Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

A while back I received a review copy of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. I have and love the book, so I was eager to see the movie, which Beloved and the little angel saw in the theater. Beloved said something like "it's not very much like the book."

Well.

The book looks like this:

And the movie looks like this:

Who the hell is that guy?

I was a little shocked at how different the movie was from the book. I'll give you the book is short and it might have been hard to carry it on for an hour and a half, but dude, seriously?

So I did what you sometimes must do with a book/movie combo and watched the movie as though the book never existed, all the while weeping writerly tears for Judi Barrett and Ron Barrett.

And, when I divorced myself from the awesome 1982 original, the movie was pretty good. I especially liked the dad and how he was finally able to express himself to his son once he hooked himself up to a monkey translator and stopped speaking in fishing metaphors.

The animation = good. The plotline = bizarre, but actually not bad. It's not Wall-E or anything, but it has a good message (stick to your guns)(don't try to please everyone)(protect the environment)(don't sell out). None of those messages are in the book. The book is pure entertainment.

I totally thought the female lead was played by Drew Barrymore, but nope, it's Anna Faris, who is also adorable. So much for my voice-guessing skillz.

I am pleased that children's movies are getting better. I'm pleased that the female character stopped getting all gussied up and acting stupid and became herself to be a major force in the movie. I'm glad the son and his father were able to express love. And I love the cop character who emoted all over his son while clenching his tight butt in Reno-911-style shorts.

In short, I was prepared to be all pissed off that the movie wasn't like the book, but I was still charmed.