Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

I took my 2 girls to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs thinking they would enjoy it since they got the book at the library in the spring. Usually Film Mom handles the movie duties but she didn't have any interest in seeing Cloudy. She didn't know what I knew though. The fact that Bill Hader and Andy Samberg were doing most of the voice work was enough to sell me on the movie.

My big problem with animated movies is that I'm not very good at picking out who the voices of the characters are until I look them up on IMDB. Toy Story was ruined for me at the movie theater until I figured out that the mom's voice was done by Laurie Metcalf from Roseanne. I didn't do my homework beforehand so I spent 30 minutes of the movie trying to figure out who the main girl's voice was. Once it hit, the movie was much more enjoyable, I'm just glad that I'd seen The House Bunny this week or I never would have figured out Anna Faris. Her character, Sam Sparks, is now included in my private collection of cartoons that could be included in some personal alone time (if you get my drift) with the likes of Jessica Rabbit, Betty Boop, Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble.

The movie is pretty funny, it's almost a cartoon version of Hot Rod with plenty to entertain adults. If not for the subject matter, I would say that they were shooting for an adult demographic with this movie. I enjoyed the movie thoroughly namely because it had the silly elements of Hot Rod and the SNL sketch Laser Cats, but mixed in was a good plot and nice little geek love story. Bruce Campbell as the mayor made me laugh several times and Samberg was quite funny in his role as well.

The animation was top notch and the characters were well defined and enjoyable. Bill Hader's character, Flint Lockwood, was quite enjoyable, but his dad, played by James Caan was the star of the animation crew. The device of his face only having bushy eyebrows and mustache was genius along with the fact that he only spoke in fishing metaphors. James Caan did a fine job with the voice, but animation really brought the idea of the character to life.

Cloudy has many things for an adult to laugh at or enjoy and the kids of course enjoyed it. The last half hour did drag along a little bit and was a little scary for one of my girls (and legitimately so) but the first hour of the movie was well worth a little drag on the back end. I didn't see it in 3D or IMAX and kind of wish I had. It was an impressive little visual movie and would have been enhanced by the 3D effect. But in 2D it was perfectly enjoyable. This isn't one of those kids movies that hold no enjoyment for a grown up so take your kids and enjoy yourself.