A fair cut above the average animated family flick,

Rating: 7/10 (10 December 2011)

"Sony Pictures Animation Presents A Film By... A Lot Of People"
That's all the opening credits of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs say. And for me, it forebodes that the next 90 minutes won't be bland, cheesy schmaltz that's all the rage in animated films nowadays, both CGI and non-CGI. It predicts a movie which will be fairly witty, which, despite being nothing new in animated films, is a far more refreshing approach than the company's earlier films Open Season and Monster House.
Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), is a young mad scientist who lives in a small island, famous for its sardines and lack of any other food, which makes a bit of money off tourism. Flint is aching to invent some sort of scientific breakthrough that will save his town. He manages to create a machine that converts water into food, but once he accidentally flies the machine into the sky, it begins sucking water from the clouds and produces... well, raining cheeseburgers. From then on, Flint becomes a sensation is his town (thanks to the greedy town mayor, voiced by Bruce Campbell), but cracks begin to show when the food starts getting bigger...
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs turns out to be not only witty, but also intelligent and self-aware, and at times rather touching. There are some predictable jokes and degrading factors (like the pet monkey Steve, who has no purpose to the film other than standing around and being cute), but on the whole the jokes are very well thought out and cleverly executed, and the characters mostly come off as likable too. There are some nice choices for the voice actors (Mr. T has a refreshing turn as the over-the-top police officer and Bruce Campbell is amusing as the horrid mayor), and the characters themselves are pretty likable too.
The animation is great; the huge food really does look good enough to eat; they really do get all the textures right. It's impossible to leave the film without your mouth watering. Anyone who has just finished eating a full all-you-can-eat buffet I'd advise not to watch. Chances are you'll either vomit or force yourself to eat more... and then vomit.
The voice acting is very good too. There are some nice choices (Mr. T has a refreshing turn as the over-the-top police officer and Bruce Campbell is amusing as the horrid mayor), and each actor gives a full amount of enthusiasm and effort into the voices of their characters.
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a very entertaining animated film which, in my opinion, has enough charm and clever jokes to be one of the best animated films of 2009 (probably second to Up). It's not quite up there with Pixar, but it definitely beats most DreamWorks animated films. I'm astonished it wasn't even nominated for an Oscar.