--- title: "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" year: 2009 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs" fi1m_id: "cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs" imdb_id: "tt0844471" tmdb_id: 22794 wikidata_id: "Q637169" fi1m_score: 75 critics_score: 70 critics_reviews: 11 published: "2026-10-04T04:22:15.827722+00:00" updated: "2026-10-04T04:22:16.384745+00:00" region: "PE" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) Directed by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller · 1h 30m · Animation, Comedy, Family ## Identity Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs - **IMDb ID:** tt0844471 - **TMDB ID:** 22794 - **Wikidata ID:** Q637169 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844471/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/22794, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q637169 **Fi1m score: 75** · Critics 70 from 11 reviews *In a sentence:* A monkey who can only say his own name walks off with a film in which it rains spaghetti > Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s first feature is quick, rubbery and far funnier than its title promises. The story is thin and the final act is one long chase through a storm of food, but the gags arrive fast enough that you will not mind. ## Synopsis Swallow Falls is a small island town in the Atlantic that lives on sardines, and the cannery has just closed. Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader), an inventor of things that nearly work, lives with his father Tim (James Caan), who runs the bait and tackle shop and would like Flint to work in it. Flint’s latest machine turns water into food. He plugs it into the town’s power supply on the day Mayor Shelbourne (Bruce Campbell) is opening a sardine theme park, and it rockets into the clouds, wrecking the ceremony. Then it starts raining cheeseburgers. Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), a weather intern from New York sent to cover the opening, finds she has a real story, and the mayor finds he has an opportunity. Flint’s monkey, Steve (Neil Patrick Harris), says “Steve”. ## Review Judi Barrett’s picture book is a few dozen pages about a town where the weather is food and, one day, becomes too much of it. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, writing and directing their first feature, have kept the weather and invented everything else: a sardine town, a failed inventor, a machine, a mayor. What they have made is a fast, rubbery, properly funny family comedy that treats a daft idea with total seriousness and runs out of plot about two-thirds of the way through. The gags do not run out, which is why we are recommending it. Flint Lockwood, voiced by Bill Hader at a pace that suggests he is being charged by the second, is the sort of inventor whose inventions nearly work. Spray-on shoes that will not come off. Rat-birds. A device that lets his pet monkey Steve speak, which turns out to mean saying “Steve” with enormous feeling. Neil Patrick Harris does Steve, and we laughed out loud at him more than at anything else in the film, because the joke never changes and the timing always does. Around Flint the town is a gallery of people drawn in one stroke each: Bruce Campbell’s Mayor Shelbourne, a salesman whose appetite grows with his power; Mr. T’s Earl Devereaux, a policeman who announces his feelings and leaps over cars to express them; Andy Samberg’s “Baby” Brent, a grown man still trading on the sardine advert he did as an infant. Justin K. Thompson’s designs are the film’s best decision. Nobody here is built like a person. Flint is a stick with a quiff, his father Tim is a wall with a moustache where his mouth should be, and the mayor is all cheek. Swallow Falls starts the colour of a tin of sardines, grey and oily and small, and when the first cheeseburgers fall the whole palette changes to sweet-shop colours: a palace of jelly lit from inside, a snowball fight with ice cream, a tornado made of spaghetti. Robert Fisher Jr. cuts so fast that a gag is barely finished before the next one lands, and the whole thing is 90 minutes long, which is the right length. Mark Mothersbaugh’s score stays small and cheerful until the second half, when it goes for the full disaster-film swell and plays it without a wink. Then there is the father. James Caan voices Tim Lockwood as a man who cannot say a direct thing to his son and so says it in fishing metaphors that neither of them understands. It is a small, repeated joke, and the film is patient enough with it that by the end we were more moved than we had expected to be by a man with a monobrow failing to finish a sentence. Lord and Miller know this is the one thing in the film that is not a gag, and they do not overplay it. The story is the trouble. Once the food is falling there is one idea left, which is that more is worse, and the film says it several times in case we missed it. Anna Faris’s Sam Sparks, the weather intern who has hidden her brains since school, gets one good scene about that and then not much else to do. The last half hour is a chase through a storm of food that borrows from every disaster film of the previous decade, and it is skilful, and it goes on too long. We were never bored, but we did check how much of the ninety minutes was left, which we had not done in the first hour. Against the computer-animated films of its decade this is the scrappy one. It does not want the polish or the tears of the Pixar pictures and it is not pretending to. Lord and Miller went on to do the same trick with more confidence in [*The Lego Movie*](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie) (2014); this is the first attempt, and the first attempt is good. Watch it with children, who will want the spaghetti tornado again, or without them, in which case you will want the monkey. It carries a U and it earns the certificate without once being dull about it. *Fi1m score 75, published 4 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like this one, several more than they expected to. Nine of the eleven reviews are positive, and the praise clusters in the same places: the invention of the food set pieces, the density of the sight gags, and a script whose jokes work for adults as well as children. Several also credit the father-son relationship with holding the spectacle together. The reservations are about weight, not tone. Several critics find the story too slight for a feature, with a second act that slows once familiar themes arrive, and Digital Spy finds the moralising wearying. The 3D divides them: Empire calls it effective, while Digital Spy and Eye for Film think it adds little. The spread is wide. The Hollywood Reporter doubts the premise can sustain the running time, and Eye for Film, the one outright negative, calls the film thin and forgettable while allowing that children will still enjoy it. ## Straight answers **Is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs worth watching?** *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs* is worth watching for anyone who wants a fast, properly funny family comedy, and we scored it 75. The story is thin and the last half hour is one long chase through a storm of food, but the gags land quickly enough that we never minded. Children will want the spaghetti tornado; adults will want the monkey. **How long is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and what is it rated?** *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs* runs 1h 30m. It is an animation and comedy film. **Where can I watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in Peru?** *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs* is streaming on Netflix in Peru. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service. **How does Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs compare to The Lego Movie?** *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs* is the scrappier, looser film and [*The Lego Movie*](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie) is the better one, made by the same directors with the same speed and a much firmer grip on the story. The earlier film has funnier throwaway gags and runs out of plot sooner. Start with Meatballs if you want pure silliness, and Lego if you want the jokes to add up to something. **Is Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs based on a true story or a book?** *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs* is based on Judi Barrett's picture book, not on a true story. Lord and Miller keep the idea of a town where the weather is food and invent nearly everything else: the sardine town, the failed inventor, the machine and the mayor are theirs. Knowing the book is no help at all, and the film does not expect it. **What should I watch after Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?** After *Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs*, try [*The Lego Movie*](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie) (2014, Fi1m 83): Lord and Miller again, with the same speed and a much firmer grip on the story. Then [*Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit*](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit) (2005, Fi1m 87): Another inventor whose machines misbehave, built in plasticine by people who love vegetables; and [*Spirited Away*](https://film.one/film/spirited-away) (2001, Fi1m 92): Greed and food are the danger here too, and the pictures are far stranger. ### Reviews we read (11) - **Time Out**, Tom Huddleston (4/5): The review gives the film four stars and presents it as a challenger to Pixar’s dominance in computer animation. The available text singles out that challenge, but does not reveal a specific element of the film that the critic praises. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-1) - **Empire**, Helen O'Hara (75/100, inferred): O’Hara finds the film bright, silly and entertaining, though familiar story themes slow the second act. She praises its witty dialogue, lively voice cast and effective 3D spectacle. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/cloudy-chance-meatballs-review/) - **Slant Magazine**, Adam Keleman (3/4): Keleman finds the film sweet, buoyant, and imaginative, though less nuanced than its Pixar peers. He praises the heartfelt father-son relationship for grounding the food-frenzy spectacle. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs/) - **The AV Club**, Keith Phipps (75/100, inferred): Phipps finds the film brisk, bright, and winning, though its warning about abundance already feels out of touch. He praises its clever sight gags, lively visual style, and endearing characters. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-1798206970) - **The Guardian**, Xan Brooks (75/100, inferred): Brooks finds the film an exuberant, varied animated comedy and a sly parable of consumption. He praises its mix of the bland and bizarre, sweet and sour, and its imaginative food-based set pieces. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/sep/18/cloudy-with-chance-of-meatballs) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, Stephen Farber (45/100, inferred): Farber finds the film’s premise appealing but says the story and animation do not sustain a feature-length runtime. He praises James Caan’s performance and some visual gags, while noting that the target audience may still enjoy it. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/cloudy-chance-meatballs-film-review-93540/) - **/Film**, Devindra Hardawar (8.5/10): The critic considers the film a surprisingly strong kids’ movie and an excellent comedy. They especially praise its writing and humor, which work for adults as well as children. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/505447/movie-review-cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-an-unlikely-success/) - **Collider**, Andre Dellamorte (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film funny, sweet, and inventive, though it falls short of classic status. He especially praises its strong pacing and the heartfelt father-son relationship. [Read](https://collider.com/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-blu-ray-review/) - **Den of Geek**, Simon Brew (4/5): Brew warmly recommends the film and calls it one of 2009’s most welcome animated surprises. He praises its vibrant, inventive visuals, while noting that the story feels too slight for its runtime. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-blu-ray-review/) - **Digital Spy** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds it a worthwhile, harmless family film, though its moralizing can become wearying. They praise its imaginative food-related humor and its action-film parody, while noting that 3D adds little. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a175592/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs/) - **Eye for Film**, Martin Gray (30/100, inferred): Gray finds the film a thin, forgettable family adventure despite its appeal to children. He praises the comic Baby Brent and the touching relationship between Flint and his father, but criticizes the repetitive set pieces and restrained use of 3D. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs-film-review-by-martin-gray) ## Details - **Director:** Phil Lord, Christopher Miller - **Director:** Phil Lord, Christopher Miller - **Screenplay:** Phil Lord, Christopher Miller - **Novel:** Judi Barrett - **Editor:** Robert Fisher Jr. - **Music:** Mark Mothersbaugh - **Production design:** Justin K. Thompson - **Producer:** Pam Marsden - **Cast:** Bill Hader as Flint Lockwood (voice); Anna Faris as Sam Sparks (voice); James Caan as Tim Lockwood (voice); Andy Samberg as "Baby" Brent (voice); Bruce Campbell as Mayor Shelbourne (voice); Mr. T as Earl Devereaux (voice); Bobb'e J. Thompson as Cal Devereaux (voice); Benjamin Bratt as Manny (voice) - **Runtime:** 1h 30m - **First release (Canada):** 17 September 2009 - **Genres:** Animation, Comedy, Family - **Budget:** $100 million - **Box office:** $243 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPH0ct2oXBg ## Where to watch in Peru - Netflix: streaming *Checked 2026-10-04.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Annie Award for Best Animated Feature 2009: Annie Award for Best Animated Feature (nominated) - Critics' Choice Awards 2009: Best Animated Feature (nominated) ## If you liked this - *The Lego Movie* (2014), Fi1m 83: Lord and Miller again, with the same speed and a much firmer grip on the story. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-lego-movie.md) - *Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit* (2005), Fi1m 87: Another inventor whose machines misbehave, built in plasticine by people who love vegetables. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/wallace-and-gromit-the-curse-of-the-were-rabbit.md) - *Spirited Away* (2001), Fi1m 92: Greed and food are the danger here too, and the pictures are far stranger. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/spirited-away.md) - *The Iron Giant* (1999), Fi1m 88: A small town, a large visitor, and a boy who has to grow up quickly. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-iron-giant.md) - *Ratatouille* (2007), Fi1m 91: The careful, polished other half of the food-animation argument, with a kitchen you can smell. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/ratatouille.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/cloudy-with-a-chance-of-meatballs