Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Recently, I updated my facebook status to say that I was watching Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs with the girls, and a couple of friends said, "Ooh. Tell me what you think." When I started writing, it soon got way to long for a comment on a status update, so here it is.

I slid this movie into the DVD player expecting to see an animated version of the children's picture book. The title is exactly the same, so the story, with some additions, deletions, and mutations (as happen when changing media) should be more or less recognizable. I had even read the book with the girls and asked them to make predictions about what the film might add to go from a 10 minute read-aloud to an animated feature.

In reality, the story is totally different. In the picture book, Chewandswallow is presented as a tall tale, within the frame story of Grandpa flipping the pancake onto Henry's head. And, as in tall tale tradition, extraordinary events are not explained. They simply are. And we suspend disbelief, enjoying the story. This attitude allows the events in Chewandswallow to be extraordinary and accepts that what seems supernatural to us may be perfectly natural somewhere else. After all, there are "an ocean, lots of humpy bumpy mountains, three deserts, and one smaller ocean" between us and Chewandswallow, so anything can happen there.

The film, though, is more science-fiction than tall tale. It explains why Chewandswallow has food for weather (young inventor's transmuter machine accidentally gets booted into the clouds) and why that food weather gets out of control (gluttony and pride). Science provides means, while psychology provides motivation. Having expected the tall tale, I was initially disappointed by the science fiction.

There is, however, a lot to like about this film in and of itself. Both the hero and the heroine grow, and their success is interdependent. As a parent, I really appreciate the way that the characters take responsibility for their mistakes and work to fix the resulting problems. As a grown-up, I enjoyed the satirical jabs at American culture. As a long-time fan of the picture book, I reveled in the appearance of the Jell-o sunset, the pancake on the school, the salt and pepper wind, and the bread boats. As a Star Wars fan, I laughed out loud at the meatball Death Star.

All in all, I would give this film a thumbs-up. I do wish that they had changed the title, so that it would suggest Chewandswallow without leading one to expect the picture book on film.

There you go, ladies, that's what I think. What do you think?