Suprisingly, Sony Pictures Animation shows they can compete with the big boys at Pixar and DreamWorks with their new film. Rather than give top billing to writer/directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller (creators of Clone High and producers of How I Met Your Mother), the film opens with the credit “A film by…a lot of people,” which both cleverly pokes fun at the silliness of crediting a movie as the work of a single person and also sets the tone of the film ahead.
A goofy, would-be inventor finally has the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the town- and, hopefully, his father- when it turns out everyone loves his latest invention, which turns water into food. Soon, the greedy mayor hopes to turn the tiny island into a tourist attraction where food rains from the sky breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But, not surprisingly, greed and gluttony get the best of the mayor, and soon the town is covered in giant food. The inventor has to team up with the unlikely sidekicks of a weather girl, an ex-child star, and a talking monkey to save the day.
On paper, the premise sounds ridiculous. On screen…well, it’s silly, but it sure is entertaining. Although the film probably sets a record for most moral lessons in a single animated movie, very few of them are knocked over your head (unlike the various food items that plague the citzens of Swallow Falls). Many gags are taken directly from the childrens’ book on which the movie was inspired, so fans of the book (such as myself) will enjoy looking for them and have an extra sense of pride and humor when they see them. There are some funny lines and situations, some of which are hidden well- a man with a golden pair of scissors for a ceremonial opening commenting “I really shouldn’t be running with these!,” the town’s mayor commenting that people as far away as China and West Virginia have come for the town’s re-opening, a news ticker’s reaction to cheeseburgers falling from the sky that is as shocked as everyone else, a self-aware joke about how strange it seems that the food-weather is hitting major landmarks first, and a lot of jokes at the expense of the British- including “a la mode” being translated on a British telecast as “topped with ice cream” (presumably a play on the anti-French sentiment there) and a depiction of world cities being cleaned up and having food added to them- except London, which remains its old foggy self.
Although presumably set in the present (Al Roker comments that he hasn’t seen a Scrunchy since 1995), there’s an '80s feel in some of the music and graphics- perhaps this is because Flint Lockwood himself never got out of that era. A somewhat clichéd poppy closing musical number (co-written by a guy who specializes in them for Disney and sung by a current tween star) is made almost tolerable set against the UPA/Golden Book-style closing credit animations that seem to be mandatory for CGI movies nowadays, which are just as entertaining as the film and contain quick shout-outs to Willy Wonka and Yellow Submarine. Plus you have Neil Patrick Harris as a talking monkey and Mr. T as an overenthused policeman. What’s not to love?
Although Cloudy may not end up beating the big boys for an animated Oscar this year, it’s a fun little film that’s certainly a smorgasboard of visuals and humor.
