Almost as appetizing as Julie & Julia

It would be wrong of me to pretend as if I am impartial towards the newest animated offering opening this weekend, Chris Miller & Phil Lord's Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I don't want to go into too much detail about my job on this blog, but as I work for Sony Pictures Animation, I can't quite gloss over that detail. However, this film was completely wrapped before I even applied for a job here, so I can promise that I had nothing to do with its creation. In fact, the first time I saw a trailer for it was before seeing Up in 3D the weekend before I came to work at SPA.

I had a chance to attend the cast and crew screening of the film earlier this week, and I intend to save any spoilers for after the movie's release. But I want to express how pleasantly entertained I was by a movie I knew practically nothing about before seeing it. I must have missed the boat when I was a kid, having never heard of the 1978 children's book by Ron and Judi Barrett which the film is based on. I'm told that there are many differences between it and its adaptation, but I was extremely grateful for Clone High creators Miller & Lord's absurd elements throughout.

Primarily, the movie is a really fun time for kids, and one I think is much more enjoyable in 3D. I am still new to seeing things in 3D, and while wearing glasses over my glasses for over an hour is not exactly my idea of a good time, it added so much depth and richness to an already visually stunning movie. The colors are so highly saturated, and the frame so filled with action, 3D helps to sift through the mise en scène.

As someone with a pretty absurd sense of humor myself, I was entertained the whole way through, by some excellent sight-gags, a few jokes at the movie's own expense, and a lot of acknowledgment of what kind of a ridiculous movie you're at, so that parents and teenagers would not be bored by a kids' movie. THERE ARE CATS SINGING PUBLIC ENEMY.

I took my mom to the screening with me, and I don't think she was all too eager to see a 3D kids' movie, but she laughed the whole way through, and I think was very impressed.

Please take your kids to see this movie, and even teenagers and wacky adults will find a lot to enjoy in this movie.


On a personal note, sitting in a huge audience filled with the 500 animators and technicians who created the movie, raucously applauding their years of work, was very touching. Even though I am a recent addition to the company, I felt very proud, and felt like it was "our" movie. Also, there is praise of nerdy, bespectacled girls in the story, and I had to love that!