Just when you thought that Pixar and DreamWorks had the monopoly on computer animated movies, along comes Sony with the delightful Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and splashes enough imagination on the screen to make any of its rivals sit up and take notice.

Appreciating that the source material is spread a little too thinly for the film to be an outright classic, what really helps Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is the wonderful way it’s been realised. Blessed with a bright, vibrant colour palette, some fabulous voice talent--whoever cast Mr T deserves many medals--and an engaging story, it’s a very good film that serves a family audience well.

It’s also one of the very first films to be released in 3D on Blu-ray. You need a 3D television to feel the benefit, but obviously there are rewards to be reaped here if your technology is already in place. Capturing the quality of the cinematic 3D presentation, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is a fine candidate for 3D, and the film looks quite wonderful here.

A sequel has already been commissioned, unsurprisingly, but it’s a film that’s got a job and a half on its hands. For Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is a lovely movie, and one that sets high standards to live up to. --Jon Foster