Sony animated feature is the world’s biggest food fight *** 3 Stars

By Gabrielle Pantera

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, stormy food weather

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/19/2010 – “Flint just wants to be liked,” says Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs star Bill Hader, the voice of Flint. “He’s a bit socially awkward, so he thinks he needs to do something big, invent something that will make everybody happy. He thinks that he has to prove himself. But, what he doesn’t realize is that people like him just for who he is.”

In the animated adventure Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, awkward inventor Flint Lockwood has made some pretty strange stuff, from spray-on shoes to a monkey thought translator. Determined to invent something that will make people happy and appreciate him, he invents a machine that will turn water in to food. Sam Sparks is an aspiring weathergirl who’s secretly a geek like Flint. When something goes horribly wrong, can they fix Flint’s machine before the town suffocates under a deluge of food weather?

“Sam’s afraid to be who she really is,” says Cloudy star Anna Faris. “But she’s passionate about weather and science. When she meets Flint, her job becomes her dream job. That brings her out of her shell.”

“I wanted to make Tim a monotone guy,” says Cloudy star James Caan, who voices the role of Flint’s father. “We all fall into patterns and habits. You do them long enough and they’re hard to break. I can see how Tim and Flint fell into their relationship.”

“This isn’t like on The A-Team, when I was really throwing a guy,” says Cloudy star Mr. T. “I didn’t throw anybody in the booth. I look tough and I act tough, but I’m nothing but a big teddy bear.

“I’m a method actor,” says Cloudy star Neil Patrick Harris, who’s the voice of Flint’s monkey assistant Steve. “I wanted to know, how does a mentally deficient monkey say, hungry? Dumb? Straight? Empty? Loud? Nobody had any real answers to my questions. He doesn’t have a lot to say. He says the same eight things over and over.”

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are the writing-and-directing team behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. They’d co-produced How I Met Your Mother and created the animated series Clone High for MTV.

“The major difference between television and film is that television is primarily about character, jokes, and pacing, while film is about story,” says Cloudy co-director Christopher Miller. “We knew from the beginning that we would have to nail down the story in a way that an episode of a television show just doesn’t require.”

“We thought, wow, that would be a great action movie,” says Cloudy co-director Phil Lord. “All of the events in the film would be very, very silly, but the characters would take them all very, very seriously.”

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is based on the book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. “I always had the feeling that this would make a great animated movie, and it turns out, Sony Pictures Animation did, too,” says Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs author Judi Barrett, “Though it needed stretching and development in length, characters, and plot, they saw all its wonderful possibilities. If you’re a fan of the book you’ll certainly recognize some of your very favorite and memorable iconic images in the movie.”

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is the ultimate food fight, with food fallingfrom the sky. It has undertones of being green, to not to waste food. The immaturity of the characters and dumb humor makes it more fun for kids than adults. One word of warning, the digital copy works only on PS3 to download to PSP. This is not standard practice to lock a digital copy to a proprietary machine and will disappoint if you expect to download it to your computer.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a move the kids will enjoy.

Blu-ray special features

• Making of Commentary
• “Raining Sunshine” Music Video by iCarly’s Miranda Cosgrove
• Interactive “Raining Sunshine” Sing-A-Long
• Behind the Scenes of Miranda Cosgrove’s “Raining Sunshine” Music Video
• Key Ingredients: The Voices of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Extended Scenes
• Progression Reels with Introductions by Visual Effects Supervisor Rob Bredow
• Early Development Scenes
• Directors’ Commentary with Bill Hader
• Interactive “Splat” Button (Throw Food at the Screen While You Watch the Movie!)
• A Recipe for Success: The Making of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
• Flint’s Food Fight Game – Enhanced for Blu-ray
• Make It Rain Food
• A PSP Digital copy of the movie that can be transferred via your PS3

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

• Studio: Sony Columbia Pictures
• Directors: Chris Miller, Phil Lord
• Screenwriter: Chris Miller, Phil Lord
• Starring: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Andy Samberg, Mr. T, Tracy Morgan
• Genre: Animation, Comedy
• MPAA Rating: PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for brief mild language

www.CloudywithaChanceofMeatballs.com