CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS

Dir. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller US 2009

"Alright, this...probably won't explode."

While Inception is still percolating in my brain (I saw it twice), I thought I'd throw this out there as a quickie. Jenn and I watched this on impulse last weekend and it turned out to be a lot better than either of us were expecting.

I have pretty fond childhood memories of the book this was based on, but I definitely don't remember any distinct characters or a plot that could fill up ninety minutes. The filmmakers (the guys behind the criminally unknown Canadian MTV cartoon Clone High from about ten years ago, which you should go download because there hasn't been a US DVD release of it yet) took the charming premise of the book, set in a town where it rains food, and grafted on a witty, well-voiced family comedy.

Bill Hader voices Flint Lockwood, a well-meaning, borderline-mad scientist who's inventions (or rather, their total failures) are the bane of his small island town. When he invents a machine that turns water into food and accidentally launches it into the sky above town, the weather patterns begin producing food of all shapes and sizes. Revitalizing his failing town as a tourist hot spot, Flint's glorious success is cut short by the increasingly unpredictable and destructive nature of his invention. He has to save his town, win his father's approval and get the hot, snarky weather girl to like him, all in a snappy ninety minutes.

So this movie got released to what seemed like little fanfare last year, and I completely forgot about it until I saw it on InstantWatch. If anyone's watched Clone High, the same awkward, absurd humor from that show translates fairly seamlessly to this movie, if only toned down a little. Flint is a portrayed as an extremely off-beat, border-line insane weirdo who's never had any real friends. Although it's all pretty much played for laughs, I can't remember the last children's film I saw that had a protagonist this emotionally disturbed. Most of this comes from Bill Hader's performance. Lots of awkward stops and starts and creepy asides. Anna Faris plays his love interest, a peppy TV weather girl who masks her genius on camera because she thinks only ditzy girls have successful careers. It's a nice role for Faris, letting her play with her bread-and-butter stupid blonde role while also playing a character with a bit more depth and intelligence. It'd be nice to see that from her in her live-action roles.

The supporting cast features James Caan as Flint's dad, Mr. T as an overzealous, ludicrously acrobatic local cop and, bizarrely, Neil Patrick Harris as Flint's pet monkey, Steve, who speaks through a helmet similar to the one Dug has in Up.

Yeah. I didn't have much to say about this, but I thought it was worth recommending if you're in the mood for something like this. Now, ::cracks neck:: Inception.