Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

The latest animation that took my fancy was the Sony Production, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It had a potentially very amusing premise, with animated destruction guaranteed, but the quality wasn't only in the animation, it was the wit, and voice acting that steals the show in this occasionally laugh out loud hilarious film.

The story? A wannabe scientist, Flint Lockwood (voiced by the always hilarious Bill Hader) creates a machine that can turn water into food, and, after an accident involving an explosion, Shamu the Sardine and Mr T, the machine shoots off into the air. The machine's water-to-food system reacts with the clouds, and in turn, making it rain food whenever Flint tells it to. And so, he soon becomes the town hero, but naturally, it doesn't go to plan, and destruction occurs.

I found it a very clever plot, and considering it was a U certificate, I thought it was very clever, and more adult orientated. The kids watching would be mesmerized by the falling food, but the adults would be captivatd by the plain-sight visual jokes, the hilarious lines and, more than anything else, the small visual jokes in the background that will take a number of views to catch every single one. For example, there are often short shots of different cities such as New York, London and Paris, and, in New York in particular, there are numerous billboards, and I could only ever read one in that space of time. But, I can assure you, there will be at least 5 jokes on those billboards.

Anna Faris plays Flint's love interest with apprentice-turned-weathergirl, Sam Sparks, and it's the weathergirls scenes that really steal the show. It's not Sam's jokes, it's that whenever she broadcasts the news, there is a ticker accross the bottom of the screen. The kids will be watching the film, but the mature audience will know that there will be an abundance of jokes just scrolling accross, oblivious to the kids, but often during those scenes, the children would be very quiet, but you could hear numerous adults laughing out loud at certain news stories, me included.

This is what I love about animation. Pixar often do background jokes, but Sony have taken it a step further, with there being something to see at every single moment in the film. You could argue that it's taking your attention from the film, but you just can't help looking around the screen at every person and every sign, hoping for a comedy gem that no one else notices.

The film's effects are nothing short of outstanding. This wasn't a typical animation, it wasn't so perfectly clean as films like Toy Story or Shrek, but that added to the character of the movie, and added to our main character. Flint was not the perfect guy, the animation wasn't state-of-the-art brilliant, but by not being brilliant, it was. They concentrated on the story-line, targeting every audience, and they hit the nail bang on the head.

Unfortunately, the film's second half wasn't as crisp as the first, concentrating on the tense moments of Flint trying to save the day, but that didn't really bother me. I'd spent so much of the first half laughing, that I needed a lull to calm myself down. An excellent children's comedy, that, I feel, adults will get so much more out of.

8.3/10.