of the great voice
talent behind the characters. You’ll also
find some extended and early development scenes
as well as music video for Miranda Cosgrove’s
“Raining Sunshine” (along with a making
of the video featurette). There is also a Food
Fight game and, last but not least, an interactive
Splat button that allows you to throw food at
the screen while you’re watching the movie.
“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”
was a much, much better movie than I expected
and a wonderful flick to watch with the kids.
Directed by: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Starring (the voices of): Bill Hader, Anna Faris,
James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr.
T, Bobb’e J Thompson, Benjamin Bratt, Neil
Patrick Harris, Al Roker, Lauren Graham, Will
Forte
Extras: The Making of “Cloudy with a Chance
of Meatballs”; “Raining Sunshine”
Music Video by Miranda Cosgrove, Interactive Sing
Along; Behind the Scenes for the Video; The Voices
of “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”;
Extended Scenes; Progression Reels; Early Development
Scenes; Director’s Commentary with Bill
Hader; Interactive Splat Button; Flint’s
Food Fight Game; PSP Digital Copy of the Film
Specification: Sony
Release Date: 1/5/2010
MPAA Rating: PG
http://www.sonywonder.com\cloudy
We'll give Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
(Bluray) an A.
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