Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Rated PG - 90 min - Released 2009

There are only a few movies that I have come across that are truly clean throughout the entirety of the film; this is definitely one of those films.  If you have ever read the story book version of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs you may be a little disappointed with the adaptation of the movie, or perhaps not.  I would consider the movie to be loosely based on the book, at best, simply because the movie is presenting the idea of raining food as a reality and not as a tall tale a grandfather tells to his dear grandchildren before they hit the sack.  Rather, this movie is about an amateur, yet ambitious, inventor named Flint Lockwood, whose crazy past inventions have earned him the reputation of being a "Weird dude" and a "Shenanigan-izer."  His one goal in life is to create an invention that will help save the townspeople of Swallow Falls of their dull food menu, sardines.  Inevitably Flint and his trusty sidekick Steve, who brings a good portion of comic relief to the table, invent the FLDSMDFR (you'll have to watch the film for that one), which turns water from the sky into food, which leads to meaty-er showers and ice cream flurries.  With a few clicks on Flint's computer, his invention allows for any food of choice to rain from the sky.
     All seems well as Flint is basking in the lime light  of his newly renamed town Chew and Swallow, until his machine takes on a mind of its own, making the food portions much too big and rather scary for the townspeople.  Flint finally realizes that he must rectify his mistake for ignoring the mutating food and save the town by destroying the machine once the love of the town turns sour.  With the help of Sam Sparks, who would later become his love interest, Baby Brent, Mayor Shelbourne, and Manny, whom all add an interesting and very funny dynamic to the film, he is able to save the town and become the true hero he always wanted to be.
     As I said before, this is a pretty clean movie, but if I had to pick out any questionable content there are two things that come to mind.  One being when Flint's sidekick Steve rips the heart out of a Gummy Bear and screams with victory. And the other instance being when we see an extreme close up of Earl the cop flexing his buns of steel--which happens to be hysterical by the way.  Overall, I'd say an appropriate viewing age would be 2 years and up.

Overall Rating: 9.5 out of 10

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - Rated PG - 109 min - Released 2010

If you like fantasy adventure movies, then you will certainly enjoy The Sorcerer's Apprentice--for the most part.  The Sorcerer's Apprentice is a live action movie by Disney about a young boy who stumbles into a magical antique shop and meets Balthazar Blake, played by Nicolas Cage, who would 10 years later become his wizarding master.  Dave, played by Jay Baruchel, is a geeky college kid with a natural, or perhaps supernatural, talent for physics.  Obsessed with Tesla Coils, he spends most of his time locked in an underground laboratory, until one day he reunites with Balthazar: the same strange man from the magic shop.  Balthazar, who is in search of the only one who can defeat the evil and powerful Morgana, tries to convince Dave to be his apprentice in hopes that he may be the one who can save the world against an uprising of the dead.  Dave, who is torn between his destiny as a wizard and winning the heart of a girl, Becky Barnes, eventually comes to terms with his abilities and of course saves the day.  
     Now I said that you would enjoy The Sorcerer's Apprentice "for the most part" because everything in this film lives up to the Disney standard up until the end where I felt very let down by an unexpectedly anticlimactic ending.
I will say that this movie kept me laughing almost the whole way through, had a lot of adventure, including some really awesome stunt driving, and encompassed concepts in terms of magical movies that I had never seen before.  As for questionable content, the scene with the Chinese parade dragon coming to life may be frightening to some.  And the fact that the movie is based around wizardry doesn't necessarily score wholesome family bonus points either.  But, overall, it isn't anything I would shun based on the prior reasons.  My recommended viewing age for this movie is 8 years old.

Overall Rating: 6.5 out of 10

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Rated G  - 91 min -  Released 1996

For those of you unfamiliar with the story  (at least in the movie) The Hunchback tells the tale of a young disfigured man confined to a bell tower by the evil Judge Frollo.  Quasimodo, the hunchback, yearns to break free and essentially live without fear amongst everyone else in the world.  Quasimodo gets the help of a beautiful gypsy girl named Esmeralda, who is an outcast herself, and the two become an unlikely duo with one passion: break free from Frollo's oppression.


I've never read the classic novel, so I'm not about to compare this movie with the book, but the movie standing alone is absolutely excellent.  There is adventure, love, tension, humor, and a great array of songs.  We all know that most Disney movies include some songs, but this film is jam packed.  My husband and I joke that this movie can easily be translated to a Broadway musical targeted towards adults.   The humor in this movie mainly comes from the three stone gargoyles that are perched on the bell tower with Quasimodo.  You may recognize Jason Alexander as the voice over for the portly gargoyle named Hugo.  And just as with everything else Alexander embraces, he's hysterical.

The love story in this film is rather sad because you want Quasimodo to get the girl, but in the end looks win out: as seen when Esmeralda falls for her knight in shining armor, Phoebus. This is especially upsetting because Quasimodo is pure in heart throughout the movie, as opposed to the charming Phoebus, who eventually does indeed get the girl. But of course like most American movies the ending is cheerful and you don't feel quite as bad for Quasimodo because he does win the hearts of the citizens of Notre Dame.  Furthermore, the thematic development throughout the story is equally compelling.  The themes explore the realms of the semantics of monstrosity, man's inner conflict with his conscience, and man's conflict with society.

Now as for questionable content (here is where the tension in the story lies), there is one song in particular that sticks out in my mind because it clearly deals with lust of the flesh and is somewhat frightening to watch.  The song is sung by Judge Frollo (played by Tony Jay who does a fantastic job), who  is evil through and through and is just plain scary to look at.  He sings "Hell Fire" which goes "hell fire, hell fire, choose me or you will burn!" It is based on his  inner struggle regarding his passion for Esmeralda.  He says if she does not choose to be with him then he will burn her at the stake; I'd say that's pretty creepy and would call for some major marriage counseling or psychotherapy.  In the midst of that song the flames start surrounding him like he is in the depths of hell itself.  And his hideous countenance is still burned on my cerebral cortex--not awesome; well it is because it was emotionally appealing, but this scene would certainly be scary for children under six.

Due to storyline, the song "Hell Fire", and Frollo's creepy face, I'd say an appropriate viewing age for The Hunchback would be 6 years old. 

Overall Rating: 9.5 out 10