Clouds tells the true story of Zach Sobiech who finds out he is dying from cancer and pursues his dream of becoming a musician. Despite gaining a mass media attention, I have to admit I had never heard of him or his story before watching this film. It is hard for me to comment on how accurate the film is but I do think it may have stayed true for the most part with a hint of added drama for the sake of Hollywood.

The whole cast does an excellent job here and I really felt the emotions they portrayed, I could not imagine being a parent and having to deal with this pain. The parents put on really powerful performances. Their were a lot of inspiring moments and quotes throughout and a big shout out to Lil Rey Howery as the teacher. He was fantastic and was a bright light in quite a depressing story.

I thought the films running time of 2 hours might have been too long, but I actually wish they went on a bit further to flesh out some of the problems I had. I felt they rushed the romance side of the story, felt like they brushed over certain things and it just did not click as much as I had hoped. Especially the part where they get back together, just felt forced and not that realistic to me. Some of the songs were pretty good and the last 20-30mins was quite the tearjerker. It was a hard watch at times and very emotional but it sent a powerful and inspiring message.

6/10

**THE WACPINE OF ‘CLOUDS’**

WRITING: 6
ATMOSPHERE: 7
CHARACTERS: 9
PRODUCTION: 7
INTRIGUE: 7
NOVELTY: 2
ENJOYMENT: 7

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**The Good:**

The family dynamic is well-depicted and feels realistic. The way Zach, his parents and siblings act with each other and react to their surrounding world is natural.

There's that cosy, friendly atmosphere over most of the film, with moments of tension now and then reminding us that things aren’t all that well. The final act turns up the emotional dial and is very touching and heartbreaking.

The performances are nothing special, but they all work fairly well. The actors do very well in the final act, which forces them to bring out their emotional sides.

The killer soundtrack is the best aspect of the film, providing moments of emotional solitude and good mood among the otherwise so gloomy subject matter.

The film explores family and friend relationships better than many similar films, and from several angles.

This is the perfect tearjerker film for eventless Friday nights and a Disney+ Original worth a subscription.


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**The Bad:**

Quite a few filler scenes that exist to set the tone but don't achieve much beyond that.

Based on a true story or not, Clouds is yet another The Fault in Out Stars in terms of plot and structure, offering little new apart from the soundtrack.

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**The Ugly:**

Fuck cancer.

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**WACPINE RATING: 6.43 / 10 = 3 stars**