Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
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An aspiring inventor must stop his own creation when it begins raining food across the world.
The story
In the island town of Swallow Falls, the economy is struggling due to a decline in sardine sales. Aspiring inventor Flint Lockwood creates the "Flint Lockwood Diatonic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator" (FLDSMDFR) to provide a new food source for the community. However, when the machine malfunctions and rockets into the sky, it begins creating food-based weather systems in the stratosphere. As the town becomes a food tourism destination, Flint and a meteorologist named Sam Sparks must deal with the consequences of the malfunctioning machine, which begins to produce increasingly unstable and oversized food items that threaten the safety of the island.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Flint Lockwood, a struggling inventor in the sardine-dependent town of Swallow Falls, creates the FLDSMDFR to provide a variety of food. The machine malfunctions and flies into the atmosphere, causing food to rain from the clouds. While the town becomes a popular food destination and Flint finds romance with meteorologist Sam Sparks, the food begins to 'over-mutate' and become unstable. When the mayor ignores Flint's warnings and the machine goes rogue, creating massive food storms globally, Flint, Sam, and a small team travel to the stratosphere to shut it down. They face off against sentient food and navigate a hazardous environment. After a series of mishaps, including Sam suffering an allergic reaction, Flint eventually uses a 'Spray-on Shoes' formula to destroy the machine, ending the storm and saving the town.
- First release year
- 2009
- Runtime (minutes)
- 90
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Phil Lord; Christopher Miller
- Writers
- Phil Lord · writer; Christopher Miller · writer
- Cast and characters
- Bill Hader · Flint Lockwood; Anna Faris · Samantha "Sam" Sparks; Neil Patrick Harris · Steve; James Caan · Timothy "Tim" Lockwood; Bruce Campbell · Mayor Shelbourne; Andy Samberg · "Baby" Brent McHale; Mr. T · Officer Earl Devereaux; Benjamin Bratt · Manny
- Genres
- animated; science-fiction; comedy
- Themes
- innovation; consequences of technology
- Tone and mood
- comedy; action
- Setting
- Swallow Falls, an island in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Premise and plot tags
- sci-fi; fantasy; adventure
- Source material / true-story basis
- children's book by Judi and Ron Barrett
- Franchise connections
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box office success.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 66 · scale: 100 · review count: 24
- Awards and nominations
- Golden Globe Awards · Best Animated Feature · 67th · nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was a parody of disaster films like Twister and Armageddon.; It was the first 3D Blu-ray sold individually in the United States.; The film was filmed in 2.35:1 widescreen.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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