Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris), left, and Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) react to some unusual precipitation in "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

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Rated PG for brief mild language

Length: 81 minutes

Released: September 18, 2009 Nationwide

Score: 3.5

Cast: Anna Faris, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, James Caan

Director: Christopher Miller, Phil Lord
Producer: Pam Marsden
Writer: Chris Miller, Phil Lord, Judi Barrett, Ron Barrett
Genre: Animation, Family
Distributor: Sony Pictures

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The Candy Man could learn a thing or two from "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."

Sweets are great and all, but every now and then even a kid craves some meat and veggies. Well, maybe just meat. But veggies are a lot more appealing when they rain from the sky along with other goodies. Broccoli in the lunchbox? Boring. A spring shower of celery? Awesome.

The 3-D computer animated film "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs" doesn't have much in common with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (or "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory" and its treacly "Candy Man" song) outside of exaggerated and creative food production and kid-lit origins. Yet "Cloudy" has the potential also to become a family favorite. Its memorable characters are presented in over-the-top animation that doesn't shrink from the tag "cartoonish," its aesthetic attributes are as amazing as a lavish Hollywood production and its dual-layered comedic sensibilities offer amusement to adults while entertaining the young ones.

Oh, and the celebrity vocal cast feels organic, not overpriced.

Bill Hader (of "Saturday Night Live," "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and "Superbad" fame) voices main character Flint Lockwood. Flint grew up dreaming of becoming a great inventor, and he has a long history of memorable but failed inventions, including spray-on shoes and a flying car, to his credit. He's a joke to the citizens of his hometown, Swallow Falls.

Still, Flint continues to hope that he can prove himself - and save his town in the bargain. Nestled on a tiny island in the Atlantic, Swallow Falls has become a bleak place. Its one industry, sardine canning, dried up when people realized that sardines are "super gross." The folks in Swallow Falls have nothing to eat but sardines, so Flint is working on a machine that will convert water into any kind of food.

Flint's latest potential disaster coincides with the unveiling of a tourism project by the ambitious mayor (Bruce Campbell) and the field-reporting debut of a weather network intern, Sam Sparks (Anna Faris). Flint's father, Tim (James Caan), and police chief Earl Devereaux (Mr. T) watch skeptically, but Flint's machine somehow works, promising a new era for Swallow Falls.

"Cloudy," directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller and based on the book by Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett, is boisterous and fun with only a couple of slow patches. It pays tribute to sci-fi films and plays around with action-movie tropes. Underneath the judiciously utilized 3-D, it also contemplates several serious and timely themes, such as father-son relationships, the bullying of nerds, the pressure on girls to hide their brains, overconsumption, immigration, the environment and tough economic times. However, the messages never intrude on the comedy or adventure.

The vocal cast, which also includes Benjamin Bratt (as a taciturn cameraman), Andy Samberg (as a big "baby") and Neil Patrick Harris (as Flint's monkey!), makes the characters distinctive and likable. The animation is colorful and hyperbolic yet convincing in its own reality.

"Cloudy" is food for the eyes, brain and funnybone. To paraphrase an old restaurant slogan, "Go hungry. Leave happy."

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
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