Warning: eat before watching

CEBU, Philippines - I was going to pay for the movie, but when the lady  at the counter told me four tickets to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs cost almost a thousand pesos, my face probably registered enough shock for my sister to give me some money. I’d forgotten we were going to watch it in 3D—which, I think, is the best way for this film to be watched, even if it cost double the usual ticket price.

I’ve seen a lot of movies in 3D recently, and I’ve been telling my friends to watch them in 3D as well. I said that about UP and Avatar and now I’m saying it about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. But it’s true. Cloudy… is better seen in 3D too. As with the other films I mentioned, the visuals are awesome: giant pancakes falling from the sky, topped with butter and syrup; ice cream snow, with multi-flavored scoops topping rooftops; cheeseburger rain; a giant Jell-O castle. It’s like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all over again, but this time, with dinner!

I’m betting we’ll be seeing more 3D this year.

Based upon a well-loved children’s book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett, Cloudy… is about geeky inventor Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), who always has ideas that are either potentially great or potentially crazy—or usually both. He invents a machine that can make food out of water and releases it into the sky without sufficient testing. The first item on the menu: cheeseburger with big fat beef patties, melted cheese, and crisp lettuce.

The machine turns their sleepy, sardine-packing town Chewandswallow around, giving it immense potential as a tourist destination and making Flint a town hero, except to his father Tim (James Caan), a fisherman, who seems to disapprove of all the inventing he does. You could say that the seemingly vain quest to win his father’s approval is what pushes Flint to keep trying to top his last creation. The thing is, Flint is so digital, while his father is so analog, if you get what I mean. They hadn’t gotten along since Flint’s mother, who understood his aspirations better, died.

Still, Flint doesn’t have as much problems accepting himself as geeky weathergirl Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), who didn’t survive the taunting in elementary school and decided to dumb herself down to conform. Sam comes to Chewandswallow to cover the weather and finds herself in the middle of a gastronomic disaster of epic proportions when Flint’s machine starts to mutate and defend itself—with pizza slices, headless roast chickens, peanut brittle shards, and gummy bears.

The film is as much about accepting yourself as it is about accepting what nature has to offer, even when it comes to “genius” technological creations. Tampering with nature leads to mutation of the ugly kind — as does tampering with your true identity. It’s a great film for young kids to watch, just as long as you feed them beforehand because it’s sure to make them hungry.

It’s also great for adults. The script is well-written and peppered with witticisms. Best of all, the movie pays homage to other disaster scenes in films that had gone before it. The headless chickens crawling on the ceiling and gathering around Flint, Sam and erstwhile town hero Baby Brent (Andy Samberg) reminds me of Cloverfield. There’s the spaghetti tornado that reminds me of Twister. There’s the giant meatball the machine has mutated into that makes me think of The Death Star in Star Wars. And more.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is a definite treat.

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