A Family Movie that Teaches Life Lessons

Remember the movie Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs?

We watched it last week because it’s one of our favorite family movies. And, we wanted to get excited for the second movie which is coming out September 27.

Let’s see how much you remember . . .

1. The main character’s name is . . .

a)    Floyd
b)   Flint
c)    Bill
d)   Joe

2. The weather girl, Samantha Sparks’ favorite food is . . .

a) Jello
b) Ice Cream
c) Spaghetti and Meatballs
d) Marshmallows

3. The Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs about . . .

a)    playing with your food causes disastrous weather
b)   if you wear a diaper, you might end up as a chicken
c)    your communication-challenged dad needs a monkey translator
d)   none of the above

Answers: 1) b 2) a 3) d

I joke about the meaning of the movie but there are actually some very important lessons in the story.

I love that the story teaches the importance of not giving up. Flint’s invention history wasn’t great – in fact, mostly he made humongous mistakes. (For example, the spray on shoes didn’t work at first but ended up saving the day) No one believed in him. At least no one living – his mom did but she had died. But Flint continued to persist and found success with his food machine. Yay for not giving up.

Then, there’s the message of being true to yourself. At first, Samantha Sparks pretends she’s a dumb and giggly girl. She tells Flint that she does it to be popular and not teased. However, by the end of the movie, she lets her true, smart self shine through, even wearing her glasses with pride.

You could also learn the somewhat obvious lesson that greed and gluttony don’t end up with good results. The greedy mayor gorges himself non-stop on the falling food. Besides ballooning up to a roly-poly size, it’s his order of Las Vegas buffet that breaks the food machine and causes devastating food storms. Too much food doesn’t end well.

Lastly, my favorite lesson in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs is that friends working together can make a difference in the world. Samantha Sparks and Flint with some help from Steve, the talking monkey, Baby Brent, and Flint’s dad, focus on saving the town together – and they do it! But it takes everyone doing something to make it happen.

So that’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.