Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

When I started this post, I almost wrote Monsters Vs. Aliens in the title, instead of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. This mistake would have been understandable, given the similarities between the two. Both are 3d, family-friendly titles with a cast of excellent actors. Monsters had Seth Rogen and Reese Witherspoon, Cloudy has the more underrated, but just as good Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Bruce Campbell. Both movies have well done action sequences with slightly ridiculous elements, though Cloudy ups the ridiculous factor with man-eating chickens and a massive "foodalanche." Overall, the two movies are a lot alike, and almost equal. I would rate Monsters Vs. Aliens slightly higher, but only by a small margin.
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' strongest point is its voice acting. All of the cast turn in strong performances, even with the smallest parts. Neil Patrick Harris is funny as Steve, the hero's talking monkey, Mr. T is excellent as an overenthusiastic cop, Bill Hader is wonderful as Flint. But voice acting, normally isn't what you go to see a movie for, so for the rest of the film, the 3d was enjoyable, but not really worth the extra money to see. I was surprised how much the studio downplayed the 3d in this movie. I was happy to see that they didn't use it as a gimmick in the film, intentionally making things fly at the screen, like so many movies do. Instead they used it more to just enhance the viewing than anything else. It reminded me of Up, which is just as good, and almost identical in 2d as it is in 3d. Perhaps movie studios are finally getting over using 3d as a gimmick and just maybe we'll see a movie that actually uses the format to its full potential. I'm still hopeful Avatar will be that movie, but I'm skeptical it will ever happen. 3d is most likely doomed to be a gimmick and to die a slow death like it did back in the fifties.
But back to the movie, coming out of the theater, I had a good time, but the movie was still a little forgettable. Apart from the 3d element, I would say that this movie is only a small cut above the average CG movie that comes out every week. Perhaps seeing Up earlier this year spoiled me, but I want something a little more in my movies, even if they are intended for kids. Up was amazing mainly because it was about something and it had a purpose. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is just there. I did enjoy this movie, but only as something fun to take my mind off of life for a little while, nothing more.

-J