Why Cloudy with a chance of meatballs is the Best Movie Ever

For a bit of context cloudy with a chance of meatballs is 2009 animated feature film directed by Phil lord and Chris Miller. The film starred Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Andy Sandberg, James Caan, Neil Patrick Harris, Bruce Campbell and Mr.T. The film was the film directorial debut for Phil lord and Chris miller who had spent the past five or so years working on tv shows. The basic gist of the film is that the small island of swallow falls is in a financial crisis and the residents can only afford to eat sardines. Flint Lockwood a local inventor believes that he has the solution to this “Fishy situation” with his newest invention which converts water into food which he dubs the FLDSMDFR (The flint Lockwood diatonic super mutating dynamic food replicator). The machine is a troutstanding success. Flints actions make him a local hero and is praised by everyone in swallow falls. And even attracts the attention of international news. But when the machine goes off the rails and threatens the existence of swallow falls and even the world under enormous quantities of food. Flint finds that he is out of his depths.

So, to truly access if cloudy with a chance of meatballs to see if it is truly the best film ever made I’m going to break it down into 7 sections: story, characters, animation, Humour, Music, Directing and conclusion. OH, and spoiler warning.

Story

The concept behind the story I think is quite intriguing with a machine that is able to change water molecules into any food imaginable. The plot is fairly simple and is generally very easy to follow which is very good since cloudy with a chance of meatballs is a family film first and foremost. The story as briefly explained in the first paragraph basically follows Flint Lockwood as he goes from a down on his luck inventor to a local hero who saves the town from its financial crisis but inadvertently causes a different more apocalyptic crisis. Also as the plot progresses things become more fantastical and features more life lessons. The plot is very like that of a quirky disaster film. With quite a few of the tropes thrown in there as well, like for example the heroic save in the face of death ( earl saving his wife and Cal from being submerged by food by carrying the raft to the coast of swallow falls).Another trope which has been notably seen in your typical disaster film is the “big dam plot” which in disaster films is where a large dam which is established earlier in the film is severely  damaged or destroyed in cloudy with a chance of meatballs a dam in swallow falls which holds the leftover food is established and is supposedly unbreakable but toward the climax of the film we watch the dam crumble and break. One last comparison between disaster films and cloudy with a chance of meatballs is that both have apocalyptic (world ending) stakes.

The film also becomes more bright and colourful as the film progresses, starting out as a washed out grey colour and over the course of the runtime becomes progressively more colourful. The reason for this I think is to represent the change in the towns outlook with the beginning of the film establishing that swallow falls is in a financial crisis and is going through some rough times but as Flints machine is first proven successful with the burger rain downpour the scenery becomes more vibrant and colourful which reflects the way the townspeople feel as they are brought out of their cod awful situation and thrust into Gordon Ramsey’s fever dream. The use of colour is a way of visually representing the way the town is improving and changing as a result of Flints machine going online.

Characters     

Before I delve into analysis on the main cast of characters I would like to point out a couple of general points about the characters and their arcs throughout the course of each act and the film as a whole. Firstly, the majority of characters arc’s centre around a life lesson that they each need to learn. There are of course acceptations like manny and Steve. Secondly each of the characters change in some way as a result of their experiences with both flint and his machine. 

Flint Lockwood: Flint is portrayed slightly differently in each act. In the opening of the film Flint is established as quirky, awkward, ambitious and quite intelligent. While he maintains these qualities throughout the entirety of the film but in acts 2 and 3 Flint acquires some new qualities both bad and good as well as progress as a character. In the second act flint becomes more arrogantand self absorbed as the fame goes to his head. But during the third act Flint realises what the fame did to him and in an attempt to redeem himself take it upon himself to destroy his machine for once and for all. The life lesson that flints character arc revolves around is to learn to do the right thing over seeking the approval of his peers.

Sam Sparks: Sam also changes similar to flint throughout the film. When we first meet Sam, she is presented as clumsy, nervous and highly enthusiastic. We find out however that she is actually very intelligent but hides it because she wants to be liked and popular. Through her experiences with Flint whom she falls in love with she learns to be yourself and embrace who she is.

Mayor Shelbourne: Shelbourne is shown to have similar qualities to a lot of film villains’. He is arrogant, manipulative, negligent and money hungry. The impression given from the portrayal of mayor Shelbourne suggests he has a small man complex, this is backed up by his determination to be “big” which leads to mayor progressively becoming more overweight as the film progresses. By the end of the film the mayors lesson is about having too much of everything and how having everything you want is not always a good thing. This lesson can also be attributed to both Flint and the townspeople who similarly to the mayor demand Flint for more food.

Tim Lockwood: Tim is quite the interesting character he is shown immediately from his first few moments of screen time that he doesn’t understand his son. Once it is revealed that flints mother had passed away it is noted that Tim is not the same and is clearly heavily affected by the death of his wife. He is trying to connect with his but doesn’t know how and without Flints mother who from the little time we see of her is shown to have an incredibly close relationship with Flint. Tim seems to be struggling to find that same sort of relationship with Flint and the fact that he is clearly still grieving about wife’s death and showing possible signs of depression but I’m not 100%. Anyway, Tims lesson is to accept his son for what he is and to not force anything on to him.

Brent: Brent is shown to still be holding on two his past and is portrayed as not very bright and delusional as he doesn’t realize that no one cares. Brent is also shown to actually be quite fragile and just wants to feel useful. In the finale, he redeems himself by sacrificing and later saving Sam and flint from a group of overly aggressive chickens. Brent’s lesson is to treat people the way he would like to be treated I think.

Manny: Manny is portrayed as a Mary sue (a character who can virtually do anything). This is used by the writers as a way to provide quick solutions to problems in the narrative

Steve: Steve is simply the comic relief in the film and serves as the Flints sidekick and fills the role of the Helper.    

Music

The music is used like in most films to set the atmosphere of a scene. Throughout the course of the film the music is dramatic, jolly and ironically motivational.

Animation

The Animation is very vibrant and the character movements are energetic and sort of like a stretch Armstrong figure. The characters are very polished and the animation uses glossy textures which helps emphasise the cartoony feel of the film. The animation is very similar to the poppy test footage released in 2013 which similarly was developed by Sony animation. 

Humour 

The humour in cloudy with a chance of meatballs is very similar to other Phil lord and Chris Millar films like 21 and 22 jump street and the Lego movie. Which all utilise Phil lord and Chris Millar’s unique quirky humour. This is no acceptation with cloudy with a chance of meatballs which is packed to the brim with quirky and awkward humour. The film also features a heavy dosage of slapstick comedy very common in standard family films like mouse hunt and George of the jungle. The slapstick in cloudy with a chance of meatballs is more hit than miss … literally. The movie is also extremely over the top which again adds to the cartoonish feel the film is going for. The movie is also very self aware again a trademark with Phil lord and Chris Millar whose films are always self aware and in the best way possible.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the film is very self aware and utilises that fact well and doesn’t overuse it. The fact that the majority of the main cast have life lessons built into each of their character arcs is kind of interesting but at times can feel a little forced. The as mentioned previously feels very similar to a disaster film and pokes fun at disaster films with its over the top reinactments of the clichés and tropes typically shown in your run in the mill disaster film. The film is veryimportant as it stands out from other animated family released in the same year which consisted of either a top tier film from Pixar or DreamWorks , a sequel, Prequel , spin off or tie in or the other option is a bland unoriginal cash in.My point is the film launched Phil lord and Chris Millar into the mainstream and also helped elevate Sony animation to a credible reputation, although is seems as though Sony has spent the last 5 years trying to demolish that credibility.