Yes, I'm likely the last person out there to have seen this.  Katherine's seen it in theaters and a dozen times on DVD at home.  It was definitely on my list -- but it wasn't until she threw it in the DVD player last night that I'd actually had a chance to watch the latest bit of joy from Pixar/Disney.

 

Ratatoille (2007) 

Overall		Story
Production		Acting

Story:  A fun and positive tale of creativity, learning to dare, and becoming comfortable with yourself and your abilities, there's certainly a positive message here for everyone.  All the characters deal with issues of integrity and authenticity -- who am I, who do others think I am, what do I want to be, how do I trust myself and others to become what I can be?  The good guys answer positively -- recognizing, then following their dreams, learning integrity and pride.  The bad guy answers negatively -- trying to be be something he's not, and trying to make others something they are not.  It's a similar motif to Brad Bird's Incredibles, but writ here in a very different setting and in a more complex fashion.

That complexity may be the biggest problem.  The movie evidently had length problems, and though Bird says he was "brutal" in hacking it back, the resulting plot still feels rushed, the cast crowded (too many secondary characters we'd like to know more of), and the inevitable twists and turns of the story seem neverending.  Both Remy and Linguini have full-blown plots and character arcs, even with some overlap overlap, and it's just a teeny bit too much to fit into 1:51. 

Acting:  The voice artists all do a solid job, aided and abetted by the Pixar animation, to the point where it's difficult to distinguish the contributions of the two.  There's an odd mixture of accents for a movie set in France with mostly French characters -- American (multiple varieties), British, and French.  It's not noticeable after a short while, though.  While there are a number of "name" actors, there are plenty of fresh and low-profile talents, too, and nobody stands out as a "movie star doing animation."

Production:  Probably one of the most amazing efforts yet by Pixar.  One expects good, realistic (as appopriate) animation from them, but the detail, lighting and shadows, and textures in this film are positively exquisite. Even if it were an awful story, it would be worth seeing.

The music adds to the movie, but subtlely, part of the overall fabric rather than standing out on its own.

Overall:  Who could imagine that a tale of gourmet cooking could be so fun and popular?  Well, yeah, I guess they have a Food Network now, and everything, but to make a "kids" movie out of it is (to sound like a food critic) both fresh and daring.  Ratatouille is another creative triumph for Disney/Pixar (and Brad Bird), and will, I suspect, stay popular for many years come -- at our household, at least.

Filed under :: Media - Cartoons :: Media - Movies
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Nope, you are not the last person.

As I told Katherine at Christmas, the man who did the voice for Lunguini was a student at JT when I worked there. He was very talented, but eventually went to work in animation. He worked on The Incredibles and Brad Byrd had him do some background voices. Lou was very surprised to get the job in Rat, and we are very proud of him. So Rat has a very special place for me.

BD - Consider it borrowable (with Kitten's permission). I think you will enjoy it.

Mary - Cool tale. A bit more here: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?id=42212

I'm expecting this from Netflix next week.

Brad Bird was on NPR's "Wait, Wait... Don't Tell Me" last weekend. He admitted to having no idea that Syndrome's look (in "The Incredibles") was patterned after him.

Heh.

I have no idea, Avo, if this will be your cuppa. I hope it is.