Originally Posted By ctdsnark The ONLY bad thing about seeing "Ratatouille"?The TRAILERS. "Bee Movie" looks like another forgettable effort from---all together now---Dreamworks!{who ELSE?!?}I mean---Jimmy Neutron has better animation!!! "Enchanted"{which I've already railed off on that,despite its obviously high production values,is nothing more than yet another entry in the tired "fairy-tale-parody" sub-sub-genre,therefore I've no immediate plans to see}and "Underdog"{which,despite its criminally ludicrous concept,might've actually been worth something IF he actually LOOKED like the character,obviously with CGI}---both of which are from Disney,a subtle reminder that nobody,certainly no Hollywood studio,is perfect.In this particular case,for every "Mary Poppins","Who Framed Roger Rabbit",or "Chronicles Of Narnia" they've given us,they also given us "Jungle 2 Jungle". >gagging sound< I'm sorry---I nearly forgot the teaser for the next Pixar film,which I'm already anticipating.While it won't be the first CGI feature about robots,I'm betting it will be the better one. {Speaking of THAT one,despite its weak story,it did have good visuals.} I'm sorry again---I've gotten away from this page's discussion,haven't I?Allow me to remedy that---"Ratatouille" is,without a doubt,the best animated film I've seen this year.After all,it's not like it had a lot of competi--- >AAaaagh!I'm doing it AGAIN!!!<
Originally Posted By cstephens If you look at how the head waiter is drawn, he actually kinda looks like Ratzenberger. /cs
Originally Posted By Dznygrl Just be glad you didn't have to endure the BRATZ trailer. Good Lord, it made me want to gouge my eyes out with something....ANYTHING. The trailers you see when you go to an animated movie are always the worst...except of course the teasers for the next Pixar flick...man I tell you, that small teaser for Wall-E was enough to make me misty eyed.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: My sisters and I finally had the pleasure of conjuring up this movie in our crystal ball last evening. We were mesmerized immediately--all 3 of us. ORWEN: We sure were! Even a certain nasty old biddy stopped crunching down her plate of frog legs--which just NEVER happens--while watching this wonderful movie. It was enough to make me want to go out and find myself a rat just like Remy-- ORGOCH: --yeah, so's ya could train the thing ta do all yer chores fer ya 'n cook up a bunch a viddles ta stuff yer big fat face with! ORDDU: Now, sisters! Anyway, we haven't been this delighted by a Disney/Pixar film in quite a while. To rats everywhere, we're hoping this charming movie finally causes the masses to realize just how misunderstood you've always been for all these many years.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORWEN: Oh! And before I forget--the only thing better than watching this movie was that we also got to meet Remy in person at Disney M-G-M Studios this past weekend. I love him so much! He's like the Mickey Mouse of the new Century! I'd just LOVE to be the president of his fan club!
Originally Posted By Dlmusic Ratatouille is currently the #1 animated film on IMDB with a ranking of #33 on the top 250 list. Keep in mind though, that Toy Story 2 was in the top 50 when it first premiered as well. I do expect though, that Ratatouille will stay in the top 250, giving Pixar the most animated films in the top 250 list.
Originally Posted By basil fan SPOILERS!! Saw Ratatouille yesterday. I thought it was very good. Maybe Pixar's 2nd best (after the Incredibles), but I'd have to see it again to decide. Remy was cute, cute, cute. I didn't care for his voice, though; too whiny. Not bad acting, just a not-great voice. Maybe not cute enough. I can certainly see how any rat-phobic viewers would be turned off by the hordes of running rats. I'm okay with it, but if Pixar ever does "Spiders," good-bye. Even worse, the germophobes will have a fit. I'm not one of them, either, so I thought the rats all over the kitchen were funny. Especially going through the dishwasher. Loved the scene in which Linguini was sleep "walking". Very, very well done. I liked Anton Ego's look, like an undertaker. He was cool and had some good dialogue. Most of the humans were pretty well designed, except that chef with the thumb. Looked like someone had smashed in his face. But overall, better character disign than Incredibles. I was very disturbed to see a character designated as illegitimate. Ick, what's next? Unmarrieds living together? And I'm not even thinking about kids (don't have any). I just don't want to go there. (Though Linguini said he doesn't drink--good boy) If the goal is to make a CGI film indistinguishable from live-action, Pixar's on the right track. They'll achieve it, if they stay away from human characters. Using just the rats and the backgrounds, Ratatouille could've been there. I don't personally think that's a good thing, but the Pixar folks are very near the peak of hyper-realism, and may top the summit with that robot movie. The "Lifted" short was pretty good, too. The victim looked so much like Linguini. In the day of DNA testing, Anton still uses a vintage typewriter? Get in the 21st century, dude. The part that really stays with me is the ending. I couldn't imagine how they were going to escape the wrath of the health inspector. They didn't. So, instead of becoming a rich, famous master chef (a distinction he didn't deserve), Linguini gets a good job as a maitre d'; less money, but he enjoys it. Bravo! Anton's final review was touching in its feel of genuineness. It didn't seem forced or scripted, just sincere. After the film, my nephew declared he wants to be a chef. The above is all just MHO. For Disney Girls Only <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/girls.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ disney/girls.html</a>
Originally Posted By basil fan BTW, our local film critic had a lot to say about Anton Ego's speech at the end of the film. He took it as a personal criticism to film critics everywhere, I guess, because he railed at Brad Byrd to get off his high horse. This guy says that Byrd is trying to declare his own film and all Disney films to be off-limits to critics, that nobody has any business critiquing them. Hoo, boy! For Disney Girls Only <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/disney/girls.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ disney/girls.html</a>
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I agree with pretty much everything you said (including seeing it yesterday). It was a lot more mature of a movie than I was expecting, but it was still really good. I really liked how it ended. The realism didn't bother me too much, since they have started to take the characters away from looking as real as possible, and giving them more cartoony features. The charactures of people and rats and stylized look (along with the backgrounds) made it look convincingly real yet imaginative enough that you can still believe that a rat can cook. Very well done, IMO.
Originally Posted By basil fan I forgot to mention: Unless I missed it, there were no bathroom or flatulence jokes. Definite plus! I didn't like the rats-as-thieves sub-plot, if that's the right word for it. It seemed to distract from the point of the story: rats as chefs. I couldn't seem to care if a rat taking food counts as stealing or not. I think the movie would've been improved if they stuck with to cook or not to cook; safety vs art.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros "Unless I missed it, there were no bathroom or flatulence jokes." There is the "rat patootie" part, but that isn't really that bad. Other than that, I can't think of anything. Amazing that there are in fact people out there who can make an enjoyable (and at times quite funny) movie without resorting to bathroom humor.
Originally Posted By twirlnhurl "The "Lifted" short was pretty good, too. The victim looked so much like Linguini." I think I read in an interview somewhere that it was the same model in both. I could have just made that up though.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros You would think that they could have used one of the other characters (one of the diners or random other Parisians) for that person. Even before seeing the feature, I could tell that it was one of the main characters from it. I guess Pixar likes to recycle things even more than Disney parks.
Originally Posted By hightp Did anyone notice that Anton Ego's office was shaped like a coffin? It's one of the little things I loved about the movie.
Originally Posted By basil fan I forgot to mention how great the score was. Very Gallic. If you're going to make a film take place in Paris, then let the music sound Parisienne, not pop. Great Mouse Detective Comics <a href="http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/basil/gmdcomics.html" target="_blank">http://www.whatsitsgalore.com/ basil/gmdcomics.html</a>
Originally Posted By RoadTrip We saw the film yesterday and I can see both sides of the coin on this one. First of all, it is the most absolutely gorgeous animated film I've ever seen. The backgrounds are exquisite. The story also worked on many different levels and I feel it is the most satisfying film for adults that Pixar has done. I loved it... if it is not my favorite Pixar film, it is at least in second place (I really, really, really love Monsters Inc). On the other hand, outside of the slapstick I don't see much in the film to amuse the kids. I doubt many 6 year olds know anything about losing stars, or restaurant critics, or inheritances or wormy little bosses. It also lacked the "warm fuzzy" ending that most (all?) previous Pixar films have had. My wife and daughter are big fans of warm fuzzies, and when I asked them how they liked the movie I got "It was OK" and "It was all right". So my guess is that even though it is a resounding critical success; it may not do as well at the box office as many other Pixar films have done. As far as I'm concerned, who cares? How many films have won best picture while grossing less than $200,000? Quite a few!! And as far as I'm concerned, Ratatouille is worthy of a best picture nod. Not best animated film. Best picture. Period.
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORGOCH: Heck! Me 'n my two looney sisters is still tryin' ta figger out what Rsey103 means. Soon as we does that, we'll tackle the names from Dizzy/Picknose's RATWITHATOOTHACHE.
