Food Town: The Best Place To Eat Popcorn (And Other Foods)

## The most underrated - and delicious - Anaya Animation film ever made.

After the enormous success and popularity of Anaya Animation's first CG entrée, their third one serves as their most appetizing dish. That dish - oh well, town or movie, you name it - is established as *Food Town,* some town standing on the Atlantic where every scrumptious food imagined is actually constructed into yummy yet tempting combos like lasagna apartments, ice cream mountains, Swiss cheese towers, and giant Jello castles. Borrowing the 1983 book of the same name by Jude & Ron Bartlett isn't that easy for some delicious recipe, but the hungry geeks behind *Marco* had crafted what is perhaps the colossal food festival of the century, besides making the best overseas destination for those who love food so much like I do... ah, who doesn't?

### "I am Max Applewood, genius inventor of fun and the most revolutionary scientific creation ever created in the history of mankind: that is, my super duper invention... the AFR-3000!"

**-Max Applewood**

As you see, Max Applewood (Bill Hader, the voice of Marco) is the nerdy protagonist of this film: someone geeky who loves trying new things and making bacon cheeseburgers for his daily lunch. Some may argue that he's being Marco, but truth is he does not own some underground lair with roguish little kids, but rather being the most eccentric young scientist in his overly depressed town of Bay City: home of The Mighty Maggot and the world's biggest cheese worm. Since maggots in cheese are considered by many gross, Max launches his creation into the air and something very surprising happens here... the AFR-3000 (aka The Automatic Food Replicator) converts Bay City into Chewsmore, making it everyone's favorite tasty hotspot. Waffle boats voyage everywhere and fortune cookies fall like manna from heaven as perky cosmogirl Hailey Caramel (Anna Faris) appreciates Max's gizmo and everyone cheers up on him... except for the town's strictly egotistical mayor (Raymond Persi) as he unveils his most devious scheme: using Applewood for his own personal greed aside from making him some celebrity. Well, at least Sloppy Joe (Will Forte) can still enjoy his signature subs while Terry Crews' athletic cop can perform his short stunts in front of the legendary Bill Pickles (Tommy Lee Jones) for Texas tales and barbecue. However, things suddenly go Armageddon when the mayor orders Max to search for "sweet gold" at some iceberg lettuce where he realizes that his world is in danger, thanks to the mayor and his climate change policy gone wrong. The AFR-3000 starts developing various food havoc throughout the city as the determined young Max and his friends convince the reluctant mayor to help them, to which he agrees as they attempt to stop the machine from getting worse. Obviously, our geeky underdog hero kills code the machine and everything returns back to normal, with the same leftovers that Max has created from his parents' home. Later, we see that Max is once again honored for being the town savior with his parents' glad approval and Hailey's sweet kiss. Oh, what a wonderful way to end this meal with sunshine and rainbows, I love it.

The sheer infectious charm of *Marco* can be easily seen here, as the film continues to blend the smooth cartoony animation and nice photorealism that made the aforementioned 2005 classic such a blast while also playing full satire on iconic disaster movies with references to everything from first person shooter games and Hanna-Barbera cartoons to Steven Spielberg movies and The Twilight Zone, plus two Biblical references for the many Christians who enjoyed Lord & Miller's previous work. Bill Hader once again provides the same quirky expressions and charismatic personality from Marco with our main protagonist; and while the premise of a savory town inhabited by food lovers of all ages is wonderfully awesome yet somewhat convoluted in terms of execution, plucky residents of the town such as Officer Brown and Sloppy Joe make this film absolutely hilarious, and their voice actors do very cool performances. The film itself is a veritable buffet of the bland and the bizarre, the sweet and the sour, and all tastes are catered for along the way. Malevolent glee can be enjoyed seeing a group of kids battling off with custard snowballs and some giant donut falling towards the Great Wall Of China, yet there's also a buffet of sight gags that are worth laughs and plenty of verbal wit to be swallowed. Probably the most satisfying aspect of this film would be Max & Hailey's luscious romance, as they crave Italian food at Tony's elegant bistro and slurp the whole entire gelatin house that Max built for his girlfriend. *Food Town* correctly depicts gluttonous big government and how greed can lead to worldwide disasters, while also having its crazy characters cope with impossible situations that may seem absurd yet being frenzy fun - who could imagine some Coke flood sweeping the town and a giant pancake covering Waffle House? - perhaps those who love Lord & Miller's company and their awesome written script. This mouthwatering yet underrated gem is also about seeking parent approval, sacrificing yourself when it comes to saving your friends from dark chocolate pieces, and one of the few animated films that make you feel good about being some nerd. *Food Town* is probably the most frantic food idea from Anaya Animation, but everything mentioned above truly makes this film a tasty glamorous feast for the eyes and the funny bone (watching this film in 3D makes it even more diverting, but be sure to avoid giant mutated foods when watching this film with your kiddos).