Ratatouille

[Alex]

My review is up over at MousePlanet (http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=sr070629as).

I know this isn't a group that needs much encouragement but I wanted to encourage everybody to see it. It is simply not only Brad Bird's best to date (and that is a very high bar) but also Pixar's best.

[Snowflake]

Thanks Alex, I'm excited and plan on going to see it sometime either this weekend or over the holiday.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Thanks Alex.

[innerSpaceman]

My one regret about camping is that it delays my experience of Ratatouille!


I'm gonna catch it (finally) on 4th of July.

[blueerica]

The plan is to see it this afternoon with the g-ma unit, or going on Sunday. We need to have some fun together, lest we go insane from the lack of fun we've been having.

[mousepod]

Thanks for the post, Alex. The review will wait until after we see it, but the encouragement is enough to get us out to a matinee this afternoon.

[Brigitte]

We'll probably see it tonight, the kids are under orders to behave today or we don't go.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I swear, I don't know what it is about Pixar's marketing, but every single time they put out a film, the previews don't instill a desire in me to see it. The only thing that gets me to the theater is knowing that it's Pixar, and it'll be awesome. Alex's recommendation just means we'll get there faster!

[cirquelover]

Thanks Alex! I've been waiting for your review, I'm glad you are still writing them. I'm off to read the review and I know we'll see it this weekend!

I'd love to be on that bus, especially to see you profess your love!

[Alex]

One time on that bus I was sitting behind two people talking about an animation project and I was all excited that I was getting some early scoop on a Pixar film.

Then they got off at the Leapfrog (maker of interactive children's books and toys) stop.

[cirquelover]

Too funny! You never know when you might get the lowdown on some cool project though!

[blueerica]

Ratatouille was fantastic!

[BarTopDancer]

Good to hear these reviews. I had no real desire to see it based upon the previews. But perhaps I'll make a point of going to see it now.

[DreadPirateRoberts]

Alex, Is this the movie you have given a 10 out of 10?

[Alex]

The blank out of 10 ratings are something of an afterthought, so I don't really recall them but I think so.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Loved it! Unbelievably realistic backgrounds and props. Go for just the red onions alone! Characters and story were spot on as well, and it was plenty of fun. The packed theater didn't have too many screaming babies. Make sure to see it in DLP - we almost forgot.

[wendybeth]

I swear, I don't know what it is about Pixar's marketing, but every single time they put out a film, the previews don't instill a desire in me to see it. The only thing that gets me to the theater is knowing that it's Pixar, and it'll be awesome. Alex's recommendation just means we'll get there faster!

I was commenting to a friend today and made the same observation. I'm sure they do it on purpose, lowering expectations then delivering a great film. I had zip desire to see 'The Incredibles' but wound up loving it. Brad Bird as Edna Mode was genius.

[blueerica]

I think the movie did seem to have some problems in its advertising... I was interested in this film, but that was mostly because it's Pixar AND I love to cook, a secret that only a few (until now) know. I don't know if I would have seen it otherwise.

The only other Pixar film I saw in the theaters was The Incredibles and that was because I was practically dragged. I loved it, but there's no way I would have seen it on my own. Actually, that goes for anything Pixar... the promos don't grab me, except this one.

The boyfriend was absolutely uninterested in this flick. While I highly doubt he'll see it in the theaters, I have a feeling he'll own the DVD when its released.

[Mousey Girl]

I wanted to go see this tomorrow, but will have to wait until Boy can see it with me. He would be mighty upset if I saw it without him.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Actually, I was nervous about this one because for the first time ever, the trailer actually interested me. I guess I was alone in that, but I thought from the beginning that it might be good...which paradoxically made me worry that it would suck.

But I thought it was great. I'll let the experience bake for a bit before I start to think about where it falls in my ranking of the Pixar canon, but it'll certainly be high.

What is not high is my opinion of the parent(s) of the child sitting next to me who allowed him to wear flashing shoes to a movie. :mad:

[CrazyLegs]

Thanks for sharing I cant wait to see it

[~MS~]

Well as big a production as it is for the trip to the theaters with the girls, based on Alex's review I just couldn't stand to do my normal 'wait' til the hype dies down and we have tickets to the first showing this morning! Any movie that can make Alex even contemplate standing up and applauding on a shuttle has got to be worth the effort involved to get to the theater to watch.

[Mousey Girl]

I asked Boy if he would like to see this tomorrow night. He, very thoughtfully, rubbed his chin and said he would need a moment to think about it. Such Attitude!! LOL

I called him a snot and he came to a decision that yes, tomorrow night would work for him.

We are going to the El Capitan to see it tomorrow night!!!

[Snowflake]

I asked Boy if he would like to see this tomorrow night. He, very thoughtfully, rubbed his chin and said he would need a moment to think about it. Such Attitude!! LOL

I called him a snot and he came to a decision that yes, tomorrow night would work for him.

We are going to the El Capitan to see it tomorrow night!!!

Bwahahaha, that's too freakin funny! He's a prize!

[Alex]

Have a report from a coworker with a 4-year-old girl. I'd talked it up to the coworker and he is a big Pixar/Ghibli fan so he was looking forward to it. I told him I thought it might be a bit high level for the youngest kids but he hoped otherwise.

She found the early shotgun/sewer scene very intense. I warned him about the dead rats scene and they'd talked about it ahead of time so that was ok.

But once it settled into the restaurant she quickly grew bored and was so restless that they had to leave about 2/3rds of the way through.

[flippyshark]

There were lots of restless kids at the showing I attended as well, with numerous walkouts during the second half. This felt a lot more like a sweet little independent film than a mass market family film.

A few observations (and huge spoilers):

This movie didn't have the usual character arc that most Pixar movies use so prominently, even predictably. Our protagonist Remy begins the movie as a boldly confident and highly competent chef, and ends the movie the same way. He has occasional lapses of confidence or judgement, but these are nearly always addressed right away by his imaginary mentor. His circumstances change, but at the end, he seems to me very much the same rat he was at the outset. (Even his harsh lesson about how humans usually treat rats doesn't really seem to matter much to him, or to the plot.)

Our secondary protagonist, Linguini, bucks expectations even further. Has there ever been a more passive movie hero? He's practically a prop. He begins as a lovable loser with no cooking skills (nor any other talents), and there he remains. I guess he learns that he's fit to be a waiter (on skates even) but the movie makes no big deal about this. He's very much the same likeable shmoe at the end of the story, with modest (to say the least) ambitions. He gets the girl, through no effort of his own and on false pretenses. (I couldn't help but wonder if Colette keeps him around because he is so easy to control. Indeed, she could make him into an excellent bedroom partner just by pulling his hair in the right way.)

The biggest arc belongs to a minor character with only a handful of scenes, but that character's big moment of revelation, and his subsequent review/thesis statment, become the heart of the story.


None of this is meant as complaint, just somewhat surprised reaction to a movie that wasn't quite what I expected.

[cirquelover]

I love Pixar shorts! Lifted was also a keeper. Although maybe I just related to it because of Driver Ed class, either way I found it a riot!

[tracilicious]

Have a report from a coworker with a 4-year-old girl. I'd talked it up to the coworker and he is a big Pixar/Ghibli fan so he was looking forward to it. I told him I thought it might be a bit high level for the youngest kids but he hoped otherwise.

She found the early shotgun/sewer scene very intense. I warned him about the dead rats scene and they'd talked about it ahead of time so that was ok.

But once it settled into the restaurant she quickly grew bored and was so restless that they had to leave about 2/3rds of the way through.


This is good to know. Indi (who's also four) doesn't love Cars. He sat through it twice at the movies, but he never wants to watch the dvd. He never watches Nemo with me because several scenes are too intense for him. Come to think of it, the only Pixar he'll watch is Toy Story 2. Oddly though, he watched Castle in the Sky with Michael and loves it. I find that to be much scarier than any Pixar. Kids.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I was surprised at how un-restless our audience full of kids was. There were maybe 2 or 3 glare-worthy moments, but mostly all the kids sat through it quietly. I didn't exactly hear them laughing too much at what I thought were the funnier moments, though. It really is not a movie made for the kid audience.

[Mousey Girl]

I totally enjoyed it!! I didn't even laugh so much during Flushed Away.

Who ever did the animation for the rats must have studied them. There were times where I could totally see characteristics of my girls on screen. I saw a lot of Thudder in Remy, and a lot of Hollywog in Emille (she never stops eating). The expressions were also very consistant with my girls (yes, rats have expressions). I loved the merchandise at the Studio Store, but only bought a keychain and a pin. I just couldn't justify the plates and serving trays.

[lindyhop]

I really enjoyed how "ratty" the rats were instead of being little caricatures of human celebrities. I love Brad Bird's work because he makes movies that just happen to be animated.

[Mousey Girl]

I think that is why I enjoyed it more than Flushed Away.

[innerSpaceman]

I enjoyed it more than any Pixar film, save The Incredibles.

Who can tell what impact my twin passions of Paris and Soup had on my opinion, but I was utterly charmed and involved with this little rat tail, er, tale.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

We had just had dinner before we saw it, but even with a full belly, I found myself really wanting a bowl of the mystery soup.

[innerSpaceman]

We headed straight to Jazz Kitchen (aka Soup Kitchen) after the show.

[Mousey Girl]

Every time I see Soup Kitchen my mind says, "NO SOUP FOR YOU!!!"

[Nephythys]

We also loved it-

Rose has been three times already- once with her grandparents, once with me and once with the whole family. I have seen it twice-it's wonderful.

Warms you like a good soup :)

(and I downloaded Lifted into my iTunes)

[Gemini Cricket]

Loved this movie. I saw it today.
A really strong third act.

I was amazed at how real the wine and the wine glasses looked. I mean, a lot of this movie looked like it was shot with live elements... amazing art.

One of the happy surprises for me was that I saw this one in a theatre with great sound.

I loved the way they animated what the characters were tasting. Very cool.

Packed theatre.

:)

[Prudence]

I liked it, but honestly it wasn't my favorite Pixar movie. And I definitely did NOT like the animation of the tastes. That brought me out of the story and reinforced the "movieness" of it. As did the many voiceovers. But, it didn't suck.

[Not Afraid]

I loved it! Save for The Incredibles, it is my favorite Pixar to date. I really made me want to see Iron Giant again (BRAD! ;) ). The film also made me want a glass of wine. Now, that's good animation!

Ego was probably my favorite character because his decor was very over the top. The coffin-shaped room, the funeral decor and the skull typewriter (which I read about afterwards) made him quite the bringer of restaurant death.

The artwork was wonderful. Of course, how can you go wrong with Paris as a subject? I also loved the ending credits done in a Ward Kimball-ish style. And, as always, I found the homages to other famous films to be charming and fun.

I can't wait for it to come out on DVD so I can study it. I get the feeling there is much more that I missed on first viewing.

[€uroMeinke]

Loved it and smiled at the homages to Fantasia and Citizen Kane - perhaps it's my bias to Paris and Dining snobbery, but this is my favorite Pixar - enjoyed every moment.

[innerSpaceman]

In a way, though this didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film, the scenic elements may have been a tad too realistic. I often took them for live action. Thank goodness for those moments of taste-interpretation, which took me right out of the live-action film and back into an animated movie - where I belonged.


D'uh, for the entire movie, I couldn't place the voice behind Anton Ego. I guess that's for the best, but D'UH!

[Gemini Cricket]

I really made me want to see Iron Giant again (BRAD! ;) ).
That's right! I still have that. I'll get it back to you.
:)


I couldn't place Ego's voice either. I kept thinking about it. Awesome choice.
I recognized Ian Holm right away, though. Love him.

The one thing that took me a bit to suspend my disbelief on was the way Remy controlled Linguini. I loved how he worked him like a forklift but it didn't quite make sense to me but I just resigned myself to say 'meh' and moved on.

The other thing I was scratching my head about was the way Remy was determined to save the cookbook at the beginning. He acted as if it were vital for him to have it, but he didn't really need it. In fact, he just left it in the sewer after all that. :shrug:

As Pixar goes, I still love Nemo and then The Incredibles. This one is third, I think.
:)

[Cadaverous Pallor]

The one thing that took me a bit to suspend my disbelief on was the way Remy controlled Linguini. I loved how he worked him like a forklift but it didn't quite make sense to me but I just resigned myself to say 'meh' and moved on. Yeah, you had to let it go, because otherwise there was no way this movie would work.

[The other thing I was scratching my head about was the way Remy was determined to save the cookbook at the beginning. He acted as if it were vital for him to have it, but he didn't really need it. In fact, he just left it in the sewer after all that. :shrug:I was so glad when he abandoned it, because in that moment when he was turning the pages, which had been soaking wet, had dried closed, and now were free to turn, my librarian side was annoyed. :p

[mousepod]

I was so glad when he abandoned it, because in that moment when he was turning the pages, which had been soaking wet, had dried closed, and now were free to turn, my librarian side was annoyed. :p

Maybe because it was a cookbook it had splashproof pages.

[Not Afraid]

I thought the timeline was a bit off. Gusteau dies. Remy finds out, he goes to Paris, Linguini shows up at the restaurant and, suddenly, the two years have passed since Gusteau's death.

[mousepod]

I thought Gusteau had been dead for two years, and the show on the TV was a documentary, not a news story.

[Alex]

Yes, that's the way I took it. Remy learning of Gusteau's death was belated not concurrent.

[innerSpaceman]

News comes slowly to the rat world. They just found out people were pissed about bubonic plague 30 years ago.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Maybe because it was a cookbook it had splashproof pages.The book was too old for that...one could argue it was a retro reprint or some such....but the wavy pages told another story. :p

[Gemini Cricket]

I just found something neat.
There is that wonderful song in French called 'Le Festin' that plays during Ratatouille and at the very end. It's sweet song. I looked up the English lyrics and it made me love this film even more.
It's definitely in my top three Pixar films.

Camille - Le Festin Lyrics

English lyrics:

Dreams are to lovers as wine is to friends
Carried through lifetimes, (and) spilled now and then
I am driven by hunger, so saddened to be
Thieving in darkness; I know you’re not pleased
But nothing worth eating is free

My hope is a banquet impatiently downed
Impossibly full, now I’ll probably drown
Many thieves’ lives are lonely with one mouth to feed
If giving means taking, I’ll never succeed
For nothing worth stealing is…

Free at last; won’t be undersold
Surviving isn’t living; won’t eat what I’m told
Let me free, I’ll astonish you; I’m planning to fly
I won’t let this party just pass me by

The banquet is now underway, so…
Bring out the bottles; a new tale has spun
In clearing this table, my new life’s begun
I am nervous, excited; (oh) just read the marquee!
A lifetime of hiding; I’m suddenly free!
My dinner is waiting for me

A lifetime of hiding; I’m suddenly free!
My dinner is waiting for me!

French lyrics:

Les rêves des amoureux sont comm’(e) le bon vin
Ils donn(ent) de la joie ou bien du chagrin
Affaibli par la faim je suis malheureux
Volant en chemin tout ce que je peux
Car rien n’est gratuit dans la vie

L’espoir est un plat bien trop vite consommé
A sauter les repas je suis habitué
Un voleur solitaire est triste à nourrir
A un jeu si amer je n’peux réussir
Car rien n’est gratuit dans…

La vie… Jamais on ne me dira
Que la course aux étoiles; ça n’est pas pour moi
Laissez moi vous émerveiller et prendre mon en vol
Nous allons en fin nous régaler

La fêt(e) va enfin commencer
Sortez les bouteilles; finis les ennuis
Je dresse la table, de ma nouvell(e) vie
Je suis heureux à l’idée de ce nouveau destin
Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin

Une vie à me cacher et puis libre enfin
Le festin est sur mon chemin

[Snowflake]

Great find GC. It's all those little details that I so love about Pixar films. Now, I've got to go find the song

[Gemini Cricket]

Great find GC. It's all those little details that I so love about Pixar films. Now, I've got to go find the song
iTunes.
:)

[Snowflake]

iTunes.
:)

Sweet!

[RStar]

I love that sound track so much I bought the CD!

Thanks GC, it's great to have the english translation!