Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in 3D

Chances are you have either read the 1978 illustrated children’s book this film was based on, or have read it to your offspring, in which case you will know it’s a charming story told with frequently absurdist humour and visual invention - perfect inspiration for an animated film in 3D.

And so it proves, as writer-directors Christopher Miller and Phil Lord bring Judith Barrett and Ron Barrett’s work to life on the big screen. Judi Barrett’s story is set in the small, all-grey town of Swallow Falls, where sardines are the staple diet and fishing for them the only pastime. Then one day nerdy inventor Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader) sends a Heath Robinson-like contraption into the sky. The machine captures water in clouds and with some computer wizardry changes its molecular structure so that scrumptious food such as cheeseburgers, hot dogs and even marshmallows fall like rain on the town below.

Swallow Falls residents are delighted by this new multicoloured world, but then Mayor Shelbourne (Bruce Campbell), greedy for both food and fame, turns young Flint’s head by calling him a local hero and then persuades him to send the machine into overdrive. The food becomes supersized (remind you of anything?), a mountain of food waste soon appears, and the town is transformed into the Chewandswallow theme park.

It all goes horribly wrong, of course, as the weather turns ugly (imagine the damage a giant meatball could do when it splats you in the gob) and the town is under threat of destruction. Flint has to save his friends and neighbours and in this he is ably assisted by television weather girl Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), who has been sent to cover the phenomenon. Beneath her cutesy exterior lies a very bright scientist who has learned to turn her in-depth meteorological knowledge into moronic, punning soundbites, and we know love will blossom as they swap tongue-twisting technical data with glee.

They are thwarted along the way by the shifty mayor, by-the-book local cop Earl Devereaux (Mr T doing a fabulously hammy turn) and Baby Brent (Andy Samberg), the nearest thing Swallow Falls previously had to a celebrity - a picture of his nappied bottom once graced cans of sardines produced in the now defunct factories. James Caan is almost unrecognisable in a touching portrayal of Flint’s taciturn, technophobic dad.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is jam-packed with visual and script gags that will delight anybody who has seen blockbuster movies or American TV of the past 20 years, while younger viewers will simply be content with how the makers have used 3D. Lots of huge food and faces coming out of the screen at you, and large bottoms sat practically on your face, but no scenes that are too scary for even the wee ones.

And for adults and children alike, there are strong moral themes running through the movie - about the importance of expressing our love for one another and of being true to oneself, and Western society’s needless greed for food - but they are never thrust in our faces. Unlike the visuals, of course.

On nationwide release. Film website link here