Our first glimpse finds a gigantic banana knocking over the torch-lady in the studio logo. Next we get what might be the most honest opening credit ever listed: "A film by...a lot of people."
And later we get food falling from the sky. What an appetizing gimmick, especially when that food is animated and enormous and silly and funny.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is based on the popular 1982 children's book of the same name by Judi and Ron Barrett, providing this delightful feature with superb source material.
Debuting co-writer-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (whose TV partnerships included working on the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" and the animated "Clone High") celebrate personal uniqueness and creative originality in their bright and witty screenplay, never talking down to their young audience.
They've fashioned the screenplay as, among other things, a parody of catastrophic-weather disaster flicks like Twister and The Day After Tomorrow. But what the film ultimately becomes is a soft-sell satire of contemporary life, especially our penchant for mass overconsumption and celebrity worship.
And although this isn't the year's best animated movie (that remains Up in the air), it just might be the funniest, so generous is it with spirited sight gags and clever wordplay, and so sharp is its comic timing.
"Saturday Night Live's" Bill Hader provides the voice of socially awkward, failed inventor Flint Lockwood, who is as special an individual as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a kidflick.
When his economically troubled island community, Swallow Falls, finds it necessary to close down its sardine factory, its main source of food and income, the eccentric inventor builds a machine that he hopes will improve everyone's life, especially folks stuck on a sardine-centric diet.
Moreover, maybe it will even provide a solution to the world's hunger problem.
Miraculously, the device transmutes water into food.
So Flint starts planning meals to rain down on the hungry, grateful, greedy, delighted townsfolk. Then tourists descend on Swallow Falls, Flint becomes a celebrity, and everything is great. Until...
Well, look at it this way: a meatball the size of a Buick is a threat, right? An ice cream snowstorm is still a storm. No matter how much you like pancakes, if they're the size of cruise ships, they could do damage.
So when the contraption gets out of control and starts spewing out spaghetti tornadoes and meteor-size meatballs, although no one's going hungry, life becomes not only fattening but precarious.
Anna Faris voices Sam Sparks, the local TV weather forecaster who's covering the high-calorie meteorological phenomenon. Other supporting characters include Flint's emotionally stingy fisherman father (James Caan); the pretentious town bully who has always tormented Flint (Andy Samberg); the ambitious, opportunistic, always hungry, and ever-expanding mayor (Bruce Campbell); and the straight-arrow, in-your-face town cop (Mr. T).
Will kids dig this attraction even more in 3-D Imax? Perhaps a little, but it's nowhere near a necessity for appreciation or enjoyment.
So we'll devour 3 stars out of 4 for the mildly subversive and wildly endearing goofball romp, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, a tasty animated treat that champions individuality and intelligence and doesn't bite off more than it can chew.
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 2/5/10
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the 2010 Academy Award nominations and the new movies "The Last Station," "From Paris with Love," and "Dear John." (18:37)
Movie Reviews - Week of 2/1/10
KYW movie critic Bill Wine takes a look at the movies "The Last Station," "From Paris with Love," and "Dear John." (2:58)
Movie Reviews - Week of 1/25/10
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Legion," "Edge of Darkness," "When in Rome." (3:02)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 1/29/10
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the horror-thriller "Legion," the crime drama "Edge of Darkness," and the rom-com "When in Rome." (15:05)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 1/22/10
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine preview the Oscars and a look at the drama "Extraordinary Measures," and the comedy, "Tooth Fairy." (14:58)
Movie Reviews - Week of 1/18/10
KYW movie critic Bill Wine has this oscar preview and gives his thoughts on the movies "Extraordinary Measures" and "Tooth Fairy" . (2:57)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 1/15/10
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the drama "Crazy Heart," the crime-horror-thriller "The Lovely Bones," and action-adventure-drama "The Book of Eli." (18:52)
Movie Reviews - Week of 1/11/10
KYW movie critic Bill Wine gives his thoughts on the movies "Crazy Heart", "The Lovely Bones" and "The Book of Eli". (3:00)
Yada Yada Movies - Weekend of 1/8/10
KYW's Steve Nikazy and KYW movie critic Bill Wine take a look at the movies "Youth in Revolt", "Leap Year" and "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus". (17:42)
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And later we get food falling from the sky. What an appetizing gimmick, especially when that food is animated and enormous and silly and funny. 
Moreover, maybe it will even provide a solution to the world's hunger problem.
