Playful tone established from opening frames (From Droitwich Advertiser)

Playful tone established from opening frames

6:50am Saturday 30th January 2010

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CLOUDY With A Chance Of Meatballs (Cert U, 90 mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Comedy, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray & DVD Combi-pack £24.99) Featuring the voices of: Bill Hader, Anna Faris, James Caan, Adam Samberg, Mr T, Tracy Morgan, Bruce Campbell, Neil Patrick Harris, Lauren Graham.

Ever since he was a little boy, Flint Lockwood (voiced by Hader) has been inventing gadgets to improve the lives of his technophobe father Tim (Caan) and mother Fran (Graham) in the town of Swallow Falls.

When she passes away, father and son grow apart and Flint is left to his own devices in the lab with Steve The Monkey (Harris). In an effort to solve world hunger, Flint creates a machine which can transform water into foodstuffs.

Before he can test his contraption and iron out the bugs, it launches into the atmosphere - and giant pancakes, pasta and steaks rain down on the tiny fishing port, which Flint calls home.

Inexperienced weathergirl Sam Sparks (Faris) is asked to cover this meteorological phenomenon and she immediately catches Flint's eye.

Based on the beloved 1978 children's book, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs is a treat for viewers of all ages, with slapstick and a miasma of bold colours to dazzle youngsters and some broad humour for teenagers and parents.

Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's computer-animated film establishes the playful tone from the opening frames, announcing that we are about to watch, "A film by... a lot of people".

Teams of animators have worked wonders here, including a jaw-dropping finale involving a flood of discarded food that threatens to drown an entire town.

When it was released in cinemas last year, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs screened in 3D. Sadly, the DVD and Blu-ray only include the traditional 2D version of the film.

DVD Extras: Director commentary, "A Recipe For Success: The Making Of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" featurette, "Key Ingredients: The Voices Of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" featurette, extended scenes, early development scenes, progression reels with introductions by visual fx supervisor Rob Bredow, Miranda Cosgrove "Raining Sunshine" music video, interactive "Raining Sunshine" sing-along, behind the scenes of Miranda Cosgrove's "Raining Sunshine" music video, "Flint's Food Fight" game; Blu-ray: director commentary, "A Recipe For Success: The Making Of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" featurette, "Key Ingredients: The Voices Of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs" featurette, extended scenes, early development scenes, progression reels with introductions by visual fx supervisor Rob Bredow, Miranda Cosgrove "Raining Sunshine" music video, interactive "Raining Sunshine" sing-along, behind the scenes of Miranda Cosgrove's "Raining Sunshine" music video, interactive "Splat" button, "Flint's Food Fight" game (normal and enhanced versions).

Rating: Three out of five.

Fame (Cert 12, 122 mins, Entertainment In Video, Musical, also available to buy DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99) Starring: Asher Book, Kristy Flores, Paul Iacono, Paul McGill, Naturi Naughton, Kay Panabaker, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Walter Perez, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Debbie Allen, Charles S Dutton, Kelsey Grammer, Megan Mullally, Bebe Neuwirth.

The New York City High School of Performing Arts is one of America's most prestigious training grounds for the country's most naturally gifted artists, dancers, musicians and singers.

Trained for professional careers in the arts and pitted against one another in class, the students quickly discover that nothing short of excellence will do during the four years of trials, tribulations and crushing disappointments.

Hopefuls including Marco (Book), Rosie (Flores), Neil (Iacono), Kevin (McGill), Denise (Naughton), Jenny (Panabaker), Alice (Payne), Malik (Pennie), Victor (Perez) and Joy (de Tagle) push themselves to the limit to the delight and obvious envy of their classmates, while attempting to impress their demanding teachers, Alvin Dowd (Dutton), Joel Cranston (Grammer), Fran Rowan (Mullally) and Lynn Kraft (Neuwirth).

Young choreographer-turned-director Kevin Tancharoen pays homage to Alan Parker's 1980 version while breathing some fresh air into his revamp. So there is an impromptu lunchtime jamming session but sadly not recreation of the taxi sequence.

Music is updated to incorporate rap and hip-hop, and the grand finale graduation show is a medley of ballet, African tribal dance and gospel singing, which doesn't quite raise the roof.

Naughton, who effortlessly dispatches the biggest musical numbers, sings an R&B cover of the infectious Fame theme song but this is only heard over the closing credits - sadly we never see her perform it. She is definitely the standout actress among a young and good-looking cast and we will undoubtedly remember her name.

DVD Extras: Deleted scenes, "Remember My Name" character profile, "Dances Of Fame" featurette, music video.

Rating: Three out of five.

Whiteout (Cert 15, 96 mins, Optimum Home Entertainment, Thriller, also available to buy DVD £15.99) Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Gabriel Macht, Tom Skerritt, Alex O'Loughlin, Columbus Short, Marc James Beauchamp.

US Marshal Carrie Stetko (Beckinsale) is the law at the Amundsen-Scott Research Station in Antarctica, where 100mph winds and temperatures dipping 120 degrees below zero render this winter wonderland virtually crime-free.

In a couple of days, she will be hanging up her badge for good. Out of the blue, Carrie is summoned miles from the relative warmth of base camp to investigate a sighting of a body in the snow.

Accompanied by her trust pilot Delfy (Short) and base medic Dr John Fury (Skerritt), the US Marshal discovers the frozen remains of a geologist in the dead zone. Further examination reveals that the victim was murdered and so Carrie reluctantly heads up her first homicide case.

U.N. Special Agent Robert Pryce (Macht) arrives unannounced and joins the investigation, clearly knowing more than he is letting on.

Whiteout is a routine crime thriller based on the graphic novel written by Greg Rucka, which abides largely by logic, quickly ruling out the majority of the cast as the killer by virtue of the time it takes to travel between bases in the inhospitable region.

A prologue set in 1957 necessitates a spectacular plane crash into the snow. No other sequences, including the grand finale in the eye of the titular storm, come close to the adrenaline-pumping thrill of these opening five minutes.

Beckinsale's tormented heroine has a short emotional arc and is the only person to be surprised when one of her colleagues is revealed as a scoundrel.

DVD Extras: "Whiteout: The Coldest Thriller Ever" featurette, deleted scenes, theatrical trailer.

Rating: Three out of five.

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