Even though I get an instant boner for 3-D movies, it doesn't mean that I've lost my sense of artistic taste. After all, I thought The Final Destination in 3-D sucked (and not in a good way.) (As you know, sucking, in and of itself, is neutral.)

But I must say that I was absolutely wowed by Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, perhaps my favorite 3-D movie experience so far because many of the visuals in the film are lush and stunning—e.g., hamburgers falling from the sky, a flood of giant food washing through city streets—and there were a couple moments when I felt as though I was on an actual amusement park ride. How did they do that?!

But the movie is more than just adrenaline-laced eye candy. This story of a nerdy scientist (is there any other kind?) whose mad experiment goes very awry is funny, fast-paced, and wildly imaginative, with terrific voice work by Bill Hader, Anna Faris, Bruce Campbell, and Mr T! Basically, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is an epic disaster film filtered through the Disney Channel and Food Network.

After the movie, I went to the bookstore to buy the beloved book upon which the movie is based, and I was shocked to discover that the movie is nothing—absolutely nothing—like the book. Purists are probably going to hate this film and cry artistic rape, as they often do at adaptations, but, if you're able to set aside your expectations, you may just have as great of a time as I did.

(And some of you may criticize the film's seemingly pedestrian messages—"being different is okay," "your father loves you even though he can't always express it"—but, fuck you!, it's rated PG and it's for children! Christ!)