Common Sense Media Review
By Sandie Angulo Chen
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Age-appropriate food adventure goes down easily.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 6+?
Any Positive Content?
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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 104 parent reviews
Parents say this film offers a quirky and imaginative experience, with many appreciating its humor and positive messages about self-acceptance and creativity. However, others criticize it for outdated stereotypes, inappropriate themes for children, and a scary ending that might frighten younger viewers, leading to mixed feelings about its suitability for family viewing.
- humor and creativity
- outdated stereotypes
- scary ending
- mixed suitability
- positive messages
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 126 kid reviews
Kids say the film is a mixed bag, with some enjoying its humor and family-friendly themes while others criticize it for being boring, weird, or inappropriate for younger audiences due to mild language and some scary moments. Despite the divide, many appreciate the animation and creative plot even if they note that the story contains clichés and may not resonate with older viewers.
- funny moments
- creativity praised
- mixed reviews
- target age confusion
- mild language used
Summarized with AI
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?
Movie Details
- In theaters : September 18, 2009
- On DVD or streaming : January 5, 2010
- Cast : Andy Samberg , Anna Faris , Bill Hader
- Directors : Chris Miller , Phil Lord
- Inclusion Information : Latino Movie Director(s) , Cuban Movie Director(s) , Multiracial Movie Director(s) , Female Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Columbia Tristar
- Genre : Family and Kids
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic ) , Book Characters
- Run time : 81 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : brief mild language
- Last updated : February 6, 2026
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