Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: Melissa’s Movie Review

Cloudy with the Chance of Meatballs the story of a boy named Flint Lockwood, a not-so-successful inventor whose inventions usually end in disaster. In this story, he’s determined to save his island community by transforming water vapors in clouds into food. And amazingly enough, it works. First with cheeseburgers, then with any other foods. Talk about a cool plot, right?

Even as Flint becomes popular and celebrated by the townspeople, he longs for his father’s approval. His mother who passed away always believed in Flint. But his father—not so much. Not even with the new invention.

As food falls from the water-filled clouds, things on the island start to change. First, the gluttonous mayor dubs the town “Chew and Swallow” and starts using the food machine for his own greed. Plus, the townspeople demand that Flint make them their favorite foods and candies. And, predictably, tourists arrive by the boatload.

Disaster strikes when the food machine malfunctions and the gigantic food attacks the town. With the help of smart and spunky weather girl, Samantha Sparks, his father, Steve (the talking monkey), and his former nemesis, Flint successfully destroys the out-of-control food-making machine.  Hooray!

The humor is spot-on with lots of puns. The meaningful life lessons are relatable for kids: greed and gluttony lead to disaster and friends working together can make a difference.

Don’t you just want to play with your food now? How about some food activities to do at home? Take a peek at these creative ideas:

1. Pretend play bakery, kitchen, and world cuisine restaurant.

2. Play food games like the eBoo Picnic Game, Granny Apples Game, Chimp and Zee Shopping Cart Dash, Learning Resources Healthy Helpings, or Young Learners Yummy Scrummy Health Food Game.

3. Buy a melon baller and learn to ball. Stick on toothpicks or kabob sticks.

4. Make your own granola or trail mix together.

5. Make pizzettas with friends – let each child spread on 
the sauce and toppings.

6. Teach your child how to make a smoothie.

7. Ready for more silly food stories? Try:

• .

   

   

• I will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child
• Little Pea by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
• Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider
• Food for Thought by Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann

*Food activities excerpted from my forthcoming book, Lunchbox Love: Flip, Pick and Pack.

*I was thrilled to work on this post for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which was sponsored by Sony. All opinions and ideas are my own.