Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Review

I'm going to try to have a Review Tuesday every week. Either reviewing a book, movie, or video game, maybe even a TV show or two. Today I decided to review a movie my family and I have recently watched, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs."

This movie sort of flew by my radar without much of a glance when it was in theaters, for the fact that it was just another animated film, and my kids didn't show much interest in it since they are at the age where talking animals are more their forte, not people.

Anyway, we picked this up this past week and watched it while eating dinner one night. I don't know what to say, but I was pleasantly surprised by the touching story. It boils down to an outcast, which I think a lot of people can relate to, trying to get recognized for one of his inventions. However, this one had a bit of a glitch in that his inventions would work, just not quite as expected, take for example the hair growth spray that made his father into a sasquatch for a bit, and I don't want to ruin the other's but some are quite amusing.

Another thing that I really liked was the subplots with the father minding his own business and help keep his eccentric son in line with what he considers normal. The ambitious news reporter that was really a closet geek, or the the town mayor who manages to get fat due to the hero's newest invention. These plots all fed into the main story very well which added a depth that I wasn't expecting based on the previews.

The animation on the other hand wasn't as good as say, "Avatar," or even Pixar's "Up," but it had a very charming quality to it. Especially the facial expressions of the characters. Small things like the sneer of the villain, or the rising eyebrows of the father were well captured.

I'm not going to spoil everything, but the ending had some surprising elements that I think will make you laugh out loud as well as cheer for. Overall, I think that this would be a good flick despite its message that eating too much food is good, which was criticized in the media when it came out. I think that most kids between the ages of 4-11 would be a good audience for this, but it also maintains a good flow which kept my wife and I entertained.