Kris Pearn
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Jurassic Park (1993)
Directed by Steven Spielberg
influenced Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Themes Visuals Plot
"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2," in contrast, takes its inspiration from Spielberg and Michael Crichton -- from "Jurassic Park" and its many "lost world" forebears, dating back to "King Kong," Edgar Rice Burroughs and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Upon their arrival, the group finds a thriving ecosystem of living food shown off in sequences paying direct homage to the dinosaur habitats in Jurassic Park.
The whole movie feels like some Jurassic Park homage, complete with the scenes of wonderment as Flint and his pals all return to the island to see what destruction he has wrought with his invention.
But when the friends — voiced by Bill Hader, Anna Faris and Neil Patrick Harris (as a scene-stealing talking monkey) — return to their island home, which has become overrun by living food products, the film loses its originality and instead pays homage to “Jurassic Park” as if set in Oz.
Even stranger, once back in Swallow Falls, “Cloudy 2” proceeds to lift scenes, references and bits of dialogue from “Jurassic Park.”
The latest installment in what will surely be a series borrows heavily from Jurassic Park and offers some pleasantly pun-heavy production design, but the novelty has worn a bit.
Coraline (2009)
Directed by Henry Selick
influenced The Willoughbys (2020)
Characters Themes Plot Visuals
Then again, thanks to Henry Selick (“Coraline”) and the “Despicable Me” franchise, there’s ample precedent for macabre tales for tots, packaged such that they don’t actually seem all that sinister.
If you look at a similarly structured film in Coraline , I get to know her way better than any of the kids here.
From Dickens to Disney to Dahl, and most recently franchises like Despicable Me and Laika films like Coraline, there always has been a sense of foreboding in many tales aimed at the youngest among us.
His sharp but relaxed delivery of his lines as the on-screen narrator of the story feels very reminiscent of Keith David’s portrayal of the mysterious black cat in 2009’s adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, but rather than feel like a straight rip-off, it feels like Gervais brings his own unique take on the similar role.
I suspect that screenwriters Pearn and Mark Stanleigh gleaned inspiration from classics such as Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach and Coraline by Neil Gaiman.
Why they didn’t just write a check to Laika (“Coraline,” “Paranorman”) or another check to Aardman (“Sean the Sheep”) escapes me.
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004)
Directed by Brad Silberling
influenced The Willoughbys (2020)
Themes
The movie is narrated by a sarcastic cat voiced by Ricky Gervais, who begins by scoffing at stories of family togetherness, and the sour tone masking a sweet lesson about makeshift family owes a lot to Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, which was, of course, adapted into a successful Netflix show.
As the opening narration begins, a talking cat (Ricky Gervais) warns us, resembling Lemony Snicket’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events”: “If you’re interested in stories with happy endings, you’re better off reading some other book.
Imagine a Roald Dahl-type story of clever children circumventing monstrous adults, wrapped in a gothic tone of morbid absurdism not unlike Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events .
Deliciously gruesome (but not quite as much as A Series of Unfortunate Events ), it is the story of four red-headed siblings who live in a gothic mansion squeezed between skyscrapers, with acid narration from a nearby cat (Rickey Gervais).
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Directed by Tim Burton
influenced The Willoughbys (2020)
Themes Characters
If you’re sensing references to Roald Dahl et al. (“Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Mary Poppins” and so on), you’re not mistaken: The movie isn’t quite so intricately indebted to classic children’s tales as its kid-lit source, but it definitely relies on the well-established tradition of tween-targeted literature to spin its own narrative so efficiently.
Commander Melanoff is a bit of a Willy Wonka figure, although the movie is closer to Burton’s version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory than it is to the more psychedelic 1971 Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Up (2009)
Directed by Pete Docter
influenced Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013)
Themes Plot Visuals
The film could have looked for inspiration from more intelligent animated films in this genre like 2008’s “WALL•E” from Andrew Stanton and 2009’s “Up” from Pete Docter and Bob Peterson.
(Naturally, Hader brings along all his old celeb-voiced friends, though the overzealous policeman is now played by Terry Crews instead of Mr. T.) While the technical department offers a cornucopia of visual treats, the writers mostly serve leftovers; their plot reheats several elements from Pixar’s Up , including a tropical-paradise setting, a personal idol who turns out to be a scoundrel, and an animal sidekick with a translator.
Usually a project from the likes of Pixar, it isn't just a film -- it is a work of visual wonder, along the lines of the superbly crafted " Wall*E " and " Up ."
But despite the overwrought physical comedy and cartoony character design that shares DNA with “Hotel Transylvania,” it’s hard to tell whom the intended audience is — especially with references to “Deliverance” and tardigrades.
Sin grandes innovaciones, pero con un carácter fuertemente sentimental y empático, Kris Pearn realiza el título junto a la colaboración de Cory Evans y Rob Lodermeier, y tras haber trabajado en otras producciones como Arthur Christmas o Colegas en el bosque.