Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
When you take a picture book and turn it into a feature length film you have no choice but to expand the plot. A picture book simply does not have enough of a plot to support anything more than a cartoon short. In this case, the movie version only retains some of the basic plot points and some of the more famous images (like the pancakes on the houses and the toast boats). Really, though, the movie does it right. It takes a kind of odd book about a grandfather's bedtime story and gives it context, complex characters, sub plots, and several lessons. Add in a healthy dose of humor and you stop noticing the departures as much. I call both of these winners in different ways.
A patron asked me about the movie adaptation the other day, and I haven't seen it so I couldn't comment. Glad to hear they did the book justice!
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