Ever see a boat whose sails have been made from pizza slices? If the answer is no, you must see “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs,” an animated film whose visuals, if not characters, are inventive.
The central character, Flint (Bill Hader), has been turning out inventions since childhood. One was spray-on shoes. It worked, but removal was impossible. On the tiny island where he lives, sardines have been the principal source of income. Everyone uses them, even a mother who flavors her baby’s bottle with one of the little fishes.
However, sardines are about to go out of fashion, which means his dad is forced into a new job — running a bait and tackle shop. Flint wants no part of it but lies to his father that he will become a clerk there. Meanwhile, the young man has almost completed an invention that will revolutionize the town: Pour water into a machine, tap the computer, and hamburgers will rain from the sky.
Naturally, there are problems with the machine, such as falling steaks so big they break the tables of a swanky restaurant. Flint is not alarmed. He’s too happy about his dining date with a weather reporter (Anna Faris), who hides her brains beneath her bleach-blond hairdo.
Of course, the mayor is greedy and a literal fat cat. The baby who served as the logo for the sardines also has become corpulent, and Flint’s animal assistant is mischievous. But you can’t have everything. Enjoy the pizza sails, the dam of leftover meals erupting, the car that flies and the rest of the visual delights that, even if you’re not in a 3-D theater, are dazzling.
'Jennifer's Body' disappoints
It takes only a single movie to go from hot to not. Diablo Cody is experiencing that with “Jennifer’s Body,” the follow-up film from the writer of “Juno.” Its story of vampirism is so familiar that even the presence of tough director Karyn Kusama cannot overcome the dearth of fresh material.
The problem is evident at the start when the film tries to convince moviegoers that the gorgeous, sexy Megan Fox would make a longtime friend of the nerdy character played by Amanda Seyfried. Accept that, and maybe you can hang in for the long run.
Fox’s Jennifer becomes pale-faced with dark smudges under her eyes when she’s hungry, just like vampires have for centuries. And she heals quickly, even when stabbed in the heart. Seyfried’s “Needy” (her nickname because she supposedly is) recognizes the hunger rising and tries to keep her chum from striking. No way is that going to happen, or there would be no feature-length film.
“Needy” is especially concerned about her boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons). As Jennifer observes, the school’s formal dance “is an all-you-can-eat buffet.” Of course, he goes.
Two others are worth mentioning: J.K. Simmons as the kindly principal is in a different mode from his other films, and Adam Brody as the also-hungry bandleader-singer. Brody played the same role before when, in TV’s “Gilmore Girls,” he was Dave, who became the boyfriend of drummer Lane.