Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs follows an eccentric (and struggling) inventor (Bill Hader’s Flint Lockwood) as he attempts to contain the chaos caused by his invention after oversized food items begin raining on his small town. It’s a fun, larger-than-life premise that is, at the outset, employed to compulsively watchable effect by Lord and Miller, as the filmmakers, armed with their own screenplay, deliver a briskly-paced and periodically hilarious animated endeavor that boasts a whole raft of appealing attributes and elements – with, especially, the agreeable voice work of the various performers going a long way towards cultivating an engaging, energetic atmosphere. (Hader’s predictably compelling efforts are more than matched by such first-class periphery players as Bruce Campbell, Andy Samberg, and James Caan.) It’s clear, then, that Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs‘ eventual failure stems from the overstuffed narrative’s increasingly (and aggressively) frenetic bent, and there’s little doubt, certainly, that the picture’s wildly over-the-top (and decidedly tedious) third act ensures that the whole thing runs out of steam long before the end credits roll – which does, in the final analysis, cement the movie’s place as a disappointing misfire that squanders its promising setup and talented cast.

** out of ****