Movie Review - Ratatouille

Posted on July 3rd, 2007 by Jaybo.
Categories: Entertainment, Jaybo, Reviews.

Well…. I guess while Spacekicker is hanging out with family (and by “hanging out with family” I mean “Middle East mercinary work”) I suppose someone ought to put something on this site.

Might as well be me!

I love Pixar films. From the first moment I laid eyes on Toy Story I knew I was in trouble. The movie animation world had finally eloped with computer geeks and created a child so beautiful it was difficult to view it in all its glory.

As each film progressed, the genius behind the films became more and more evident. Wonderful stories, terrific character, fantastic dialog, and superb production quality. I remember VIVIDLY the moment I knew something fantastic was being accomplished.

The John Goodman voiced character Sully from Monsters Inc. was sitting in the snow having escaped through one of the magical doors. I watched as his blue fur was blowing in the snow-salted wind. I couldn’t believe the detail and randomness. Id never seen anything that amazing and it worked perfectly. Every hair seemed to move at the exact right time with the exact right wind gust as if a million animators independent of each other decided which way their specific hair would move when the time came to move it.

With every film the animation became better and better. The detail of the films became the standard. For an example watch Toy Story then watch Toy Story 2. There is a massive difference it what was done. Unbelievable.

Their only hiccup in my opinion came with Cars. I believe the story was weak on that particular film, and though a weak Pixar film is stronger than any other animated move, it wasn’t quite up to par. I’m not sure if I didn’t like the story or if it was the characters. Maybe it was just the fact they were cars. I don’t know.

The fact that I didn’t know why I didn’t like Cars frightened me a bit. Was I spoiled on Pixar? Was the bar too high? Maybe it wasn’t me. Maybe THEY were getting sloppy after so much success.

So as the previews for Ratatouille rolled out some time ago, I became even more paniced. I wasn’t impressed with what I saw. I didn’t care about rats in a kitchen. I don’t care about cooking. The story wasn’t really clear to me. The name didn’t ring my bells. I couldn’t pick a story line out and the word behind the scenes was the marketing team was having the same problems. Rats in a kitchen cooking? What is Ratatouille? France? What in the world is going on here.

Through all the dismay and fear, I purchased my tickets on Saturday for a matinee show and sat in the dark waiting for the show to start. I didn’t know what to expect, I just hoped it wasn’t Cars.

What I saw was far more than Cars, Toy Story, Monsters Inc., Bugs Life and The Incredibles put together. This film, Ratatouille, is the crowning acheivement of what Pixar has come to be known for and so much more.

I’ll let you know right now this film gets 5 very strong hamburgers out of 5.

I have nothing but praise for a film of this quality.

The story starts in the countryside of France with a rat named Remy. His pallette and nose lead him to desire something much more than the regular garbage that feed his colony. But in a rush of haste, his colony is hilariously discovered and they are swept into the sewer which leads him to the fine food captial of the world: Paris, France.

His imagination and ghost of his hero, the famous Chef Gusteau, leads him to Gusteau’s restaurant. Here Remy meets, Linguini, the unknown rightful heir to the restaurant and inadvertently becomes a famous chef in his own right by controling his new friend’s body movements by hair pulling.

I don’t want to go into the story too deep. There are far to many very simple, very easy subplots to follow. Though imagination has to be suspended for some of this (even in an animated film) it all works together.

The animation, from the detail in the kitchen to the water soaked rat fur, is unbelievable. The characters are plenty and their personalities shine through the facial expressions and actions. The story of redemption, trust, friends and family on both human and rat side is a double edge sword giving you not one, but two main characters, which both work together and create the best story told so far this year.

Remy must deal with being different from his family, only to find his place in life through pain. He is the betrayed in this position and in turn betrays, then loses everything only to gain what really matters. Linguini is a slop boy with no talent, falls in love, allows Remy (through Linguini’s hands) to bring honor back to a restaurant that had lost it and in turn loses everything only to gain what really matters. There a two villains, a reviewer from the past and the current chef. Neither work together to conspire against Remy and Linguini, which means there are two seperate plot lines that intertwine.

Usually this can be dangerous (i.e. Stripes and Full Metal Jacket) b/c you get the feeling you are watching two different movies: the one where the movie started, then the direction of the film changes and you are watching the second one. This does not happen in Ratatouille and its successful execution creates a wonderful story, characters and fun that I can only BEG Hollywood to attempt to copy.

The story is rich with action, color, comedy, music and fun. It is a complicated tapestry, but the young children behind me didn’t care one bit.

And neither did I.

Bravo Pixar, Bravo!

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