Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Film: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)

Stars: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Bruce Campbell, Mr. T

Director: Phil Lord and Chris Miller

Oscar History: The film was likely in the running for the Animated Feature Oscar in 2009, though it’s questionable whether or not it was ahead of Ponyo

Snap Judgment Ranking: 1/5 stars

One of my most frequent and biggest complaints about basing a film on real-life or a book is that the director is far too-limited by the source material.  Creating a story that isn’t based on anything allows a filmmaker to truly take risks and chances and move the story in directions the audience doesn’t expect.  Therefore, I’m always encouraging screenwriters to abandon, bend, and morph the source material as needed to make the most interesting movie they know how.  While Cloudy is hardly what one could call a great (or even a good) movie, it’s nice to know that at least one person took this to heart, as this movie could not have less to do with the classic Judi Barrett children’s story.

For those who were expecting a grandfather’s charming tale to his grandchildren, they will be sorely disappointed.  Aside from the film’s name and the titular meatballs, the movie doesn’t keep anything from the original tale.  Instead we have Flint Lockwood (Hader), a hapless inventor who has an aptitude for science, but not quite the practical applications of it, who creates a machine that turns the weather from rain and snow into ice cream and spaghetti.  He also, of course, has a crush on a girl, a bumbling weather girl with big light dreams named Sam Sparks (Faris), who happens upon the story of the century when she starts covering the city that regularly enjoys a donut downpour.   The machine, thanks to the greed of the town’s citizenry and Flint’s need for approval, begins to become overworked, and soon the city is covered in a whirlwind of gigantic steaks and cakes.

The film eventually has everyone evacuating, leaving the city of Swallow Falls doused in what can only be assumed to be a nasty upcoming expiration date of perishable products, leaving both a remnant of the original story intact and also a great opening for a sequel if the film was oddly popular (this film looked like a miss on-paper, but did quite well in its first run).

The movie suffers both from a host of clichés and an over-the-top color palette.  Both Faris and Hader are fine comedians, but they gain more from their performances when they are accompanied by either dark humor or tragedy, neither of which is at home in an animated family film (Faris, in particular, is so good at the specific niche of tragic comedy figure in a brilliant introverted film, as seen in Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain). The movie never really moves beyond the standard animated expectations, so what should save it is the galaxy of food that is coming from the sky (clearly the draw power here).

What we are left with, though, is something that looks less like visually appealing food (Pixar has spoiled us all) and more like a dose of neon Dr. Seuss-style delicacies.  The film would have gained so much had it simply made its food and city look like actual baked goods rather than comical plastic creations.  There’s nothing very special about the film if it can’t get its most interesting attribute right, and so I left the film thinking we’d had a missed opportunity from a dull, predictable plot.  That said, I do still stand by my earlier praise-I wish and hope that more filmmakers would take liberties with their source material (like, say, Alfonso Cuaron’s magical Prisoner of Azkaban) than adhering to the book at the suffering of their vision.

Those are my thoughts, but what are yours?  I reviewed this film primarily in part as our 2009 OVP (since it’s one of the few films that was nominated for a Globe that missed at Oscar that I haven’t seen), but I of course want to know if you had a different opinion.  Do you also wish someone would find a larger way to showcase the greatness Faris has achieved in small roles (someone other than Chuck Lorre, that is)?  And for those who have seen both, is the sequel worth checking out, or perhaps an improvement on this tale?  Share your thoughts in the comments!