HDMR: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

September is volunteer month at Studio Movie Grill. I was so excited to get 2 free tickets to ANY movie that we waited until nearly the last day to use them. No really, I was excited, but the past few times we've failed at going to the movies. Call us cheap, but we are doing our very best to be somewhat frugal and going to the movies these days is an EXTREME luxury. Especially when you factor in babysitting cost, it's about as much as the price of admission.

There are several doozies out there that I'd like to see or that we've missed. I've really been wanting to see I Can Do Bad All By Myself and Don has been wanting to see 9. We compromised on Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

First off, I only knew this was an animated PG film. I had no idea it was adapted from a book! No idea that it not only had Mr. T, Anna Faris, Benjamin Bratt, and James Caan, but also NEIL PATRICK HARRIS!!! Whoa! And, it was about food. (Which coincidentally is kinda mean because all I've been able to force down is pretty much cake and coffee with this whole dental procedure thing.)

We printed off the voucher and took a very awake toddler, dressed in her jammies, to see the movie. She happily carried her red blanket with white stars. We propped her in the booster seat in the theater and she gazed intently at the screen. They were already having previews and that seemed to capture her attention. So far so good. She was even laughing up a storm, so much so, that the father sitting two chairs down from us shot a look in her direction, every facial muscles softened, and he too let out giant belly laughs.

She sat there through 85% of the movie, ridiculously involved with it, only pausing when she wanted water, food, or was a bit scared. (not really scared, but she was surprised by some things)

Wouldn't you know it, Don and I were ridiculously involved with the movie as well. We were laughing hysterically. Once I laughed so hard, I started coughing and I thought I was very well going to vomit up a rainbow from laughing so hard. HILARIOUS!! And there were a couple of touching moments where, yes folks, I did get a bit choked up.

Immediately after the film, I had to call home just to hear my dad's voice, and honestly, I wanted to talk to my mom too, but they both sounded so tired, that I just had the chance to say hello to dad. Hey Mom, thanks for those brand new Keds sneakers to wear for cheerleader tryouts so long ago! They really did have some magic in them! The magic was that you believed in me.

Regardless if you have kids or not, I would HIGHLY recommend this movie. Two waaaay high up high fives and hokey pokey on the side.