Like a bag of sweets, kids will get more out of it than grown-ups - 64%

Rating: 6/10 (23 August 2014)

Many accuse me of being a Pixar snob, biased towards the originators of feature-length CG films and dismissive of the works of others. On the face of it, this would appear to be sound. But there are Pixar films that are weaker than others ("Cars 2" springs instantly to mind) while many studios are catching Pixar up with efforts like "Despicable Me" and "The Lego Movie". It isn't as cut-and-dry as they might imagine and lo, here was another film I was told would be a challenge to Pixar's previously unimpeachable dominance. While it might be a technical tour de force, it veers wildly from emotive family issues to a kung-fu kicking roast chicken and frankly, there is a lot of stuff that doesn't stick.
In the sleepy Atlantic island haven of Swallow Falls, wannabe inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) has been testing his latest venture - a machine which can turn water into whatever food is programmed into it. But like his spray-on shoes and rat-bird hybrids, the prototype goes wrong and ends up blasting itself into the upper atmosphere. But to Flint's amazement, it begins raining food which delights the residents and the mayor (Bruce Campbell) in particular, who sees the bizarre climate as an opportunity to relaunch the island as a tourist destination. But Flint isn't happy - his disapproving father (James Caan) wishes Flint would simply work in his fishing tackle shop while Flint's attempts at wooing weather reporter Sam Sparks (Anna Faris) are as disastrous as his inventions. As the greedy residents demand more from Flint's creation, the town is swamped with food falling from the sky and before long, Swallow Falls is in danger of being wiped from the map altogether and only Flint can save the day...
"Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" may be food-based fun for the little 'uns who love the idea of their house covered with ice-cream and burgers covering their school but where the film disappoints is when it comes to keeping adults entertained. And aside from casting Mr T as a cop, it did little to put a smile on my face. Most of the humour is derived from the madness on screen and to be honest, a lot of it doesn't look great either. Flint is a mass of hair, nose and flowing lab coat while his father is all eyebrow and meat. The whole thing looks like a cartoon which sounds obvious but compared to Pixar's output at the time ("Up" and before that, "WALLE"), it looks quite primitive at times. Busy, full of colour and hyper-kinetic certainly but still primitive. The voice casting are also a let down - why do studio insist with flooding the cast of animated films with recognisable stars who never appear on screen and aren't right for the part? Only Campbell and Mr T shine as the rest of them fade into obscurity and to be honest, could have been anybody.
Anyone can make a film that kids would enjoy (although an alarming number still get it wrong). Going to the pictures should be an occasion, seeing as decent family time is increasingly rare these days. The huge screen and volume, the enormous bag of pick-n-mix sweets and the giant Slushee you can dunk your head into - why shouldn't kids be entertained in cinemas? Trouble is, only Pixar seem to be able to create true family entertainment. A good family film will keep the kids quiet for a hour or two but a great one will hold the entire family in the palm of its hand and make you want to watch it together again. "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" isn't that great a movie, offering kids plenty to watch and probably some freaky dreams (I suspect I'll be dreaming about being chased by a giant hot-dog rolling down the street tonight) but next to nothing for the grown-ups. If you want a great family movie that isn't Pixar then feel free to watch Gru in "Despicable Me" which still feels like a cartoon but at least Mum & Dad can have a laugh as well. As for me, I'll stick with... yep, those guys...