A Meaty Movie Experience

If you prefer the shorter audio version edited from the radio, take a listen.

Audio Review:

Here’s a movie that will give you something to chew on: It’s the new animated film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

In a coastal Atlantic fishing town called Swallow Falls, where life is dull and Baby Brent sardines are the daily sustenance, one budding scientist named Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader, Saturday Night Live) dreams of bringing life back to his dreary town by inventing something that will bring him fame, fortune, and local approval.

But so far all his crazy gadgets – spray-on shoes, de-balding formula, a walking television, and a monkey thought translator – have made Flint the laughingstock of the neighborhood and caused nothing but trouble for him. Flint’s failed antics have earned him the ire of rule-conscious policeman Earl Devereaux (Mr. T, The A-Team); the disapproval of his technophobic father, Tim (James Caan, Sonny Corleone in The Godfather), who believes Flint should quit dreaming and take a job at the family-owned bait and tackle shop; and the mocking taunts of nemesis ‘Baby’ Brent McHale (Andy Samberg, I Love You, Man and SNL) who is the face on every can of sardines.

‘Night at the Museum 2’ Delights

It’s always a risk that sequels will never truly live up to the success of the original theatrical release. But if opening weekend box office receipts are any testimony to a film’s success, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, hit a nerve back in May with moviegoers everywhere. The movie more than doubled the profits earned from the original 2006 Night at the Museum. Now, more than a month later, it’s still ranking in the top ten box office releases to date.

So what, exactly, is it about the adventures and antics of these nighttime-activated, historical characters that captures audience delight? In a phrase: good, clean humor and imagination. And that combination makes for family friendly fare, indeed.