Ratatouille

[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]

Originally Posted by 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!!!

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):

Spoiler:

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.