At last . . . a kid flick that doesn't make you yawn!

Robyn's Hood

By Robyn McCloskey

As a mom to three girls, as well as being someone who loves to go to the movies, I have sat through more than my share of lame kid flicks. Now that our two older daughters are off at college, if we do have the rare chance to catch a movie together it's usually a chick flick.

But with Madeline, our 9-year-old, still at home, my kid-flick days aren't over yet. Ever since she'd seen the advertisements for it, Maddy had been asking if we could see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, since we had read the book and enjoyed it.

So it was on a rainy Saturday afternoon that I called my friend Megan (whose kid-flick days also aren't over) to see if she and her two daughters, one of whom happens to be Maddy's buddy, would like to accompany us to the movie. I figured this way, if the movie stunk, at least we wouldn't be suffering alone.

But to everyone's delight, it didn't stink.

The movie is based on the popular book written by Judi Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett. It's set in the fictional town of Chewandswallow, where meals are served three times a day . . . from the sky. Rather than rain cats and dogs, Chewandswallow rains food. At first this seems like heaven on Earth until things get out of control and the food gets bigger and bigger and the townspeople of Chewandswallow are living perilously close to death by pancakes.

But it wasn't until I sat through the movie that I'd experienced a personal first. For the first time ever, I enjoyed a movie more than the book.

The book was nice and had a novel idea (no pun intended), but the movie took it to another level. The movie took a lot of liberties with the book, but they were all the right ones. The basic premise remains the same - food magically falling from the sky.

The main character of the movie is a nerdy inventor kid, Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader of Saturday Night Live fame), who dreams of growing up and inventing something that will change the world. Throughout his childhood he is laughed at by classmates and misunderstood by his father, who has more muscles than brains. The only person who believes in Flint is his understanding and patient mom.

It's an endearing tale as Flint - eager to avoid going into a bait-and-tackle business owned by his father - gets a last chance to chase that dream of being a life-changing inventor and strikes gold - food that falls from the sky! It makes Flint a reluctant hero among the appreciative townspeople.

The surprises keep coming in this movie. Among the biggest is Mr. T, whose career peaked some 25 years ago, but here he's the voice of the vigilant police officer whose beloved son almost dies because of a sugar coma. It wasn't just Mr. T's voice we heard, but we also could tell he has a heart - who knew? I think it's his best work since his early-'80s portrayal of Clubber Lang, Rocky Balboa's heartless nemesis in the boxing ring.

If you're still in the kid-flick stage, I highly recommend Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Not only did the girls enjoy it, but Megan and I liked it so much that we were laughing out loud, much to the embarrassment of our daughters, who kept shushing us.

If we're lucky, the success of this film will lead to another one, Pickles to Pittsburgh, which is the sequel to the book. You don't often find a good kids film, let alone food that falls from the sky.

Robyn McCloskey's column appears each week in the Northeast Times. She can be reached at crmccloskey@verizon.net