Editor’s Note: If you missed the morning post about YANA’s annual dinner and action, you can read it HERE. Now we have Ken Henderson on site with the first of many movie reviews here on OBE. Today he’s reviewing Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. Here’s Ken:

I have to confess; when I first saw the trailers for Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs I didn’t hold out a whole lot of hope for the film.

The premise was certainly there, small town inventor Flint Lockwood cooks up a machine that can turn water into food of any kind that through various circumstances merges with a cloud bank to make it rain food. The novelty of seeing food – sometimes gigantic portions of it – raining down on people seemed comical enough. But would that gag hold a parents attention let alone a kids?

The answer is a resounding yes.

‘Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs’, it turns out, is an endearing tale about a young inventor struggling to gain his father’s love and respect in a town devoid of hope, imagination or culinary options.

Flint Lockwood’s father is a Sardine tackle shop owner in Swallow Falls whose main industry, Sardines, has collapsed because the world finally came to realize that ‘Sardines are really gross’ leaving Swallow Falls to subsist on nothing but the small, plain and overlooked fish.

Over time, Swallow Falls begins to mimic the Sardine’s plight and that is reflected in its people and patina. There is a brilliant montage of the people of Swallow Falls eating nothing but Sardines culminating in a mother feeding her baby a bottle filled with a Sardine and it’s brine.

This bleak existence is juxtaposed against Flint’s mishap-laden quest to be an inventor and his many colorful and public ‘failures’ starting with his ill-fated spray-on shoes in which he states, “I wanted to run away that day, but you can’t run away from your own feet.”

Over the years Flint tries in vain  to create something that will help the town.

He toils away in his backyard laboratory (the entrance to which is a porta-potty) until he creates his masterpiece – the water to food transformation machine. Needing more power Flint taps into the towns power grid just as the scheming Major Shelbourne is about to launch his new Sardine theme park to save the town as Sam Sparks, the newly anointed weather girl reporting on her first big event, and the towns celebrity, ‘Baby’ Brent, look on from the crowd.

As with all of Flint’s previous inventions mayhem ensues and while what follows may be predictable, it doesn’t detract from the fun or spectacle of it all.

The visuals of the film are refreshing as well. The characters, looking more like Gumby than real people, are simply designed and superbly animated. The art direction, from the retro 70’s-themed opening credits to the ‘enhancing cool factor’ artwork that Flint paints on all of his equipment is fun, approachable and colorful.

Certainly watching food, some of it gigantic, falling from the sky will be enough to have the kiddos bouncing off the couch… might be a good idea to have some snacks handy or better yet, let them watch the film in the afternoon.

They’re sure to be hungry after this movie and think of all the great angles you could use to get them to finish their meals after watching this film. Much like Ratatouille this movie offers a way for parents to help ‘motivate’ their kids to try and eat new foods. A bonus for sure.

The offbeat sense of humor that courses through the film is definitely tailored for parents who will love the subtle asides and vignettes throughout (’Engaging coffee break”). I found it a refreshing take considering the too often soft peddled and one-dimensional humor present in most Hollywood based animated films.

The writing/directing team of Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, inspired by Ron and Judi Barrett’s children’s book of the same name, do a great job throughout the film of finding the balance between kid focused slap-stick spectacle and adult focused asides, all while mixing in a great message about perseverance and the power of imagination.

With the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Andy Samberg, James Caan, Bruce Campbell, Tracy Morgan and Mr. T combined with the vivid, frenetic visuals and quirky animation this film is a pleasure to watch and one your kids and you will love to watch… over, and over and over again.

Okay… maybe just the kids, either way, I highly recommend it.

It runs about 90 minutes and is rated G. But, there are a few kind of scary moments, especially for kids under 6, like when the giant baked chickens come alive. So I recommend either watching that part with your kids (it’s toward the end) or skipping through that scene.

Rating: 4 Big Earths

Available on DVD at any local store, price between $18.00 – $25.00