Ratatouille-
August 10th 2007 00:06
It's a plot often rehashed in Disney films... the lowly commoner is the 'diamond in the rough', or the princess-to-be is a lowly maid in a house full of awful sisters.
Remy is a rat in Paris, which give Pixar Studios the change to animate the gorgeous Parisian skyline, as well as the dark, foreboding sewers under the street. Other than those few touches, the only sign that the movie takes place in France is the nearly unintelligible French accent used by the kitchen staff in the Restaurant. But, then again, Disney likes French chefs, too.
In fact, there's even a bit of Suskind's Parfum in the story, with Remy's magical ability to smell the perfect ingredients, lacking only the amorality that Suskind wrote into his lead character, Grenouille... no, Remy has a legendary sense of smell, worthy of being in the X-men, and he tirelessly carries on to his goal of being a chef, despite the prejudice against him. He is, after all, a rat.
His perseverence is so magnanimous that it echoes Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead... Remy is the architect of great cuisine - so much so that he manages to fool the entire restaurant into thinking the garbage boy, Linguine, is responsible for a fantastic soup.
All these literary influences aside, Ratatouille is not a complex movie and is rather easy to watch, with frequent slapstick routines and hilarious gags. It gives in to the current family movie formula: lovable animal characters evil villain silly voices adult wink-wink gags = fun for the entire family.
If it's so predictable, why watch?
Well, Pixar got something right - the animation is outstanding... instead of making things more realistic, they've really nailed down the idea of using CGI as a tool for making cartoons. The entire movie has the look of a cartoon crossed with claymation, but with fabulously realistic locations.
They've gone to great lengths to make the food look delicious and you could almost reach right into the screen and eat it.
While Ratatouille may not be wildly original or pushing the boundaries, it's a satisfying movie to watch, and quite fun. Other animated films are started to look incredibly complex, which distracts the viewer, but this one is tastefully done and a pleasure to watch.
I say: An entertaining, light movie to watch...
See it for: The water effects are getting incredibly well done in these movies, and it's almost astounding to see.
*this image is from Drastic Graphics
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Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
actually this is a great movie even for adults...Those rats were damned funny!
Great review!
Take care,
Nick
Comment by Ahmed
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ahmed, pixar is lining Steve Jobs' pockets with gold...
Comment by Ahmed
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