Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs | Film No. 16

I bought this film because I remembered that I had liked it at some point.  However, upon re-watching, it far surpassed any memory that I had of it. Below is an actual representation of my face when I remembered how funny this film is.

The beginning of the film contains full quick-cut flat-lay scenes, a la Wes Anderson, and a full eighties logo design with lasers coming out of it. The humor in this film is very reminiscent of old cartoons, not the more realistic animation that studios have been cranking out in the last 15 years.  STEVE! It feels familiar in style, but new in terms of the kind of comedy that is used.  It is precious, *it has to be, cause it is a kids movie, right?* and the timing of jokes is impeccable.  STEVE!

I was truly shocked when I looked at the cast list. It was a bunch of SNL people, with Andy Samberg playing the most “bro” character and Bill Hader playing the crazy-eyed nerd.  It is all too perfect.

Sony Pictures Animation was really going somewhere at the time this was released.  It had just finished Surf’s Up, literally one of my favorite kids film (I don’t own it because I can borrow it from my mom, OK!?) with improvised lines and a ground-breaking filming style within an animated world that made it feel like a documentary.  SPA followed that with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, not the most “ground-breaking” but one where the nerds of the world get to have a funny film that is smart too.

Following the release of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, SPA has really only made franchise-able films.  They have just been adding 2’s and 3’s onto their successful films, and creating things like The Emoji Movie.  As a company that broke into the Pixar animation world because they were different, they seem to have settled into a mold just like everyone else.

All negativity aside, I love this film and regret not watching it more often.   I really do connect with Flint Lockwood on a spiritual level and, yes, sometimes when I go through doors I make the shhhhhck sound that doors make on the starship Enterprise. We all need to have a bit more Flint Lockwood in our hearts and on our TV’s.

This post is part of my year-end challenge to watch every movie that I own.  If you want to see the original post with a full list of all of the films.  Click here.