Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
A good family film.
I hesitated seeing this film, only because I’ve loved the book so much since I was a kid.
Once it was out on DVD, we got it for my daughter and I decided I’d better sit through it.
It follows a young inventor who creates a machine that can turn water into food. It, like all his other experiments, goes completely out of control and ends up throwing more and more food that continually grows in size at the small town, then the world. It’s basically a prequel to the book(s) and gives viewers an origin story to them.
The CG work in Cloudy is amazingly well done. It’s nice to see other companies other than Pixar put out quality computer animated works.
The story is funny, charming and there is next to nothing inappropriate in the entire film, with the exception of the mayor saying he wants to get out of this “hell hole”. I’m not sure why in a movie that is 99% appropriate for kids to be watching, they feel the need to throw casual swearing in. That’s a little frustrating, but at least it’s just the once.
I’d highly recommend this movie to anyone with kids. Something you can watch and enjoy as a family. Then get out there and read you kids the books.
January 24th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I’m sure Hadley has heard “hell hole” before. It’s quite honestly not swearing anymore. Hellhole has it’s very own context that is quite a bit different than the concept of hell.
Would you rather have the movie use a word that a kid would have never heard before when a simpler word could have sufficed?
January 24th, 2010 at 2:34 pm
basically, little kids repeat stuff. movies like stuart little have multiple instances of “damns” and “hells”. i dont want my 3.5 year old saying, damn or hell-hole. they couldve easily had the character say “i need to get out of this place”, especially considering that there wasnt a single other vulgarity in the film.
January 26th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
It was better than I thought it would be. Pretty fun.
February 9th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Interesting that it matters to us that we shelter our kids, why? Here is a really thoughtful look on this issue: http://www.paulgraham.com/lies.html
I know, I know, you want to say “TLDNR LOLZ!” but seriously, he raises some good questions.