TERM PAPER: The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

          Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, like every film, contains its own laws of physics. The difference between this film compared to others, is that the physics in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is just plain crazy. It's safe to say though— in its simplest terms— that the creators of the film made this world this way all for the sake of the story. The physical world in Cloudy 2 is one that allows strange gravitational pulls, buildings with impossible structures, and characters with seemingly jelly insides as they move. But even though the filmmakers of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs2 constantly break the rules of the real world, they do so in a consistent manner that makes us suspend disbelief so that we as the audience buy into the story and world they call "reality."

          First off, let's discuss the balance and weight of some of the structures in Cloudy 2. At the beginning of the film the citizens of Swallow Falls are relocated from their hometown to a sunny, beautiful location known as SanFranJose. The design of this city is very stylized, and though it mimics San Francisco's homes all crunched together on hills and slopes, the film takes it to another level. The homes come together in clumps and bunches, and they all are places very close together on hilltops are almost vertical in their slopes. It seems as though only people with helicopters can get to the top range of homes.  

         

         Then there's the design of LiveCorp's headquarters. This is an enormous light bulb-shaped formation that is made entirely of glass.  Structurally you would never see this in the real world. The sheer weight of millions of glass panels being supported by a thin column would topple before it was even finished. Nevertheless, it makes for a cool design that mirrors the silhouette of its creator, Chester V. 

          And inside the LiveCorp's structure you find another diabolical arrangement of impossibility. To get to the cubical on the lower floors, one must travel in an elaborate pathway of tubes and tunnels of glass cylinders. These "elevators" turn left and right, up and down, and would beat one to a pulp if this were real. Sure the glass sides may create a lack of friction, but it would still be an incredibly painful ride.

           Another aspect of the film that works the boundaries between realism and impossibility are the films gravitational pulls during sequences. One such impossible scene is where Flint falls from a rock candy precipice. He falls for approximately 6 seconds before hitting the water below him, though he does get knocked out, he lives to tell the tale. Mythbusters once did a test where they compared falling on concrete to falling on water. They dropped a pig from 600 feet onto a watery grave. This drop took about 5 seconds before the pig hit the water. It's terminal velocity reached 120 mph before it landed, giving it 7 skeletal fractures, including that of the ribs and neck. Flint falls from about the same height, perhaps even a little bit higher according to the time frame. He's lucky Cloudy 2 is just a kids movie, because he should be dead.

 

          Another shot that defies gravity is one where we see a LiveCorp water fountain shoot out water in the shape of a light bulb. The water follows a very particular, robotic path of action instead of the natural parabolic arc in would in real life. it's almost as if the water spouts are being guided in some strange way. 

         One scene that is actually quite accurate is the scene in which Flint travels down the crazy elevator tubes and his soy latte escapes from his cup due to zero gravity. This is actually possible, and the liquid in the shot is staying in tact— as it's an object at rest wishing to stay at rest— is a very real world scenario. Astronauts at the space station did tests like this, where they worked with the physical properties of liquid in zero gravity, and the results in Cloudy 2 are not far off. 

          As with most animated films, broken bones and stretched muscles populate the majority of the shots in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. I think the difference between this film and many others is that it tries to take this concept to a whole new level. You see it 30 seconds into the film with the introduction of Chester V, the film's antagonist. His arms and fingers stretch and bend in ways that only a person with jelly insides could move. And his weight is also very odd, as he can hold himself up with two fingers effortlessly. This helps set the tone and world of the film and it gives it a very unique and particular style. 

          Other shots that exemplify the stretched muscles of the characters are when they all see the foodimals for the first time. Their facial reactions and jaws drop further than any normal human, and again this just further supports the story moment. There's even a part that shows some characters slapping mosquitoast off of each other's faces. The stretch in the fingers and squash of the jaws and cheek muscles indicate how far the animators were able to push the poses and expressions of the characters they were working with. 

          Though some scenes and sequences from Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 work in the real world, a majority of them do not. The story itself is crazy and requires the physics to match it. The characters have to have a lack of bone structure, the buildings need to be strange and improbable, and the weight of the world requires its own gravity for each particular moment. But we as the audience buy the physics; we accept it. And this is the beauty of cinema and the power of animation: a character can bend their arms in 12 different places and an enormous structure can be made entirely out of glass. We disembark from our own reality because Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 is grounded in its own world, and we follow every moment of it.