Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

[glossyp]

We had the chance to see this Brad Bird film and it was a true delight. The animation is stunning, but it doesn't detract from the movie the way it did in Monsters Inc. (my opinion only, of course) where I found myself distracted by thoughts of "Wow, look how beautiful the fur is and how it moves" etc. There is this kind of golden glow that saturates the movie which gives it a feeling of warmth and richness - and anyone who has worked in a restaurant kitchen will appreciate how realistically that world is portrayed. Most of all, the characters are well developed. This review from a Memphis movie critic really captures what I'm trying to say much better!

[lavagal]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

We had the chance to see this Brad Bird film and it was a true delight. The animation is stunning, but it doesn't detract from the movie the way it did in Monsters Inc. (my opinion only, of course) where I found myself distracted by thoughts of "Wow, look how beautiful the fur is and how it moves" etc. There is this kind of golden glow that saturates the movie which gives it a feeling of warmth and richness - and anyone who has worked in a restaurant kitchen will appreciate how realistically that world is portrayed. Most of all, the characters are well developed. This review from a Memphis movie critic really captures what I'm trying to say much better!

Coming from you, GlossyP, I'd have to say that I look forward to seeing it! Someday when I don't have to prepare for a family birthday party we'll have to talk food movies: Babette's Feast, Tampopo, Eat Drink Man Woman...

[sophielynette]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

Haven't seen this movie yet, I'll be catching it on my birthday next week, but as a rat lover I have been waiting for this for at least a year now (yes, I keep up to date with rat news) and the anticipation has really grown the past few weeks. I've not heard a single bad thing about it, and what's more -- plenty of fun rat merchandise! I've got my fingers crossed for a Ratatouille cake on my birthday. .

[modpirate]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

IMO it's the best movie Pixar's ever made. If I had to describe it in one word, the word would be "joyous." It's a celebration of two of life's greatest pleasures: eating and creativity.

[TATTRAT]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

I am going to check it out. Glad to see some good input on it.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

IMO it's the best movie Pixar's ever made.

For me, that award goes to the Incredibles, which wasn't just a great cartoon, but a strong flick.

[pzarquon]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

Saw it this morning with the kids. Loved it, highly recommended indeed. If you know Iron Giant, and loved it, you'll know you're in good hands. Brad Bird directed both. And as a little bonus, Michael Giacchino did the music. (He does the music for LOST, which plays no small part in the show's greatness.) It, too, is great.

I'm not quite ready to "rank" it against The Incredibles or Toy Story 2 or anything... but I wouldn't hesitate to see it again. I do think Ratatouille is probably one of Pixar's more "complex" stories. From the intricacies of the kitchen to things like entrentched patriarchal orders and a discussion of the give-and-take between artists and critics... there's a lot to process. Younger kids have a lot to enjoy, but adults will love (once again, with Pixar) being challenged as well.

Obviously, folks will talk a lot about the technical merits. The scenic vistas of Paris are breathtaking. Even the rainstorm that opens the movie is immersive and beautiful... I could just smell the wet leaves. I've read several pieces about the work the Pixar team did to juggle realism with "the uncanny valley" -- the need to make food look real, but not too real, because it turned out that when they made, say, cabbage look perfect, it actually looked wrong on screen.

That balance is perfectly maintained, right down to the fact that the rats in this movie are real enough to make you feel a little uncomfortable (particularly where food handling is involved), but still like them as protagonists and charcters. No cartoonish blue hues and gloved hands, these rats scamper and get wet and... let's just say some of the scenes depicting a large number of rats were both distressing and impressive.

Ratatouille is also rare in that it flat-out mixes the reality of the human world and that of animals, and doesn't shy away from the obvious discordance. There are relationships, there's communication, but in the end, it's not perfect. The "truth" comes out, and the consequences are as you'd expect it to be. Though of course the denoument leaves you smiling anyway.

Great film. See it today!

[MonkeyMan]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

Yah, thumbs-up from me and the MonkeyBoy, too! Both enjoyed and both want to see it again!

[sophielynette]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

That balance is perfectly maintained, right down to the fact that the rats in this movie are real enough to make you feel a little uncomfortable (particularly where food handling is involved), but still like them as protagonists and charcters. No cartoonish blue hues and gloved hands, these rats scamper and get wet and... let's just say some of the scenes depicting a large number of rats were both distressing and impressive.

Once again, still haven't seen it (going on my birthday Thursday) but according to all my rat friends, Pixar really got the realism of rat behavior down as well. They hired Debbie "The Rat Lady" Ducommon, who is, you might say the Big Cheese in the rat community. So part of the realism is that these rats really act like rats.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

We see so few films, in theatres or at home - but this just sounds like such a "not to be missed" one. Thanks for the recommendations, HT-ers.

[blueyecicle]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

We have a theater in our very tiny town that shows all new movies for 3.00 so I took all the kids to see it. BUT I have NO IDEA how the film was because my 3 yr old RAN out in the first scene! So I took him home....
Oh well, I have a free movie ticket for Silver Surfer tomorrow, guess I will send dad with the boys.

[Honoruru]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

We have a theater in our very tiny town that shows all new movies for 3.00 so I took all the kids to see it. BUT I have NO IDEA how the film was because my 3 yr old RAN out in the first scene! So I took him home....

Why did your son run out? Was it because of the rats (I read that the rats were illustrated very much like ... rats)? Or was it "something else" (no need to explain)?

Just curious. I know kids are very unpredictable. That's what makes them so endearing and exasperating at the same time.

btw, the 3.00 price sounds really good.

[helen]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

BUT I have NO IDEA how the film was because my 3 yr old RAN out in the first scene! So I took him home....

He ran out during Ratatouille or the short film before it?

Just came from one of the afternoon showing of Ratatouille at Ward. Was sort of crowded in the middle section and the front section was filling up when the lights went down.

Both the short film titled Lifted and Ratatouille where really fun to watch. Since it is a cartoon one has to suspend one's belief that a rat can cook (and a skinny rat at that too) and be able to influence the actions of a human by tugging on the human's hair.

But this got me wondering during the final cookoff scene:

Where do a bunch of rats be able on short notice to get rope to tie off not one but two humans who threaten the well being of the kitchen? It's not likey the kitchen had rope in it's inventory.

I do like one of the eariler scenes where Remy and his brother Emile were trying to cook a mushroom (and other stuf) on top the house and they got zapped by the lightning.

[blueyecicle]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

There were no ads or anything, the first scene came on and he just ran out.
Nothing to do with rats because we had rats for years. He just did not feel like sitting in a movie theater.
He is a hit and miss kind of kid....50/50 chance he will watch a movie!
I am sure when he is a bit older he will sit and watch a movie much easier.

I will watch it when it comes to DVD. Hubby enjoyed it.

[ploal5333]

Re: Ratatouille - Highly Recommended

I don't know, I'm old but I must be getting older really fast! I was nodding asleep during parts of the movie, in fact the best part was the last 5 minutes of the show. IMO Pixar seems to be losing its edge with each successive film. Too much frenzied action scenes and the humor wasn't as great as in prior films.

However, younger folks enjoyed the film. There were several times when they laughed during the movie. And I'm thinking to myself 'what just happened?'