Pixar Retrospective: "Ratatouille"
"Ratatouille" (2007)
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano
Directed by: Brad Bird
"Ratatouille" is one of pixar's sweetest films, and also one of their longest. I love this movie. It's not their most innovative in terms of perspective (like "Toy Story") or story ingenuity (such as "Monster's, Inc."), but it's like a step out of pixar's usual play box. In some ways it's a more maturely made film, with less outright laughs, and feels directed at a slightly older audience. Not to say that pixar's other films don't appeal to older people; on the contrary, I think there are specific themes that only older people understand and appreciate in pixar's films. However, I think this is the first film where it may not be as appealing to kids. It's not as colorful, but paints a story quite beautiful.
The film tells the story of Remy, a rat living in Paris who loves food. Not in glutton-type, but the true food connoisseur. After a mishap involving some saffron snatching, he finds himself in Paris, at one of the formerly best restaurants named Gusteau's. Befriending Gusteau's formerly unbeknownst son, they work in tandem to cook amazing dishes and restore the name of Gusteau's. Remy, however, has to lives with two halves of himself; the food-loving, human-befriending side, and the side devoted to his family.
Some of the scenes here are typical of pixar's emotional gut punch. They find a way right to go down to the core of an emotion. When Ego, the food critic, tastes the ratatouille, we see how his mother's ratatouille uplifted his spirits as a kid, and you see those memories totally bring life back into his gaunt demeanor. The end was also beautiful, with the rats dining upstairs alongside the humans below in the new restaurant. And the scene with all the rats cooking, divvied up into teams, was some beautiful animation.
I think pixar took a different approach with this film that worked. It's a very innovative story, but not of the "Monster's, Inc." variety. It's a more traditional, grounded story but also quite different. Through it's main message, "anyone can cook," it helps you realize that things aren't always at they seem, and you can't make assumptions based on your preconceived notions. Ego's food review at the end embodied that notion. A truly beautiful film, and one that I hope is a classic for decades to come.
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano
Directed by: Brad Bird
"Ratatouille" is one of pixar's sweetest films, and also one of their longest. I love this movie. It's not their most innovative in terms of perspective (like "Toy Story") or story ingenuity (such as "Monster's, Inc."), but it's like a step out of pixar's usual play box. In some ways it's a more maturely made film, with less outright laughs, and feels directed at a slightly older audience. Not to say that pixar's other films don't appeal to older people; on the contrary, I think there are specific themes that only older people understand and appreciate in pixar's films. However, I think this is the first film where it may not be as appealing to kids. It's not as colorful, but paints a story quite beautiful.
The film tells the story of Remy, a rat living in Paris who loves food. Not in glutton-type, but the true food connoisseur. After a mishap involving some saffron snatching, he finds himself in Paris, at one of the formerly best restaurants named Gusteau's. Befriending Gusteau's formerly unbeknownst son, they work in tandem to cook amazing dishes and restore the name of Gusteau's. Remy, however, has to lives with two halves of himself; the food-loving, human-befriending side, and the side devoted to his family.
Some of the scenes here are typical of pixar's emotional gut punch. They find a way right to go down to the core of an emotion. When Ego, the food critic, tastes the ratatouille, we see how his mother's ratatouille uplifted his spirits as a kid, and you see those memories totally bring life back into his gaunt demeanor. The end was also beautiful, with the rats dining upstairs alongside the humans below in the new restaurant. And the scene with all the rats cooking, divvied up into teams, was some beautiful animation.
I think pixar took a different approach with this film that worked. It's a very innovative story, but not of the "Monster's, Inc." variety. It's a more traditional, grounded story but also quite different. Through it's main message, "anyone can cook," it helps you realize that things aren't always at they seem, and you can't make assumptions based on your preconceived notions. Ego's food review at the end embodied that notion. A truly beautiful film, and one that I hope is a classic for decades to come.
posted by DarthDooku at
5:14 PM
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