But it turns out, in a 3-D film that's more or less an animated 'origins' story, that a teen inventor named Flint Lockwood is responsible. Go see it, folks.Wondering how the town of Swallow Falls got to be a place where it rains soup and snows mashed potatoes? Well, Judi and Ron Barrett didn't tell you in their 1978 children's book, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. However, given the film's quirky nature, I view that as a mild complaint at best. The only thing keeping this film from getting a 10/10 in my book is – even with the few scenes that managed to tug at my heartstrings - the lack of an emotional punch powerful enough to get me choked up.

I walked out of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs with very much the same feeling as I did with '08's aforementioned Bolt: astonished by how mediocre I initially expected the film to be, and how enjoyable it actually ended up being. To put it simply, there were a couple of moments in which I literally thought that I was going to be ill. With that said, this is quite possibly the funniest animated movie that I've ever seen. T is also terrific as the city cop, Earl, delivering some of the most gut-bustingly hilarious lines in the entire film. Overall, I felt these two characters had some real chemistry, and as a result, I thoroughly enjoyed watching their relationship evolve throughout the course of the film. Both Bill Hader and Anna Faris as Flint and Sam, respectively, capture the essence of these two socially-awkward, smarter-than-you-might-think type of characters perfectly. The vocal performances in Cloudy are some of the most impressive ones I've heard in quite some time. While there's so much else in this movie to enjoy, the visuals alone make it worth the price of admission. Not to throw in so much hyperbole, but this truly is one of the best animated films in terms of pure eye candy. There were moments, especially throughout the movie's undeniably thrilling climax, in which my jaw just dropped in amazement.

Visually, this is perhaps one of the most spectacular animated movies I've ever seen, with literally every frame being a feast for the eyes. Having just seen the film, though, I am happy to say that all of my fears were put to rest. What further detracted from my excitement were the trailers, which led me to believe that the film was going to be strictly targeted towards children. So, with that said, I initially wasn't looking forward to seeing Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Sure, every once in a while, a brilliant piece such as Coraline will come along, but honestly, I find that to be one of the relatively few exceptions from this decade. Just to set the record straight, I'm not a fan of most non-Disney Animation, non-Pixar animated films being released these days, and even my faith in the former was just recently renewed with last year's Bolt (which has topped Pulp Fiction as my personal favorite movie of all time).

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