Pretty Good

not horrible nor great

Good concept, poorly executed.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

"Ever since he was a kid, Flint Lockwood was an inventor but not a very good one, seeing as how none of his inventions have turned out as planned. So, his father has him work in his bait shop full time. Not going to give up easily, Flint has one more invention up his sleeve, one that should create food out of water for the sardine overdosed population of the island where he lives. And like all the others, this one ends in failure, too, even destroying Sardineland, whose opening Sam Sparks, an intern from the Weather News Network, was covering. But then, there are signs of success... With animation that is less than satisfying and unimaginative, the best that could be said about ""Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"" is that it does manage to be silly on occasion with one great joke. And with the exception of Bruce Campbell's fantastic vocal work, that's pretty much it.(Does he do a lot of this or did somebody else miss their calling?) While I do salute the movie for favoring intelligence, especially with women, it does not help that the so called hero is something of a jerk. And the central message surrounding overconsumption and the 'obesity epidemic' is severely heavy handed when considering that Flint's invention would have great potential for those parts of the globe where people are going hungry."

I am a huge fan of animated movies. From 'Wall-E' to 'How to train your dragon' from 'Toy Story' to 'Finding Nemo' to (yes) 'Frozen'. I just love them. 'Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' is definitely not an animated movie I love or even like. One cliché after another. The absolutely unintelligent, stupid 'villains' there to hate without a real purpose (I'm not even sure how that is possible) just like the 'heroes' (who are not likable and couldn't produce an intelligent thought at all). In the middle of the movie I gave up and pressed 'forward' because at least I wanted to find out how the movie ended. The ending was just as useless as the rest of the movie. I did not enjoy the movie.

Family-fantasy flick (with touches of science-fiction) about a wannabe-inventor's (Hader) successful creation of converting water into food… and being on an island where sardines is the base of the economy, the clumsy protagonist quickly becomes a hero until the gluttonous and egotistical mayor (Campbell) takes advantage of the device. Lots of laughs for all members of the family; very visual, with a few moments of pretty computer-animated scenery; never a dull moment; and great casting. Mr. T, as the town's athletic cop (with an exact opposite hairstyle as the actor), couldn't have been voiced better by anyone else. Unfortunately, this charming outing is not without its cons, especially with an overly-whacky conclusion. And who would've thought that food falling from the sky would be such a conflict when malnutrition is alive and well? Based on the bestselling children's book.*** (out of four)

I first saw this film at the cinema with a member of support staff at my former care home five years ago and we both enjoyed it a lot. Recently my mother purchased the DVD for me when she got it for a special price with another purchase at HMV and when I watched it this evening, I enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time around.The animation is consistent for the most part with some good uses of squash and stretch, especially in the Jell-O scene, but it was sometimes rapid and jarring, particularly on Earl towards the end of the film and while the character designs are cartoonish with a few blocky elements (particularly the nose of Flint's father and Earl's hands) and not as realistic as those in the Shrek franchise, the visuals were inventive, the backgrounds were full of vibrancy, especially the enormous Jell-O 'palace' and when the film's setting was covered in ice cream, and detailed. It was funny when a banana 'boomerang' knocked the Columbia lady out of her spot in the opening logo and this is the most creative use of the logo since 'Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle' (in which the camera zooms into the fire of the lady's torch and links to a real fire in the film itself). I also like the use of hybridity. While the majority of the film is 3D computer-animated, I liked the use of the cute dog film to provide a background for a weather summary, the animated photograph of a cat and the 2D special effects plus also the brightly-coloured 2D end-credits sequence if it was jerky in parts. The story is unique and, as other reviewers have said, full of originality due to using the food theme in a way that has never been thought of in animated film before while the dialogue is witty and smart. Some of the funniest moments included Baby Brent's repeated "Uh-oh!" line and Flint's monkey Steve (the second animated primate I've heard of with that name, the other one being from childhood favourite 'Spot the Dog') wanting gummy bears and eventually fighting them off during the climax. I did agree with a previous reviewer about Earl's line, "I love you, son," being repetitive but it was really sweet nonetheless. Despite the majority of the voice cast being lesser known, the voice acting is one of the best assets of the film and the cast members I seem the most familiar with are Anna Farris as Sam and 'The A Team's' Mr T as Earl. While the music is not the most memorable feature, I liked the song 'Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows' by Lesley Gore as well as Miranda Cosgrove's (who went on to voice Margo in the 'Despicable Me' films) 'Raining Sunshine,' the one playing over the 2D-animated portion of the end credits and the incidental music playing while an allergy-swollen Sam tries to pull up Flint with a Twizzler is beautiful. Both Flint and Sam are worthwhile leads while Earl and his son, the mayor, Baby Brent, Flint's father and Steve all provide great support.In spite of the animation being slightly inconsistent in places and a couple of repetitive lines, this film really is a feast for the eyes and is without doubt one of the most creative I've ever seen. 8/10.