Based (loosely) on Judi Barrett's book of the same title, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs sucks you into its water-converting, food-processing machine of a movie and requires that you be "converted"... or at least affected by the characters you meet and the storyline you experience. Sony's animation of the film makes it a subtle combination of silly and realistic, and the blend of the story and the animation finds you rooting for these characters as if they were people you know. Starring the voices of Bill Hader, Anna Farris, Neil Patrick Harris, Bruce Campbell, James Caan, and Mr. T (!) the film is a coming-of-age story, the story of fathers and sons, and the kind of moral, family-friendly tale that makes you sit back and contemplate the world we live in.

Both the young inventor, Flint (Hader), and his love interest, aspiring weather report Sam (Farris), have been labeled since their youth by people who criticized their looks and condemned them for their innate intelligence. Both of them are outsiders looking into the social world they live in, wishing they looked different or were at least accepted. When Flint's hometown of Swallow Falls suffers from the failing sardine economy, Sam is sent to explore the changes in the weather there, which are all the the by-product of Flint's attempt to provide for his hometown's food needs (and make a name for himself).

Unlike Up, which I would argue wasn't really a kids' movie, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs provides kid-friendly action, excitement, and humor, while delivering a few poignant lessons for the whole family. Whether you walk away from the movie having loved the romance between Flint and Sam, or preferring the developing understanding of fatherly love between Flint and his father (or the police officer and his son), or whether you can see the lure of the devilish mayor (Campbell) and the temptation to succumb, or the longing for acceptance within community, you can't miss the lessons that the movie offers all of us.

I found the lessons of fatherhood to be similar to that of the mayor and his son in Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears A Who (the movie version) as both of the sons were misunderstood by their fathers until a moment-of-truth situation allows for their gifts to save their community. Unfortunately, in the case of Flint, he saves his community, only to place them in an even worse fix when his "good" thing is taken too far and becomes "evil." I found this to be a convincing illustration of sin (even the Garden of Eden scenario) where something that was created for good is taken too far by the mindset of a humanity that strives, and strives, and strives for bigger and "better" things, only to cause their own downfall.

The mayor's temptations are internal and external; he wants to be famous and he's pushed Baby Brent (Andy Samberg) into iconic and self-destructive status. As an illustration of sin, Baby Brent has found himself driven by the pleasure he experiences from the adoration of others, but in the process, his maturity and growth is completely stunted. Like the rest of the town, upon experiencing the "manna from heaven," he longs for more and more, and is never satisfied. Whether it's food or adoration or power, humanity as experienced in Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs can never achieve happiness in material things.

But this is a children's movie, and the moral of the parable is that in community, we can find happiness and acceptance when we recognize the unique qualities in all of us. When theyseetheir talents andgifts as available tohelp and make the community better, the people of Swallow Falls achieve a sort of "kingdom of God" on Earth. That's why I thought the movie was great: everyone (except maybe the mayor) wins in the end, experiences repentance and forgiveness, and moves forward into a brighter tomorrow. Isn't that what realizing our destiny as God's children is all about?