Ratatouille

Anyone else get a chance to catch Bird's latest? Not only was it visual eye-poppery (the fur and textures are grade-A renders), its affirmation that morality and choice supercede any sort of inate programming is a return to themes explored in Bird's own The Iron Giant. Coupled with familial issues tackled before in his Incredibles picture, this light-hearted picture carries formidable maturity and gravitas.

Did I also mention it's damned funny? Bird's eye and ear for humor is seriously wicked, finding comic moments in dialogue, but even more formidable, in characters' actions/motion within the frame. Many segments resemble silent films, and Giacchino's music splendidly enhances.The critic character Anton Ego may look like he walked out of Tim Burton's sketch book but his ending revelation is a moment of great beauty.

This is the animated stuff our kids should be seeing (teens + adults too, no doubt); not unwatchable, demoralizing shit like Happily N'ever After, Shrek 3, so it goes.

How ya doing, buddy?

Oh THANK GOD this movie kept up the quality with the previous Pixar movies! I was so worried that one day the crappiness from other cartoons, and the sinking of Shrek will one day infect Pixar as well, the only CG company who is actually making good animated movies. Thank god its not gonna happen from the looks of it.

I'm gonna go see this ASAP Room!

Oh wait, Australia's release date is AUGUST 30th! WTF?! I hate it when Pixar movies do that, it just encourages me to download the damn thing cause I dun wanna wait or get spoiled!

Nor can I watch it earlier if I visit my parents in Hong Kong, same release date!

DAMMIT!

Why is it so hard for movies and TV shows to get released in the same MONTH?! Hong Kong has some retarted marketting scheme for their X mas movies cause they believe Chinese New Year in Feb makes better profit for kids movies than December! But what does the rest of the world have as an excuse? Its just ONE of major the reasons why people download!

(I miss LA already....)

How ya doing, buddy?

I have heard a LOT about this movie even before it was released in theaters. This seems a lot better than the regular ol' pixar commercial-fest. Its also nice to hear that Giacchino is making the musical rounds in the film.

I hope to check it out soon.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

An excellent film. Pixar never fails to impress and, as far as the story goes, this is probably the best film Pixar has done yet.

Most amazing jew boots

I enjoyed it but I do think it was a little on the long side. There was a 20-minute period about 2/3 of the way through where I was fighting boredom (just a little), but other than that, and the fact that somehow the characters weren't quite as lovable as the Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles gangs, it was good.

How ya doing, buddy?

It was a fun movie to watch, in all honesty The effects/details were jaw-dropping, but it didn't strike me as being as funny as, say, Cars. The groups that made them differ a bit, and this one (that made The Incredibles) focuses more on story and plot, whereas the Cars & Toy Story group seemed to attempt humor much more often.

I laughed a lot in the film, but there were long stretches where nothing really funny actually *happened*. Still, very worth the price of admission.

The short at the start is dynamite <3 I loved it so much. Unfortunately, it wasn't loaded with extras, puns, or many references (loved the Boyardi(sp?) reference).

How ya doing, buddy?

Pixar reached "Deity Divine" status in my brain when the Finding Nemo was released, and Ratatouille (thank god) preserves this status still.

I thought that I was going to be disappointed in it and I was a little apprehensive about seeing it, but it is more than capable of living up to the hype and the legacy that Pixar has created with The Incredibles, Toy Story and etc. It is extremely entertaining, and well animated, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. You should go see it!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I found the CGI to be a bit inconsistent...my jaw literally dropped on more than one occasion, but there were other times when I wondered if they weren't paying their interns enough.

Story was good. Characters and dialog seemed like standard Brad Bird fare (take that as you may). Had a healthy dose of both verbal and physical humor, too...I still chuckle while remembering some of the scenes.

The score was excellent. Hope the soundtrack is released soon.

I think one thing that was particularly of interest to me was the association of taste with sight and sound...I'd never looked at food in quite that way. Makes me wonder if maybe they consulted with an actual synesthesiac for those sequences.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

eheheh. I thought Finding Nemo was much much better than this movie (not to say I didn't enjoy it). Of course, the quality of Pixar movies still astounds me, but I feel that this movie lacked the greatness and warmth i felt from Finding Nemo. I really liked the beginning short though. Anyone know where I might be able to score a digital copy of it?

Spoiler:

Also, did anyone else feel just a little bit sick during that scene where all the rats were in the kitchen?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

It's always special when a film is so good that you can't even keep track of all the things you love about it. Ratatouille is that film. Terrific pacing - by the time the credits are rolling, it feels like it's been about a half hour. As expected, brilliant animation, lovable characters and a few moments that almost made me vocalize my endearment:

Spoiler:

"Why do you care?"
"Because I'm a cook!"

I think I still liked Knocked Up a little more, but Ratatouille was outstanding in pretty much every way.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I just saw this yesterday, and I think everyone saying this is Pixar's best has totally lost it. They get worse every film. I genuinely like Toy Story, but now I'm just bored by their new films. Every film they do has pretty much the same plot; it gets a little tedious.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I don't think Ratatouille was Pixar's best movie, but it certainly was better than Cars. It's true: how do you top classics like Toy Story/Toy Story 2 and Finding Nemo? It's not just that those are animated classics, they are classic movies over all of Hollywood. I'll never go into a Pixar movie expecting those to be topped, but I enjoyed yet another movie which is all I can really ask.

Ratatouille will still end up as one of the best movies of 2007. In that sense, Pixar returned to their previous status of elite film-making (Cars being the only real sore spot). Brad Bird isn't my favorite, I like the other Pixar movies better than Ratatouille and The Incredibles, but they are still superb. And next year's movie goes back to Toy Story + Bug's Life + Monster's Inc.

Seriously: find even one studio with Pixar's rate of success and rate of quality. There isn't a single company there today.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Finally the movie is out in Australia. Just saw it a few hours ago and it was great. While I do agree with some of you as that its hard to compare to their older classics and feels a bit inferior, it was still an excellant film. To me it did feel bit better than Cars, which is also my sore spot in their works so far, (though still a great movie on its own right.)

And goddamit after watching it, I was craving for some french food... Damn those great effects that made the food look so good and realistic.

The film was funny, had great character moments, and was just solid throughout. Pixar continues to show they have near consistent quality, and that they only compete among themselves in quality thus far. Can't wait to get the DVD to add to my collection.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I've seen it. IMO it is entertaining, although it is rather slow for a cartoon. I don't know why, but this movie makes a good proof that the city of Paris creates a certain atmosphere in movies.

Most amazing jew boots