It’s no secret Pixar makes great movies. Even their ‘mediocre‘ movies (by Pixar standards) are still a notch above regular theater fare these days. But there are a few that really stand out – both of Brad Bird‘s movies – The Incredibles and Ratatouille, certainly qualify.
Just watched Ratatouille again last night – what an enjoyable movie. The animation is yet again excellent (witness the ‘Remy goes down the sewage pipe on the cookbook’ sequence) – the characters are well-developed, and as per usual, there are a few surprises along the way.
As everyone likely knows by now, Ratatouille is the story of Remy the (country) rat in France who dreams of being a foodie and cook, despite the challenge of (in reality) being a garbage-eating rat. He makes it to Paris by virtue of a local kerfuffle created by himself and his brother Emile, and shortly connects with a poor ‘garbage boy’ simply trying to survive as a janitor in a formerly 4-star restaurant on its downhill slide. The result is a great story, with all the typical Pixar goodness to go with it.
Fave scenes and actors/characters – Peter O’Toole as the kingmaking, snobby food critic Anton Ego; Janeane Garafolo/Colette explaining (through the expert use of BIG knives) how to get ahead as a female French chef; the method used to prep Remy’s rat clan to help in the kitchen; and most of all, when Anton Ego tastes the ratatouille served him (special mention: his review of the food the next morning).
Like all Pixar movies, there are so many little nice touches along the way, it would be tough to list them all (and that’s part of the fun of rewatching them anyway). But one comes to mind, anyway – the ridiculous amount of old Citroen’s and 2CV’s driving around on the streets – I’m sure there are still a lot of them, but like vintage Beetles in the USA – they are getting a lot fewer and far between these days – sad…
One last comment – something I also really like about Pixar is that they aren’t afraid to have true emotion in their movies. The recent Up being a classic example – the montage where Ed Asner’s character’s life is shown in fast-forward review – VERY sad! Or in both Toy Story movies, there are nostalgic looks back via Randy Newman music in the background – again, definitely a human perspective. In Ratatouille, the scene with Remy’s dad showing him WHY humans are a dangerous lot to tangle with – pretty disturbing – but also why these movies are for the whole family, not just kids and not just adults. Well done, guys.
Anyway, watch and enjoy!
candybowl