Originally Posted By gmaletic So I'm driving home tonight listening to the July 13 podcast and practically screaming at my radio, because I hear everyone on the show claiming that the message of "Ratatouille" is "anyone can cook." I don't think anyone says that in the movie, and in fact the message of the movie is completely the opposite. The actual line in the film (uttered by Anton Ego) is: ''Not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.'' ...quite different from "anyone can cook." Why is this interesting? Because this message says, quite clearly: some people are special and better than others. This is a remarkable sentiment. What other Disney movie says this? What other animated film in the world says this? Only one I can think of, and that would be "The Incredibles," which in fact was the reason some criticized its "social Darwinistic" view of the world. A.O. Scott's NYTimes review captures this all pretty well, and I recommend anyone reading it to gain some insight into the message that Brad Bird seems to stuff into his films: <a href="http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9C0DE4D61E3EF93AA15755C0A9619C8B63" target="_blank">http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem /movies/review.html?res=9C0DE4D61E3EF93AA15755C0A9619C8B63</a> So for this reason alone, I think that Ratatouille is a pretty remarkable film, though less remarkable than The Incredibles because, in essence, it repeats the same message. It's definitely a good film, hampered by a human protagonist that's hard to root for. (The sole good thing he does in the film is decide to stop lying towards the end of the film. That's it? Stop lying and you're a hero?)
Originally Posted By Doobie I think the hosts definitely agreed, as the podcast went on, that the message was exactly as you say, Greg. And as I said in another post, I think it's worth note that so many don't get this important message in what is a family film. Doobie.
Originally Posted By gmaletic Okay, great...and sorry for posting before I got a chance to listen to the whole thing!
Originally Posted By Dlmusic I really dislike the idea that a family film has to have such an obvious message without any subtlety. After getting sledged with "remember who you are" and other hit me by a 2x4 messages it was nice to see a movie that was much more low key. Now I think it's good to have movies like that, but I think Brad Bird's films have a level of sophistication than makes them above average family films for my tastes.
Originally Posted By DVC_dad I liked the flim too. And I got the message, although I am quite sure my children did not. However, Cars held the attention of my kids far better. Does any of that matter? What is my point exactly? I really don't know.
