My daughter Amanda remembered reading Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs in school. She and Kyle were both looking forward to the movie, and she was anxious to introduce him to the books. When I looked for the book at the library, I noticed that there was a sequel. Pickles To Pittsburgh, while not credited in the film, actually addresses some of the issues brought up in the film and is a great complement to the first book, whether you see the movie or not.
The movie’s storyline departs quite a bit from the books, which deal with a grandfather telling stories about the land of ChewandSwallow where meals fall from the sky. Whether it is made up or real — we never quite know.
However, taking the movie at face value — we enjoyed it. My kids (5 and 11) liked it, and the man sitting next to me laughed out loud throughout the show.
The movie looks back at the life of the inventor of the machine that causes food to fall from the sky. The film highlights some important themes such as not giving up on your dreams, the importance of parental love and support, and the dangers of excess.
If nothing else, this much-publicized movie will hopefully serve to remind people of the classic picture book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett.
The Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs movie website is pretty cool — containing games, extras about science and more.
Jennifer Donovan writes about the ups and downs of sharing life with her kids and husband at her blog Snapshot.
We have always loved this book and were so excited to see it coming out as a movie! We went on Friday night and it was really fun! (although I have to say the 3D only gave me a headache and I don’t think it was worth the extra money)
Krista–We saw the regular version, partly to save a few bucks, but also because the time worked for our schedule. I didn’t mention that in my post, so thanks for that additional information.
–Jennifer
We love the book as well and went to see the movie Friday night with no idea how they would make it into a full-length movie. But we were all very impressed with the story and the look of it. We saw the 3-D version, and my husband said it was the best 3D work he’s ever seen, with so many layers and all.
Did you see the report about 3D TV starting to come out? Evidently that will be the next big thing.
We’ve enjoyed the book, and will probably get around to the movie eventually as well…though maybe not until it’s on DVD.
(3-D movies also give me a headache so I tend to avoid them!)
Good to know about the movie. I watched the trailer once you told me about the movie initially and I was wondering how they were going to make the book into a full length film. I think it’s a good idea to drag the sequel into it (that I have not read yet and should).
It sounds like it could be very cute but probably above our level of understanding at the moment. Maybe by the time it’s out on DVD. But it does sound a bit zany and cute!
You know, I remember trying to read this book to a group of kids early on in my teaching career, and I just couldn’t get into it. I should pick it back up and see how I feel about it now.
Glad you guys enjoyed it!
I like the book! I never like movies of books and it sounds like adding an “inventor” takes some of the fun out of it. It may still have been fun, but different. Which is always too bad if they are comparing it to a book.
My pre-k children have always been fascinated with this book. I am interested to see the movie. Maybe I will take my bf’s son one day.