Sometimes, just sometimes mind, it can be difficult to muster up any kind of enthusiasm to watch a film that you just know is going to suck the very life force out of you. So with an open mind (yeah right) you still decide to sit through something with a really stupid title. Oh and wear daft 3D glasses to boot. Verdict? Not just one of the funniest animated features in years, but one of the most enjoyable films period. Who saw that coming? We honest to god didn’t.

Loosely based on the children’s book of the same name, it’s the story of Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader), a young and enthusiastic inventor, who is desperately trying to invent, well, not just something that the world needs, but something that actually works. And then, one day, he does just that. He invents a machine that can turn water into food. And before you can say "al fresco", the sky is raining all kinds of mouth-watering meals. But as the saying goes, with great menus comes great responsibility.

His invention increases his popularity at least, including the interest of a roving weather reporter for a weather channel, Sam Sparks (Anna Faris). But it doesn’t take long before everything starts to go soft baps up for Flint and all the residents of Chewandswallow. With so much on his plate, can Flint save the day?

Considering the only other two titles to be produced by Sony’s animation studio weren’t really up to much (2006’s Open Season and 2007’s Surf’s Up), Meatballs is destined to be a true classic. This is down to a myriad of factors. The first, most notably, is the script.

Much like Toy Story, the film is perfectly pitched to be appreciated equally by both kids and adults. And again, much like Toy Story, it manages to thoroughly entertain visually as well as its laugh out loud script.

Then you have its characters. All of them are oddball and quirky, without ever having to resort to being overbearing or irritating. There’s Flint’s sidekick Steve for instance; he was a regular monkey before he was given a gadget that can make him talk – unfortunately, he tends to just say ‘Steve’ a lot.

Certain 3D films of late – Coraline in particular – proved to be disappointingly "meh" in three-d-ee. Meatballs would have still been a blast from beginning to end without the gimmickry – but with it? Wow. And it’s not all that tired "ooh watch out audience, it’s coming out of the screen right at you!" nonsense. Instead, what you get is an incredibly detailed environment, rich in both depth and colour, enhancing your overall enjoyment.

But what will hit you most is its humour. In fact, your mouth may well hurt afterwards from its corners pointing upwards so much during its duration. It bombards you with sharp wit and visual gags at an alarming rate; so much so that it will probably take a few more viewings to catch them all.

If you have kids, the best way to see this film is to leave them at home. They’ll only spoil it for you with ill-timed toilet breaks or demands for yet another sugar fix. But if you do have to take them, and if they don’t behave, threaten them with cancelling Christmas or something. Chances are though, they’ll be just as mesmerised as you.

It’s a rarity indeed to get so excited over a film – and a cartoon at that – but Meatballs just delivers on every level. Go on, treat yourself.

Blu-ray and combi version

For its home release, the film has lost its 3D-ness, but that's all it's lost. It neither relies on or needs the extra dimension for the film to be more enjoyable. The colours in high def are as crisp and vivid as you could possibly ask for, and the gags work surprisingly well in 2D.

And although the combi pack is a bit of an oddity - if you have a Blu-ray player, do you really care if you have the DVD as well? - the DVD version could be handy to keep younger members quiet for a bit in a non-Blu-ray part of the house. What would have been nice would have been a digital copy, but you can't have everything.

As well as the usual director's commentary and making of bits and pieces, the Blu-ray comes with two silly extras. First is a very basic Space Invaders type game that has you shooting forks from your space ship at various items of food. It has the old school charm of an early mobile phone game, but is still fun to play.

The second is a really daft and pointless interactive splat button, that allows you to throw virtual food anywhere at the screen throughout the film. You have to be easily pleased to enjoy the silliness of such actions; needless to say, we were absolutely besotted with it. We dare you not be as well.

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs was one of only two films we awarded our highest Boom rating to (the other being the excellent In The Loop), and it still stands for its home release. Not only did it manage to take Pixar on at their own game - and win, but also put many other bigger budgeted, hyper-hyped releases to shame.

Even as as a takeaway, you can't help but feel both happy and content at the end of it. Bon appetit.