Everyone remembers reading Cloud with a Chance of Meatballs as a child, so when I first saw the movie trailer, I thought: “Oh no, not another book turned movie.” This movie was obviously a huge risk for its sponsors. Not only is there an inherent risk involved in making a movie out of a children’s book, this is a children’s book with not a whole lot of plot. If this film was directed by the normal Hollywood trashy director, it would have been horrible.

However, I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that it is not another one of those “book movies.” Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller saw that this was a children’s book without a lot of depth, but that allowed them to build the movie in ways that other meatier (no pun intended) books would not permit. It’s not as if the book had a ravenous fan base that needed to be appeased, but there would still be individuals who would watch the film out of nostalgia. That’s what allows this movie to shine.

The comedic value of this film is high, and that alone makes it worth seeing, but the 3Dphiles will certainly enjoy it as well. The writers were able to add an excellent story line about the town’s origins as a run-down sardine fishing town that went out of business because “everyone found out that sardines were disgusting.”

Highlights? The messages delivered didn’t reduce the movie to a sob story. The voice cast was great, especially with Mr. T as the town policeman (“My chest hairs are tingling — someone’s in trouble!”), and then there were running gags, like the rat birds (“Don’t worry Timmy, just play dead!”). On top of that, the graphics were great too. I watched the film in 3-D, and I thought I was going to be dodging meatballs the entire time, but fortunately they didn’t overdo it. The imagination of the artists shined, and the writers were extremely original when coming up with a climax. While many in the high school audience are probably thinking this is a movie for kids, I have to disagree. This was a really good movie for everyone, regardless of their age.

Watch the trailer here: