Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs

What’s it about?

Flint Lockwood is a young scientist who’s always been laughed at for being a bit of a geek. Even his father doesn’t understand him and his Mother who did believe in him, died when he was only 10. The town Flint lives in, Swallow Falls, is in trouble as its sardine industry isn’t doing well. So Flint sees this as his opportunity to invent something really useful that could help the people and they would see him differently.

Flint invents a machine that turns rain into food so that every time it rains food falls out of the sky. The townspeople are really pleased with this and so is Mayor Shelbourne who thinks this will make him famous. The trouble is everyone gets greedy and wants Flint to make more and more food. The food gets larger and larger and Flint thinks he’d better stop using the machine to save the town, which of course upsets everyone.

What to look out for

• There is some school bullying of Flint when he was young and his friend Sam who were both laughed at, called names and made fun of because they were smart.
• The Mayor gets angry with Flint when he tries to shut down the machine and throws objects at him and the machine.
• There’s a food storm that destroys some of the town and the people scream and try to get away.

There are also some other scenes which might scare very young kids such as:

• A sardine falls out of his fish tank and is eaten by a seagull.
• Chickens with no heads attack Flint and Sam.

Moral of the Story

The message of the story is to believe in yourself and not to be upset by what others think of you.