Films have captivated the
eyes of audiences around the world for several years and still do every single
day. What makes these films so captivating are the visuals they produce. Sight
is one of the strongest senses in the body. Seeing something can strike great
emotion and interest. That is why animated films are so successful. You're able
to push the boundaries in physics unlike anything imaginable in live-action
films. In the film by Sony Animated Pictures “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
2”, real world physics are pushed beyond its limits to show an audience a
dramatize visual for an entertaining story.
“Cloudy with a Chance of
Meatballs 2” picks up where it left off from the first film about Flint
Lockwood, a nerdy inventor with big compassionate dreams. Flint had thought to have
save the world, including his home island, and destroyed his invention the
FLDSMDFR; a machine that rearranged water molecules to create different weather
conditions of food. But Flint soon learns that his invention survived and is creating
foodimals (food+animals). This great invention is now rearranging water
molecules to create living creatures. The machine was not only creating living
creatures it also changed the entire climate of the island so that life it
creates can survive on the island.
Now lets talk about this
machine and how it works. The actual name for this invention is “Flint Lockwood
Diatomic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator”, for short it is FLDSMDFR. According
to Flint the basic concept for this machine is that it would gather water
molecules and rearrange them using microwave radiation to create foodimals of
the machines choice. Flint calls this principle, “hydro genetic mutation”,
which is actually just a made up term. The
machine self activates now and is pretty much running on a mind of it’s own. In
the film, Flint finds the machine connected to big fat vines in a water pool
inside a mountain.
When the machine creates a foodimal it slowly makes its way
out of these vines that are connected to it, as if it gave birth to a foodimal.
Once the foodimal is out it is perceived to be an infant foodimal and finds it
way to that certain parent foodimal. This machine not only creates one types of
foodimal species its creates many. For instances, there are tacodiles
(tacos+crocodiles), shrimpanzees (shrimp+chimpanzees), hippotatomuses
(potatoe+hippopotamuses), cheesespiders (cheeseburgers+spiders), and so many
more foodimals. This machine is now the life support for these foodimals on
this island. Its true that plants and vines can create life but not the way
this film demonstrates. Once Flint finally finds his invention it is snatch
from its habitat by Chester V, an inventor Flint looked up to his whole life.
Now crushed with the realization of the evil man Chester V really is, Flint now
must get the invention back to bring back the life to the island of foodimals.
In this action packed film lots of characters are
moving, being thrown, falling, and other extreme moments. When animating a film
with so much movement you must follow and break the rules of inertia. The Law of
Inertia states: An object moves
with constant, uniform motion until acted on by an unbalanced force. Most of
the film actually applies this principle, but for a more noticeable and
dramatic visual the creators of this film decided not to follow the rules. For
example, there is a scene where Flint has made it to Live Corp, Chester V’s
company, and he is put in an elevator with fellow scientists, so many that
everyone in the elevator is touching bodies. This elevator then travels at
incredibly high speeds up and down loops around the building and then just shoots the scientist out when they arrive
at their desks. Flint lands at his desk and stops and is unharmed. Now according to the Law of Inertia
this is not possible. Flint would have been severely hurt if he was going at
such high speed towards something that was not in motion and he most likely would
have died! Well he did not and the reason he didn’t is because it is visually
appealing to audience that Flint can survive an ordeal like this. In another
moment of this film where the laws of inertia are broken, “Chicken” Brent is
thrown into the air and lands without the applied principle. “Chicken” Brent is
attacked by a cheesespider and is thrown high in the air and lands on Earl the
Police man, however Earl does not move an inch as if nothing even hit him. When
you see Flint running into a mailbox while running away from a stampede, Flint
reacts and falls like he should and the mailbox moves with his force of impact.
In this instance Flint and the mailbox follow the rules of inertia. It seems when the creators break the Law of
Inertia they are trying to portray humor in visual aspects.
Not
only are the Laws of Inertia broken, but also this film displays exaggerated
paths of action. The path of action is the trajectory traced out by a moving
object or character. Many scenes in this film do not correspond to real life
physics dealing with paths of actions. For example, Earl the policeman seems to
move so quick, doing backflips in the air, moving to one positions to another,
without ever needing to stabilize at some point. The paths of action he makes
does not make any sense with real life physics. Also, the way Chester V moves
throughout the film with his whole body moving like rubber does not apply to
human physics. Real life people’s
movements do not follow those paths of action. Yet, there are moments in the
film where the characters follow the correct path of action. There is a scene
where a group of characters are on a car boat and are flowing with the current
of a giant coconut river/waterfall. That path of action seemed to be correct
because it was believable and looked right. Many of the paths of action that didn’t
follow the principle still flowed with the film because movements in this film
are very exaggerated.
When
I first heard about this film I was skeptical, I was not sure it would be good
as the first film. I am so glad I saw it. This film was just as good as the first
film and maybe even better. The story line was creative and the visuals were
amazing. In the end Flint saves the day again, he defeats Chester V, saves his friends,
and returns the FLDSMDFR to its rightful place, and
the island of foodimal’s ecosystem was back to normal. Overall we see that this
film intentionally breaks these laws of physics to portray a more dramatize
visual to entertain an audience. Breaking the laws of physics provides an
exaggerated story in a more fun and entertaining way. With the power of sight
the audience can break away from real world physics to spark their imagination to
a world Sony Pictures has created.
