| “ | This hellhole is too small for me, Brent. I wanna be big. I want people to look at me and say, "That is one big mayor." And that's why it has to work. It HAS to work! Otherwise, I'm just a tiny mayor of a tiny town full of sardine-sucking knuckle-scrapers. | „ |
| ~ Mayor Shelbourne plotting to seize power over Swallow Falls. |
Mayor Shelbourne (simply known as Shelbourne) is the main antagonist of Sony Pictures Animation's 4th feature film Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which is based on the 1978 children's book of the same name by Judi Barrett.
He was voiced by Bruce Campbell.
Personality
Mayor Shelbourne at first appears to be a kind, healthy and salubrious mayor, but later on in the film, he is revealed to be a greedy, voracious, acquisitive, materialistic, and gluttonous mayor who ends up weighing the size of a hot air balloon. He is also shown to be cunning and manipulative towards Flint, using Flint's insecurities to have him continue the FLDSMDFR rain down food, despite the potential threat of bigger food. Eventually, when the raining food becomes too big, Shelbourne is quick to blame Flint for it despite the fact that it was mostly the former's fault, turning the townspeople against Flint until Earl stands up for him. When the people are forced to flee out to sea to avoid the giant food threat, he holds the people back with an "important announcement" so that he can steal a food boat to evacuate the island, much to the citizens' anger, showing a callous and cowardly side to him. In the end, his gluttony would be his undoing, as when Shelbourne got on his food boat, he started eating it and when he was seen in the final scene, he had eaten it to the point that he was stranded at sea, only having a nearly-eaten mast to keep him afloat, and even then, he continued to consume what little part of the floatation device he still had left.
Powers and Abilities
Mayor Shelbourne has no special powers, but when Flint’s invention, the FLDSMDFR, began producing food from the sky, he developed an endless appetite, even when he gained several hundred pounds and became morbidly obese (and had to ride a scooter to get around), and his constant appetite for food didn’t even make him burst.
Role in the film
Mayor Shelbourne was originally very healthy and salubrious, weighing probably not much over 100 lbs. He eventually plots with his minion Brent McHale that he would be big enough to conquer Swallow Falls. After the "food weather" began (thanks to a certain machine created by Flint Lockwood, called Flint Lockwood's Diatomic Super Mutating Dynamic Food Replicator, or FLDSMDFR for short), he became extremely acquisitive and gluttonous; eating three cheeseburgers in one bite, stuffing his mouth with bacon, and shoving an over-mutated hot dog (with scoops of ice cream) down his throat are just a few examples of his ravenous and acquisitive behavior.
Later in the film, Shelbourne gained hundreds of pounds in less than a month and became a very obese mayor after greedily consuming large helpings of food, and he had to move about on a scooter. As the movie progresses on, the FLDSMDFR starts to become overload, so Flint tries to shut it down to prevent it from creating a giant food storm. Unfortunately, Shelbourne refuses to let him do so and attacks Flint with a giant radish and destroys the communication device to the FLDSMDFR after mindlessly ordering a "Vegas' style all-you-can-eat buffet", causing the machine to become self-aware and start up the major food storm.
When the town of Swallow Falls became showered by huge food, the Mayor (who was now responsible for causing the FLDSMDFR to be evil and creating the major food storm) put the blame on Flint, causing the townspeople to turn against Flint, but police officer Earl arrived to the rescue, stating that the events would not happen if the whole town (mostly the Mayor) had not pushed Flint into making so many food orders in the first place. Shelbourne then escapes on a sandwich boat, leaving the townspeople and the town to their fate, though they ultimately managed to survive by staying ahead of the food. At the very end, as Flint finally managed to apparently destroy the FLDSMDFR and end the food storm for good, Shelbourne was seen clutching on the sinking remains of his boat in the middle of the ocean after eating it.
During the ending credits, it is revealed that Shelbourne was found and deflated of all of his extra pounds and returned to his original weight, before being arrested by Earl for his greedy and materialistic actions. However, taking advantage that Earl became distracted for a moment, he jumped into a hole, escaping from his imprisonment.
Quotes
| “ | So here’s the cheese; You can keep it going...get everything you’ve ever wanted...and be the great man I know you can be. Or you can turn it off...ruin everything...and no one will ever like you. It’s your choice. Choice...choice...choice...choice...choose. | „ |
| ~ Mayor Shelbourne manipulating Flint to keep the FLDSMDFR going to produce more dangerously food portions, thus foreshadowing the Mayor’s true colors and the eventual disaster. |
| “ | Hey, Flint. It’s been nice to ‘beet’ you! | „ |
| ~ Mayor Shelbourne while attacking Flint with a radish. |
Trivia
- Shelbourne is not a character from the original storybook, much like the rest of the cast.
- Shelbourne was voiced by Bruce Campbell, who also did Rod Torque Redline from Cars 2.
- Shelbourne's ravenous appetite may be hinted for one of the seven deadly sins, Gluttony.
- Shelbourne's actions are what caused the disasters that occurred throughout the film, meaning that he is the one who drives the plot of the film.
- It is unclear how he managed to enter in Flint's Lab two times given that there were no stairs in addition that due his obesity, he would have been unable to fit in the elevator, thus making impossible his way to enter.
- It is unknown wheter the ending credits' sequence should be considered canonical, as it could contradict the second film, as it appears that Shelbourne was imprisoned at Swallow Falls though it was uninhabitable due the presnece of the leftovers. This article currently considers the sequence canon, but if it is canon, it is completely unknown if Shelbourne was transferred to another prison, perhaps at San Franjose, or if he was left at Swallow Falls to his fate (presumably at the will of the leftovers), though unlikely. On the other case, if it is not canonical, it is unknown if Shelbourne was found and then imprisoned or if he ended up devouring all his boat and drowned.
- Shelbourne appears in the TV series Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: The Series. However, as the series is made in Canada, Campbell did not reprise the role.
- In the sequence when Flint activates the FLDSMDFR before Chewandswallow reopened as a tourist destination, if one were to pause at the right moment, you could see Shelbourne make an evil face at Flint. This further foreshadows his true colors.
 Villains
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