Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Based upon the children’s book written by Judi and Ron Barrett, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs opens on September 18th in theaters nationwide, including IMAX 3-D. Columbia wisely chose to schedule an advance screening Thursday night for critics at the AMC Century Cinemas in Santa Monica.

Prior to the screening, co-writer/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller came out for an impromptu greet-fest which quickly set the tone for the quirky kids comedy we were about to be treated to. Sequestered for over a year in the studio, the two first-timers were given millions to produce this movie. With writers for the cult animated hit, Clone High, as well as the popular CBS comedy, How I Met Your Mother, it’s easy to see how these affable thirty-somethings convinced the studio executives they were the right men for the job.

Since Pixar revolutionized the form with Toy Story back in 1999, every studio in Hollywood has tried to mimic their success. Aside from Shrek at Dreamworks and, to a lesser extent, Ice Age at Fox (the later of which, in my opinion, rested solely on the chemistry between Ray Romano/Denis Leary and John Leguizamo), most films haven’t been able to achieve a fraction of the commercial or critical success of John Lasseter and the Pixar group…until now.

CWACOM explodes on the screen in every way imaginable, including 3D. Starting with a simple story of Flint Lockwood (played by SNL veteran Bill Hader), an aspiring inventor living on a small island in the Atlantic whose primary export is sardines, we follow Flint into young adulthood as his wild experiments go awry. Despite his father’s disapproval, Flint vows to go on — convinced one day the town will laud him as the greatest inventor the world has ever seen.

But the town’s Mayor (Bruce Campbell) has other ideas. He thinks the best way to bring back tourism is by opening a theme park dedicated to the sardine. When Flint’s latest invention, a machine that converts water into your favorite food, goes horribly awry, destroying the theme park into rubble while his invention rockets into the sky, all starts looking bleak…until it begins raining cheeseburgers upon the town and a fledgling reporter named Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) catches it all on camera. It isn’t long before the two develop “sparks” off camera, with Sam enamored by Flint’s genius and he with her inner nerd.

But when the greedy Mayor, whose waistline starts to swell to epic proportions as the island receives world wide attention, decides to have Flint dial up his invention a notch, the delicacies spilling from the clouds start becoming larger and larger, causing the city to build a reservoir just to store the leftovers.

Sam suspects a molecular breakdown in Flint’s invention, but when she tries to tell him, his newfound fame and acceptance gets in the way. It isn’t long before it’s up to Flint to figure out how to stop his invention before the world is struck by a virtual super-sized Vegas buffet-style storm.

The final act of the film culminates with a roller coaster ride inside the heart of Flint’s contraption, which has taken a life of its own, including a dangerous cavern of peanut brittle, airborne giant pizza slice fighter jets and a team of ravaging roasted chickens.

CWACOM works on almost every level for reasons that go far beyond some of the visual leaps and bounds it makes on even a Pixar level. What makes the film work at its core is Flint’s emotional story. It’s all about acceptance — deep down, all Flint wants is his emotionally repressed father (played to the hilt by James Caan) who simply cannot understand why his son doesn’t chuck all this invention nonsense and work at his tackle shop. Complimenting his story is Sam Sparks, who covered up her inner nerd long ago by losing her glasses and dorky pony tail in an effort to become a more likable weather girl.

Camouflaged by the high-jinx and visual spectacle, the film manages to strike a chord in all of us when it comes to our need of acceptance. To quote Jon Lovitz’s SNL rendition of Harvey Firestein, “I just want to be loved. Is that so wrong?”

That said, Cloudy‘s chances of success at the box office looks bright and sunny. If you don’t have a child to take this gem to, do yourself a favor and treat your inner child. Finally, a CGI movie that will finally give the folks over at Pixar a reason to look over their shoulder.

Here’s hoping others will follow suit.