Movie Preview : Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Starring Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, and Mr. T
Directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller
Rated PG

What kid never dreamed of flying or going to the moon or inventing something really cool? That's part of being a kid. You don't know yet of the conscription that awaits you, living a life in subway cars or bureaucratic meetings about other bureaucratic meetings or counting calories or making someone else rich. But Flint Lockwood is different from the rest of us. He has refused to grow up and now as a maladjusted adult, tinkers on projects in his own private backyard lab, accessible through a port-a-john. In Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Flint (voiced by Saturday Night Live's Bill Hader) has been nothing but a diasppointment, though he has never given up his dream of becoming the best inventor ever. Clearly, he's not, as the Spray-On Shoes he developed in grade school that are still stuck to his feet 20 years later would indicate. But his hometown is reeling and needs some good news. For decades, it was built on a thriving sardine-exporting business...and then people realized sardines were awful and stopped eating them. That left all the townsfolk with nothing to do but eat all the unwanted sardines, whether that meant baking them, drinking them, or turning sardines into candy. Enter Flint Lockwood, who develops a computer program that will turn water into food. Any food. Cheeseburgers, pizzas, ice cream - you name it. The only problem is that Flint can't really control the vending machine, so instead of making a perfectly grilled steak, the sky rains delicious cuts of meat indiscriminately. The town loves it and is revitalized as a tourist trap. And everyone gets really, really fat. That's not the end of the story, but it's all you need to know. The thing that stands out the most about this film, a loose adaptation of the 1978 children's book of the same name, is how subsersive a lot of it is. Certainly, kids can enjoy it, but as with animated fare like Hoodwink'd, Chance of Meatballs has a much stronger pull for adults. The jokes are more direct, the none-too-subtle media and culture satire is invasive, and the overall tone just isn't meant for six-year-olds. Of course, there's a theory that you can get away with this sort of thing very well in entertainment, which is why there's such a rich history of exactly this sort of thing, from Fritz the Cat to Rocky and Bullwinkle to The Muppets. For the most part, the jokes during the build-up of Flint's story work every time. The last 20 minutes or so, completely dedicated to the logical conclusion, isn't nearly as funny or daring. It could have been, too, which is the worst part of all. The cast is really good: Bill Hader definitely has a future doing this sort of thing, and Anna Faris is almost always funny, as she is here as a nerd-in-hiding meteorologist (or is that meateorologist?). James Caan, playing Flint's less-than-enthusiastic father brings a significant amount of depth to a character that could have been a throwaway, and Mr. T - yep - plays a cop who acts and sounds like Mr. T. This is also another chance to grade 3-D animation and I haven't been significantly impressed by it all year. I didn't love the approach with Coraline, but I have to say, that's really the best example we've seen in 2009. It isn't so much that it doesn't look good - because Up and Monsters vs. Aliens did look good - there's just nothing about the story or its direction that really benefits from you wearing glasses. So save the extra change and just go watch it in the standard format, especially if you have kids. They don't care either way, and the glasses will be a distraction for both of you. Either way, you're likely to have a good time with the film, especially if you're not looking for a literal version of the book.