When I first saw this title it brought to mind Robert Crumb's MEATBALL! comix, in which a rain of meatballs falls upon the earth.
http://www.scribd.com/doc...30/Robert-Crumb-Meatball
There is no way they are not using this initial concept as the basis for their story. Crumb's Meatballs, however stood for a kind of random satori/illumination for some individuals.
That, of course, has nothing to do with this movie.
This movie, featuring the voice work of James Caan, Mr. T and Bruce Campbell, is based on a current Children's book, which my kids are apparently familiar with. I haven't read this one, but I am quite familiar with many other Children's fantasies. They are light, innocuous and there is no sense in trying to work out a deep literary analysis from them.
The movie, however, I believe is a different story, because a dark aspect of American culture is, all of a sudden, garishly presented to the rest of the world to see. In this case what may be a Children's fantasy: having all the junk food available in massive quantities, ceases to be merely that and reveals (not that it was necessarily hidden,) a part of American consumer/waste culture for all eyes to see.
This is a food movie, maybe in the same genre as Tampopo, Babbette's Feast, Mostly Martha, Como Agua Para Chocolate, Chocolat, The Scent Of Green Papaya, Eat Drink Man Woman/Tortilla Soup, etc.
But unlike those movies, instead of the food being presented in terms of its variety or quality, or its enjoyment being presented as a metaphor for general joi de vivre say, the food is merely seen as one more item to be exploited, of obtaining massive amounts of it for consumption.
The food is actually free for all, but ways are quickly found to profit from it.
There is not even a need for this food. Sure, sardines do not present many options for a varied menu, but no one in the island is actually starving or even hungry.
The main intent of the filmmakers/designers/animators was apparently to present CGI food in a way that seemed not only realistic, but appetizing. Other filmmakers have shown food with the intention of presenting it as something to cause disgust, for example some of Svankmajer's short films dealing with food, Tommy's bean commercial, or Cheol-su Park's 301/302.
The food, unlike say, the characters is presented quite realistically. Light, texture and color are all correct, if you were making a commercial for a fast food restaurant, this is exactly how you'd want the food to look.
The sheer mass of food shown in some scenes may still cause some viewers to be disgusted (much like the inside of a garbage can also would.)
I predict we'll see an increase of the use of virtual food in TV commercials, it's just too visually perfect not to be used! Will we be able to tell? Was there a US tie-in campaign with a fast-food chain? Or, was that too obvious? Or, was the grossly overweight mayor parading around seen by the food industry as something no one would want associated with them? It certainly was used in Mexico.
The movie even suffered a strange title change, because of this, now it is called Rain Of Hamburgers there.
Yeah, there is also a story about the relationship of a man with his father... Big deal.
I wonder what the impact of this movie is on Third World countries, where it might be seen by people who are actually hungry, or in communities where food is grown and obtained by means of actual hard work.
In the story food is grown magically, as an accident, and with no effort. Therefore wasting food has no impact on the local economy (or the social psyche.)
The consumers are absolutely divorced from the process of the generation of said magical food, despite the fact that it is a former fishing village, and obtaining food from the ocean was the original basis of their economy.
Yes, it is merely a wishful fantasy much as Willie Wonka is: "Wouldn't it be cool to have all the candy in the world?" But there is a huge difference: This movie is not merely about mass consumption, but also about mass overproduction and mass waste.
The waste is at such a scale that it could not possibly exist without incredible environmental repercussions (which, of course, are ignored by the filmmakers.) The overproduced food, is merely catapulted out of sight in one scene.
We see food fall on the floor and be ignored, we see a giant dam fill with waste food. The dam subsequently fills to the breaking point and overflows, destroys the city and flows into the ocean.
The movie has gotten good comments, much as Kung Fu Panda did. It also has a distinctly different vibe than the Shrek movies or Fish Tale. But I cannot understand why everyone thinks this is a nice movie, and why they have failed to see what is obviously in front of them.
Am I overreacting? Maybe, maybe not.
See this movie in a double bill with Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me.
Cartoon Brew article:
http://www.cartoonbrew.co...of-meatballs-update.html
