Ratatouille

The character design and animation were indeed amazing. Great caricature and funny, often understated acting. It was like early Mad Magazine made flesh.

Plot-wise, it was kind of like that soup that Remy fixed. I found the puppet idea pretty far-fetched, even for animation. It didn't ruin the movie, which I did enjoy, but it was just kind of a contrivance to move the plot forward. The love story didn't do much for me, though it wasn't given enough screen time to wreck the movie, either.

Chef Skinner being the only one who saw Remy was just an idea I felt like I'd seen before. The chase scene was neat, though.

Yes, the Anton Ego visit was really a touch of brilliance. It gave the movie an emotional crescendo that seemed to come out of nowhere. I also really like what he said about critics in his review of the restaurant. Very, very true.

It was a huge improvement on Cars, and it's nice to see Pixar hitting on all cylinders again. I will definitely see Ratatouille again, and I might buy the DVD for the extras. But The Incredibles remains my favorite by far.

A high quality Pixar G-rated family movie that did well at the box office?! :eek:
What a shock!

Uhh, anyway, I saw it on opening day...(something I almost never do, going to the theatres is so darn expensive!)...anyway, I'd have to say it's the best American animated film I've seen since The Incredibles. The story had some compelling content, and I really like how the themes developed. It felt quite real to me. Also, the animation, as always expected from Pixar...was fantastic.

Towers above the quality of Cars...that's for sure. Man, that movie still disapoints me...:(

I saw a video once of one of the story guys at Pixar where he was asked what sort of demographic they're aiming for, and his response was essentially that they told stories period...interesting ones, the ones they wanted to tell, and whoever found it interesting hooray.

Ratatouille was a direct expression of that for me. I read reviews where people were talking about the reaction kids under 5 would have and before and -especially- after seeing it...I wouldn't bring one. Things go bang and visually it's incredibly stimulating, but nowadays I can count the 5 year olds who can even speak let alone form an original thought or response on my hands. It's simply told but it's also very specific and has its fair share of dialogue so I really don't see what they'd get out of it.

That said, as a cognitive non-minor with no expectations and relatively little bias it was entertaining. Like the other person said, thematically it's strong and what I keep saying is reducing the "outside world" inclusion like direct pop culture references and such means for me it will retain a classical or timeless feel longer than other movies in its class.

The animation being easy to look at makes a lot of people think it was easy to do and I keep seeing knocks on it -- I kindly invite them to try to replicate it.

Personally it was expecting a slower pace and heavier dives into what was going on but I couldn't tell you why and for the decisions they -wound- up making it's certainly does it justice. One of the reasons I enjoy Pixar's work is that everyone tends to bring their 'A' game, from the techs to sets and layouts to animation to sound, etc.

It was an enjoyable movie but I am sure it will fall quickly in the ranks. The best scene in the movie was the food critics visit. That was some alsome story telling, scene stealing work.

I saw it about 3 days after it opened in my local theatre.
This is my review for the film available on my blog www.myspace.com/thetommzone

Rat-tastic Review by Tommy Null on The Idiot Lounge Online
From a professional standpoint, the animation, dialogue, and backround score were freakin impeccable. From the standpoint of a huge pixar fan, the amount of detail that went into every aspect of this motion picture are un-freakin-canny. From debris on the sidewalk to beads of sweat on freshly washed leeks, the pixel-by-pixel amazement is almost like it is REALLY there!
How real the recipes and visual accompaniments to those recipes were real enough that it had me eating that popcorn from a chefs point of view :D
I was not exactly STUNNED by a quality Pixar films, but after such a souring experience as Toy Story 2, I feel confident in saying that this is the best Pixar feature since Toy Story 1 (And considering that I was ONE and spent 5 years jumping off of the arm of the couch yelling "To infinity and beyond" and injuring myself repeatedly , to give "Ratatouille" a rating like that is above amazing) Despite its obvious violence issues (Made apparent by Remy almost being ashot by an elderly woman in the first 10 minutes of the film) it is a great family film. I give this movie 5 thumbs up =)..... =(

- Tommy Null, Spiffy Rooster Entertainment

The story was great, the characters were great, and the animation was great!

Great, great, great!

Great Scott!
Splatman :D

Ratatouille was fantastic ! I really liked it a lot .
Saw it two weeks ago at the sneak preview screening and again on Friday, June 29. I can't wait to see it again.

Story artist Jenny Lerew (a better writer than I can ever hope to be) posted a typically perceptive review on her blog which pretty much mirrors my own views on the film:

Jenny's [B]Blackwing Diaries review of Ratatouille

[/B]The Thinking Animation blog (Angie Jones and Jamie Oliff) also has a good review up:

What CG Should Have been from the Beginning: Ratatouille Review

I'm off to get the "Art Of....." book now !

I found it enjoyable, gorgeous, and packed with some of the best work Pixar has ever done. That said, I'm not as wowed by it as some of my colleagues here. Maybe I went in expecting too much. I'll probably see it again though, after catching up on Shrek 3 and Surf's Up.

I can sort of relate. I did take the offer of the 9 minute preview and being raised on Looney Tunes films and appreciating classical films there was a nice blend of old and new that led me to believe the whole movie could be exactly like that, so I definitely had different expectations. It wound up being something different, and any deflation or disappointment is more that it wasn't that than any problems with the movie itself, though I remember getting that "Whoa...Humans actually did make it" feeling by the end. Best animated thing I've seen so far this year, though.

I never got a chance to see the movie but I'm going to buy the DVD.

I'd say go see Surf's Up this weekend before it leaves the theaters. It's very enjoyable and well done.

I totally agree. Surf's Up is a really good movie , too , and deserves our support . It's a shame that it didn't connect with the mass audience . I hope Sony Animation can keep going . I think they took a major step forward with Surf's Up and it's sad to see it failing at the box-office.

See it before it gets pulled out of the theaters !

It is pretty fascinating -- and frightening -- to think about all the time, money, and energy that goes into projects like these and something as simple as first exposure, like a trailer or something...can determine its entire success.

Everyone I've met personally that hasn't seen Ratatouille so far but is saying they have no interest, their explanation is that the trailer "looked stupid" or "unfunny." Aside from Pixar trailers generally not being excerpts from the actual film, I have to admit my first exposure to Surf's Up wasn't negative but in the "Er...so?" department. It didn't appear bad to me and I knew the animation was going to be good because Open Season was a terrible movie that looked -really good- in parts and already people were saying Surf's Up was pretty solid story-wise. Fixing the one problem area means you're well-balanced. But I just haven't come across that "hook" yet (as a conventional movie-goer, not as a student of animation) that'd get me in the seat.

But man, you hear stories about people having health problems and their relationships enduring struggle because they devote their lives to making these pictures, many of them quality endeavors, and because 30 seconds to 2 minutes wasn't properly selective or well-edited the entire franchise loses 100 million bucks. Jeepers.

I never got a chance to see the movie but I'm going to buy the DVD.

You will be happy that you did when you buy it, I am going to buy it in high definition.

The story was great, the characters were great, and the animation was great!

Great, great, great!

Great Scott!
Splatman :D

sure and you are totally unbiased. :D
The only down side to the feature is how much of the game industry was in it.

I loved it. Much better than I expected, and with Pixar films you can usually expect quite a bit.

Wontobe,

I'm impressed. I take it that you have a BR player. I'm waiting for the other side (Toshiba) to have prices at $125 or less.

Ape > I believe the comment was made earlier here...If I recall (do correct me if I'm off) the implication was that having elaborate chases or escapes like in the 9 minute preview, are easy ports to game levels or challenges. Toy Story's game for Genesis was almost laughable in how they tried to make game versions of parts of the movie, especially when the things never happened or were never shown -- but the catchup to the truck towards the end was a natural fit.

The idea is that as games are gaining acceptance and proliferation, people will make more game-ready things happen in their movies so you can go buy the game and relive the movie yourself.

I don't buy it because I don't agree with that sort of prioritization in the moviemaking/storytelling process but that's just my opinion.

I'd say go see Surf's Up this weekend before it leaves the theaters. It's very enjoyable and well done.

It's in the plans for this weekend for sure. Still haven't seen that or Shrek 3, and of the two I'm more interested in Surf's Up.

Wontobe,

I'm impressed. I take it that you have a BR player. I'm waiting for the other side (Toshiba) to have prices at $125 or less.

No player, just a dream. :)
I am going to wait for the prices to come down some more.

Open Season was a terrible movie that looked -really good-

Couldn't agree more. I loved the look of Open Season, but it was pretty hard to sit through. It's a good movie to look at, rather than watch.

...But man, you hear stories about people having health problems and their relationships enduring struggle because they devote their lives to making these pictures, many of them quality endeavors, and because 30 seconds to 2 minutes wasn't properly selective or well-edited the entire franchise loses 100 million bucks. Jeepers.

I don't know for certain who's in charge of putting together the trailers and commercials, but I'm compelled to believe that it's marketing "people" (I must use the term loosely here!), and not any of the creative folks involved in the actual development of the picture. I think that's the crux of the problem - if, in fact, it's true...but I've seen plenty of trailers so bad that I couldn't imagine anything else being the case. Ratatouille had the 9-minute trailer on the internet, and that's a neat idea, but I don't think it was pushed in a way to make the kind of enormous impact needed.

That having been said, animated features are bloated productions anyway - so much money could be saved by dropping "celebrity voices" and getting straight-up voice-actors to do the dialogue, put less emphasis on all the flash and get back to the basics, stop paying Phil Collins to ruin a movie with his singing, etc. It seems like the studios are forcing themselves to have to make more money to survive when that's completely unnecessary - but I have a feeling that these decisions might be made higher-up in the $-eating foodchain.

ScatterLogizzle, I think when you take into account how much consideration is given marketing and merchandising by the $bags behind the productions, it's not such a stretch to see them intentionally making themeparkride-centric or videogame-friendly scenes in movies. They'll drop a character design because, "Oh, it wouldn't work on a t-shirt!", or force a catch-phrase because it would sell a million t-shirts - so why not write a scene that'll sucker a mess of kids into buying a $60 button-mashing videogame that they'll beat in 3 hours...especially when these same people have such enormous bets to hedge in the form of their multi-million dollar productions?

I'm not saying that they did, in fact, do that in Ratatouille - but Disney, for one, unless I'm very mistaken, makes more money off its movie-based attractions, character-based advertising, and hordes of merchandise than it does from the theatrical releases of its films. So it seems like there would at least be a tendency in the industry to follow suit, and that tendency would certainly include a lean towards videogamey scenes. Taking your example - Toy Story didn't actively, it would seem, gear its production towards video game translatability - and the result was a pretty ridiculous game. Ergo...

I'm so off-topic. :p

Anyway, I'm going to see Ratatouille later today, so I'll make up for this rambling post written in a quasisomnambulistic state with an actual view on the film later today. Before watching the movie, I will, however, state for the record that I really hope the villain "Anton Ego" isn't an unfair caricature of Alton Brown, because I just adore Alton Brown*. :cool:

okbye:eek:

* = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSO_Ej2WwZU

A high quality Pixar G-rated family movie that did well at the box office?! :eek:
What a shock!

I don't think $47 million is all that "well" for a Pixar movie. This is the lowest opening weekend for a Pixar movie since Bug's Life.
Compare this to the $121 million that Shrek 3 made on its opening weekend.

I don't know for certain who's in charge of putting together the trailers and commercials, but I'm compelled to believe that it's marketing "people" (I must use the term loosely here!), and not any of the creative folks involved in the actual development of the picture.

This logic falls apart completely just by examining the first teaser trailer for "Ratatouille". None of that footage or dialogue is in the finished film, and it stands on it's own as a complete vignette, not a series of shots lifted from the film. Given that, how could a marketing team put that together without the involvement of the creative team?

Pixar's crummy teasers and trailers are as legendary as their terrific movies. It's all part of the same package.

Incredibles is still the best Pixar film, BTW... ;)

I loved, loved, loved it. Possibly one of my favorite films ever. I would recommend it for anyone.

Huh?

Aloha,
the Ape

There were a number is scenes that fit the profile for games. The scene where the rat, whos name I can not remember, goes into the kitchen for the first time.

It still played well and I enjoyed this movie. They did an excellent job of telling an interesting story. The food critic scene is still the best in the whole film, for me.

Anyway, I'm going to see Ratatouille later today, so I'll make up for this rambling post written in a quasisomnambulistic state with an actual view on the film later today. Before watching the movie, I will, however, state for the record that I really hope the villain "Anton Ego" isn't an unfair caricature of Alton Brown, because I just adore Alton Brown*. :cool:

okbye:eek:

All of the caricature in this movie are all French caricature and that goes for the food critic.

Alton Brown is god. A very funny, fun god.

I don't think $47 million is all that "well" for a Pixar movie. This is the lowest opening weekend for a Pixar movie since Bug's Life.
Compare this to the $121 million that Shrek 3 made on its opening weekend.

Considering that once everyone saw how bad Shrek 3 was, it will fall to the wayside the day that the commercials stop airing. Shrek (The original) was so good, I watched it 108 times before the VHS player shorted. Shrek 3 was a let down. Ratatouille was much better put together with as many pop culture refferences in it to make it interesting. (And p.s. "A Bug's Life" was 10 Million times better than slop like "Toy Story 2" :eek: Though statistics are on your side, Ratatouille did better in the box office than such unspeakable squander of life energy as "Everyone's Hero" did, and Skrek the Third will soon be in the $3.99 bin at your local convenience store/ truck stop

Peter O'Toole stole the (voice) show. The other voice talent paled in comparision. The rest was stunningly beautiful. I was a little grossed out at the swarm scenes, as were many other adults in the audience.

I was very impressed with the puppet idea and how well it worked when he was learning, asleep, and trying NOT to follow along.

Very, very good stuff.

I shouldn't say I didn't like the movie. I DID like it, but I thought it was just ok. All the parts on there own were great, but some how, when everything was brought together, they just didn't mesh well. I do have to say that I feel even PIXAR's weakest movies are still way ahead of almost every other animated movie made in the past 10 or so years. Except for Surf's Up. I have to say I actually liked that better that Ratatouille.

Aloha,
the Ape

I have read and will soon reread the book "Acting For Animators" by Ed Hook. From that book I have a better feel for why I am or why I am not contecting to a movie.

As I have said, I enjoyed the movie but was just ok for me too. The only reason I can come up with it that the only character I developed empathy was the food critic Anton Ego. When Ego fist tasted the Ratatouille was when he became a person I could empathizes with. May be this is what is holding the movie back for you too, not enough to empathizes with.