Live Action Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

This is just plain awesome.
In related news, the upcoming CWaCoM sequel has a title: Revenge of the Leftovers.  I'm not sure how I feel about this.

AMV - CWaCoM meets LSoH

Here's my latest AMV, using footage from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and the song "Ya Never Know" from Little Shop of Horrors:

Listening to the song, I was struck by just how perfectly it matched up with Flint's situation, and it was only inevitable that I would make this AMV.  I also made a "prequel" AMV using the very beginning of "Ya Never Know," substituting the Mayor for Mushnik:

But I didn't put as much work into this one as the other, since it was so short (and there's not that much footage of the Mayor before he beefs out).  But again, it fit so well that I just had to do it.

CWaCoM - Scissors: A Love Story

Here's a little something I put together, mostly for the joke at the very end.

"I'll be using these bad boys to help save the town," Brent said, pulling out a pair of golden scissors. Brent loved those scissors very much, but he loved showing them off even more.

As Brent flaunted the scissors, Flint's heart ached. For though he longed for the scissors, he knew that they could never be his, so long as Brent was number one in town.

And so Brent and his scissors went off to cut some ribbons, unaware of the fate that was about to befall them.

Change was in the air. It was not long before Flint also began to garner a bit of fame in the town...

...and soon he had eclipsed Brent completely.

"At least I still have my scissors," Brent said, holding them tight.

But even those would be taken away from him. As the mayor demanded Brent hand the scissors over, Flint could hardly contain his excitement. Soon the scissors he had desired for so long would be in his hands!

Brent couldn't believe it. His scissors, used by someone else? By Flint, of all people? He couldn't let that happen!

"No, I'm never gonna give them up!" Brent cried, holding onto the scissors as tightly as he could. "I'll never let go!"

Yet despite Brent's best efforts, the scissors were forcefully ripped from his grasp, and handed to Flint.

Using the scissors to cut the ribbon as Brent so often had, Flint felt a wave of joy wash over him.

At last the scissors were his!

Brent could not believe his scissors would betray him. "Scissors.... I thought what we had was special!" he cried out.

Redbox Saga: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Where I work, I'm fairly close to a pair of Redboxes, and so I've noticed a general trend in how the week's new movies are handled. Generally, The Redbox Guy (RBG) will show up anytime between Friday and Monday to put in the new discs, take out old ones, and shuffle the little movie posters around (is there a word for that?) so that the newest DVDS are right above the Redbox kiosk itself and the others are in some kind of random order on a display case next to it.

Naturally, when it was getting close to the release date for Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, I kept an eye out to see when the RBG would show up. It turned out to be one of those weeks when he didn't come until Monday evening, so he was still at work when I was leaving. I kind of wanted to ask him if I could see the Cloudy DVD, but I figured there are probably rules against that. When I went into work the next day, though, I was very surprised to see that he hadn't changed any of the little posters (or the upcoming movies sheet), which worried me a little bit, since most people make their decisions on what to rent based on the displayed posters, even though there are many more movies inside the kiosk. Especially kids. But I was happy to see that despite no notice of it being inside, people were renting Cloudy. (I, meanwhile, attempted to buy the 2-disc w/mystery exclusive DVD at Walmart, but had no luck, so I settled for getting it at Target, where it came with a teeny tiny version of "The Tasty Tale of Chewandswallow." The mystery exclusive turned out to be an umbrella that reveals food when it rains.)

The following week, RBG didn't come until Monday again, and yet again he didn't put up new posters (or even the old ones from the previous week), but he did put a poster for Cloudy in the Featured Movie slot, which made me happy, anyway. Finally, for this week, the guy came on Friday and put up all the new posters that hadn't been put up before, including one for Cloudy down in a prime location in the kids' section (the two rows closest to the ground). Of course, now there's the problem of there not being enough copies of the movie to go around. I check every now and then during my shift, and it makes me feel good to see that it isn't there, since that means all the copies are checked out, but at the same time I feel bad for whoever might be coming next to try and rent it.

As for the actual DVD, it both brings me great joy and vexes me at the same time, though not for the same reasons. I'm very happy to actually have the movie on DVD, so I can go through it frame by frame if I so desire, and easily get screenshots of the exact shot I want (you'll be seeing the fruits of that soon), and the supplemental features on the second disc are very good, too, especially the "Recipe for Success" featurette and the voice actor spotlight.

What vexes me, though, is not what's on the DVD, but rather, what isn't. When the DVD was announced, the special features were, too, and the things I was looking forward to the most were the Extended Scenes and the Early Development Scenes. Especially the extended scenes, since the Junior Novelization is full of such scenes, but from what I've seen in the Art and Making of book, there's plenty of good material available for the Early Development scenes. But the actual DVD has only two of each. On the Extended side, there's a short bit that was cut out of Flint, Sam, and Manny's trip in the elevator, which I could have done without, really, and a longer section of the Spaghetti Twister that includes a foodfight between Flint and the Mayor (which was pretty much a given to be included). But I really would have preferred to see more, especially if it was something that wasn't in the junior novelization or the various animation reels on youtube (most of which have been collected here).

On the Early Development side, there's a nice scene of Flint writing to Vance LaFleur, cataloging some of both of their achievements, and a different version of the spaghetti twister. Now, since I have the Art and Making of Book, I didn't need any explanations, but it might have been nice for there to be some kind of introduction to the scenes for those who don't have/can't afford the book. In lieu of that, here's a bit of explanation: In one version of the story, Flint was trying to get into the Science League, run by Vance LaFleur, who (among other things) saved the world from giant ants. Toward the end of the movie, Flint would realize that he was meant to stay in Swallow Falls, and that his hero had actually created the giant ants in the first place (and had a rather cavalier attitude about it). The second clip doesn't need that much explanation, except that Sam is there reporting on the opening of a hotel, which was a dropped element (it looked like an inverted pyramid with a million rooms, and from what I can tell, it was going to serve the same purpose as the dam). Both are fine scenes, but as I said, I was hoping for more than just two. I kind of would have liked to see the scene described in the Art and Making of Book with the jukebox guy, but that's probably just me.

I was also sort of hoping that the DVD would explain just what was planned for Brent in the Ice Cream Snow Day scene. The Art and Making of Book includes a shot of him in a sequence of color keys for that scene.

Upon further inspection, Brent is actually in that scene in the finished movie, but only at the very end, when the camera starts to pull out. I've circled him to make it easier to find him.

So yeah, it makes me wonder whether or not there was going to be more to his appearance in that scene, or what. I didn't really think that I'd get an answer, but one can always hope.

The commentary (the director/writers and Bill Hader) really didn't shed as much light on the story development as I would have liked, but it was still fun and informative. For instance, I never noticed that when Flint goes to replace the fuse near the beginning of the film, he's singing the music that was playing in the background of the previous scene. And when Brent becomes Chicken Brent, the music that plays is an orchestral version of the Baby Brent Sardines jingle. But there's also a lot of Bill saying "I voiced this with Anna in the same room." So yeah.

Anyway, the movie itself is very awesome, and even if the special features don't always live up to my (admittedly rather high) expectations, I still think it's worth getting the 2-disc DVD. The Blu-ray version also has the option of throwing food at the screen while watching the movie, although only on certain players, or so I've heard.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs End Credits

When I first saw Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, I missed the very beginning, but when I saw the opening title, I knew it was going to be an awesome movie. However, it was the end credits that left me wanting the DVD to be out OMG NOW! But now, they've been posted on youtube, so I can watch to my heart's content:

Art of the Title Sequence has an interview with Yellowshed, who put the end credits together, which reveals that the sequence was originally going to be set to the title song from Xanadu (and there's an animatic on the page that shows an alternate version of the credits set to the song). So I've been amusing myself by playing that song while watching the actual end credits, and I think I kind of like that better. No offense to Raining Sunshine or anything.

Edit: Someone has the end credits synched to the song! You can see it here.

And while I'm talking about Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, I want to give a plug to probably the only CWaCoM-dedicated forum out there, Flint Lockwood's Lab.

Random Thoughts about Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Just a couple of things that have been floating around my head about Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. There are spoilers here, but as it's been out in theaters for over a month and will be on DVD in just about two months (January 5th! Yes!), I feel that it's safe enough to post. If you don't want to be spoiled, feel free to skip this.

Toward the end of the movie, as Flint heads off to stop the FLDSMDFR, he ends up putting together a Five Man Band of himself, Sam, Manny, Steve, and Brent, and this is how I see it breaking down:

Flint is The Hero, obviously.

Manny is The Lancer, with his cool and collected manner acting in contrast to, well, everyone else, really.

Sam is both The Smart Guy (she's the one with the Doppler Weather Radar 2000 Turbo, after all) and The Chick.

Steve is the Team Pet, also obviously.

Brent starts off as the Tagalong Kid, seeing as he basically invites himself along (and this is made especially clear when, after asking about his part in the plan, Flint tells him he can be "President of the Back Seat"), but he becomes The Big Guy with his rebirth as Chicken Brent.

Kind of makes me want to see a TV series of them going around, solving weird problems. In that case, Flint and Sam would share Smart Guy responsibilities.

I remember reading somewhere that in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, the character of Gaston was made to specifically be the Beast's opposite, not just physically but also in the sense that Gaston at first seems charming but has a hidden dark side while the Beast seems frightening at first but has a hidden softer side. I mention this because I think that this same sort of thing holds true for Flint and Brent.

First off, there's their roles in the town. At the start of the movie, Brent is effortlessly adored by the whole town, and has been since infanthood, while Flint, despite his best efforts, is not very well-liked by anyone. With the success of the FLDSMDFR, their roles begin to reverse, until the world is cheering Flint's name and the same people who once delighted in Brent now have no respect for him.

Secondly, there's the matter of their appearances. The most obvious is that Flint is a basically stick thin while Brent is...not. At all. The next obvious contrast is their hair colors, brown for Flint and blonde for Brent. Not to mention Flint has these huge hands, whereas Brent's hands are much smaller, especially in comparison to the rest of him. However, there are also a number of things that they have in common lookswise. According to The Art and Making of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Brent and Flint are the only characters built all the way down to their toes (as Flint's spray-on shoes are slightly translucent and Brent always wears sandals). They both have that crazy hair thing going on, and they both have blue eyes (granted, so do most of the characters).

I find it kind of interesting that in the first scenes of the movie, where we see both Flint and Brent as children (I'm guessing seven or so), Flint looks basically the same as he will as an adult, head-shape and hair-wise, but Brent has neater hair and a rounder head as a child. Yet, they both already have the outfits they will wear throughout their lives: Brent is wearing a monogrammed blue tracksuit, and Flint is given a professional grade labcoat, although he still has to grow into it.

Cloudy With a Chance of Whistles?

I saw Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs a couple of weeks ago, and I enjoyed it, even if the whole fathers and sons thing was too heavyhanded IMO. And I've recently been relistening to the OCR of Anyone Can Whistle, which made me realize that there's a bit of similarity between the two. Not a lot, mind you, but some. For instance, both take place in a town that's fallen on hard times due to their main industry falling flat for a rather silly reason. In ACW, the town made a product that never wore out, thus, no one needs to buy anymore, and in CWaCoM, the town's sardine industry goes down the tubes when the world realizes that sardines are "super gross." And in both, the towns are revitalized by a "miracle" (water spurting from a rock and raining food, respectively) that is taken advantage of by the mayor. Of course, in CWaCoM, the food rain is actually created by a machine, but so is the water from a rock in ACW, although the mayoress and her cronies try to pass it off as a genuine miracle. And frankly, the mayor from CWaCoM could very easily sing the mayoress' opening song, "Me and My Town," with lyrics like:

Come on the train, come on the bus,
Somebody please buy a ticket to us.
Hurry on down-
We need a little renown.

Fitting, as the mayor's first scene is him announcing his intention to unveil something to put the town on the map. Over the course of the movie, the mayor's motivation is to build himself up using the town's fame, which is what ultimately leads to the third act, and meshes nicely with the mayoress' main motivation, which is, as her song states, "Me and my town, we just wanna be loved."

The second similarity is slightly spoilery, so if you're planning on seeing the movie, feel free to skip the rest of this post (although really, it's not a spoiler that will ruin your enjoyment of the movie).

Anyway, in both Anyone Can Whistle and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, the female leads (Fay Apple and Sam Sparks) have a persona they put on to hide their true selves, which they only reveal (at first) to their respective male leads (J. Bowden Hapgood and Flint Lockwood). Sam hides her geeky self behind a perky, "dumb blonde" TV personality, while Fay uses a Wig Dress Accent to get around her rigid, by-the-book self. However, the male leads react differently to their ladies' secret identities. Flint encourages Sam to embrace her inner geek, including inverting the usual "Glasses Gotta Go" scene, but Hapgood encourages Fay to relax and be free on her own, basically to be who she is with the wig, but without it.

Other than that, though, the two stories have little to do with each other, which is to be expected, considering ACW is forty years older than CWaCoM.