***1/2

It seems that many computer-animated films get bad raps because they only use childish humor and are advertised as such, but this new film, “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is different. It has some symbolism in it that children may not recognize, but will send parents laughing to death. Some of the actors are Anna Faris as a weather girl and female love interest and Mr. T (“Rocky 3”) as a cop with gymnastic skills. The cop is not the protagonist, however, Flint Lockwood is. Mr. Zachary Smola, my English teacher, has obviously been giving me too much literature homework (one of the reasons I haven’t had time to write reviews). Let’s get back to the forecast.

Flint (voiced by Bill Hader) is a “mad” scientist whose many inventions (i.e. flying car, spray-on shoes) always seem to fail. He is constantly put down by his father, Tim, policeman Earl, and everyone else on their tiny island town. Flint gets his chance to shine when the town’s only income, sardines, is finally declared “gross” by the world (see what I meant about the parental humor) and he invents a machine that turns water into food.

Meet blonde weather reporter Sam Sparks. She’s spunky, energetic and smarter then one may think. She too has been put down because of her smartness, and has pretended to be the house bunny AKA dumb blonde everyone expects her to be.

However, she is the reporter on site when Flint’s food machine works and she is immediately amazed by it. She is the only one who actually understands the science of the machine so the two quickly become friends and Flint quickly becomes the town hero. This puts the original town mascot “Baby Brent” in the shadows. Baby Brent reminded my mom of the Coppertone Baby-you’ll have to see the film to understand why. Meanwhile, Mayor Shelbourne, of course, starts to demand more and more food of the machine, as his intentions are to put the town back onto the map again and to become Bill Gates-rich. This causes the machine to rain down food-like weather patterns by itself; (think a spaghetti version of “The Day After Tomorrow”) therefore Flint, Sam, Brent, and Sam’s cameraman have to save the world.

“Cloudy” sounds like so many other CGI films you have heard about lately, but this one is different. The humor is original, and you can actually care that Flint’s mom dies, something in movies that usually makes me say “yeah, yeah, yeah.” The 3D is noticeable, but it doesn’t take up the whole film. You should see this film if you have kids and are interested in some nice humor that centers around your stomach instead of the john. Of course, the entrance to Flint’s lab is a Port-A-Potty.

Rated PG for brief mild language. Note-the mild language is he-double hockey sticks used once. The kids won’t hear it unless they are really paying attention.

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