Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (A-)

(Rated PG for some dangerous situations, some mild profanity): Most films with a catchy title are huge disappointments; this is an exception. It aptly sets the tone for a quirky, hyper animation adapted from Ron & Judi Barrett's delightful children's book of the same name, adapted for the screen by Chris Miller & Phil Lord - who also direct.

Child inventor Flint Lockwood (voice of Bill Hader) grows from creating spay-on shoes (that never come off) to a way to change water (rain) into food. He is aided & abetted by a smart TV weather intern, Sam (Anna Farris) while dogged by his father (James Caan) who expects the son to become heir to his sardine business.

Flint, in his delight in helping others, enjoys the pleasure the people of his little seaside town appreciate his invention, catches the eye of the mayor (Bruce Campbell) who has greedy motivations of his own. Eventually, the invention gets out of hand, more & more food in huge quantities & sizes continues to rain down, until a message becomes clear: too much is - too much - of a good thing.

The pace is frenzied, the colors wildly psychedelic, Mark Mothersbaugh's music appropriately spirited - all neatly tied together with crazy action (that the kids screamed joyfully over) & a nice moral for its wrap-up. Although made optionally in 3D (becoming de rigueur with animations), this flick didn't rely too heavily on them, so was great fun beyond that gimmick - though I must admit, it might've been fun to have hamburgers & steaks careening down on me, at least for awhile. It's 95-minutes of great fun for the entire family. (Grade: A-)