Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Movie review by Sandie Angulo Chen, Common Sense Media
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 6+

Age-appropriate food adventure goes down easily.

PG 2009 81 minutes
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Parents say

age 6+

Based on 99 reviews

Kids say

age 6+

Based on 127 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this adaptation of the classic children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is bound to attract the 10-and-under set. While there's nothing overtly age-inappropriate in the movie, expect a bit of salty language along the lines of "hell" and and the occasional mild insult like "stupid" or "knuckle scrapers." The few tense/slightly scary scenes are weather- and giant food-related -- which could upset little kids who are sensitive to fears about natural disasters -- and there's a brewing romance between the main character and a weather reporter. Although no grand life lessons are offered, the movie does center on a son's need for fatherly encouragement and the idea that you shouldn't compromise who you are just to be popular. The movie's plot is very different than the book's, so those expecting a straight adaptation may be disappointed.

Community Reviews

Kittybitty123
Kittybitty123 Adult
February 18, 2020
age 13+

Terrible stereotypes about smart girls, eating habits, appearance, etc

I cannot believe a movie like this was given an age 6+ rating. The lead girl in the movie is ‘smart’ in the conventional sense but hides it so that people like her because “people don’t like smart girls.” Omg. She doesn’t wear her glasses because they make her “look like a nerd” (her words, again). And any time she says something smart she immediately giggles and curls her hair and says something stupid. Not a message I want my daughter to see. And so many references to ‘good’ and ‘bad’ foods and implying that eating the occasional donut or ice cream will make you fat. Also, lots of teasing and name calling and making fun of the main character for trying out new inventions. I would take a hard pass.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much consumerism
10 people found this helpful.
April S.
April S. Adult
July 18, 2020
age 18+

Gross depiction of women

I was grossed out by the way females were depicted in this movie. There was a character, a guy who runs around in a diaper, who had 2 girlfriends hanging on him. Supposedly that was OK because the character was a bully. And the female protagonist is ruthlessly evaluated for her looks several times and she faces the fact that females are social losers if they have brains. Characters are callous about other characters at times, and that problem is never resolved. For instance the protagonist is talking to his dad in one scene when a flying rat picks up a child and flies away. The son and dad act like they don't care. All of this junk is portrayed as funny jokes, but I found it distasteful.
6 people found this helpful.
See all 99 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Based loosely on the popular children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, this animated adventure takes the book's story about a town where weather provides fully cooked meals and turns it into a 3-D fantasy about Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader), a young inventor who creates a device that transforms water into food. When Flint's invention is launched into the sky, he inadvertently saves the town of Swallow Falls from financial and nutritional ruin. Helping the town make its unique claim to fame is weather reporter Sam (Anna Faris), who's smitten with Flint. As the Swallow Falls residents (especially the fatter-and-fatter mayor, voiced by Bruce Campbell) become greedier with their daily meal requests, Flint's invention becomes more and more overheated -- until it leads to a culinary disaster that could destroy the world.

Is It Any Good?

Once fans of the book reset their expectations, they'll laugh at the sight of a Neapolitan-ice-cream snowfall or a drizzle of steak falling onto diners' plates at a trendy, roofless restaurant. The food in the movie isn't magical like in the book; it's the result of a science experiment that eventually runs amok. But that's fine, because the funny dialogue and the colorful food scenes are entertaining enough to make this breezy, amusing adventure a sweet treat for the whole family.

Sony Pictures Animation may not be Pixar (and, to be fair, no other animation studio is Pixar -- yet), but it previously scored with the fantastically imaginative Monster House, the charming buddy comedy Open Season, and the penguin's paradise Surf's Up. Cloudy is the studio's first foray into the profitable 3-D genre, and thanks to all of the food sequences, it's an ideal choice for the technology. The voice talent is there (Faris, in particular, is an adroit voice actress, and Mr. T is laugh-aloud funny as an overly eager town cop), though the story is so far removed from the book upon which it's supposedly based that it will likely take a moment for admirers of the picture book to see the correlation beyond the fact that there's food falling from the sky.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs' message about compromising yourself for the sake of popularity. Is that ever worth it? How does Sam change once she knows that Flint likes that she's actually smart?

  • How does the movie portray technology? When does the experiment go wrong?

  • Why does Flint want his father's approval so badly? Does his father have a point in discouraging Flint's inventions?

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