Ratatouille. Reviewed. Kinda.

All in all, I really enjoyed Ratatouille.

Animation wise, it was brilliant.  The textures were practically real — water, hair, the food.  The shots of Paris were stunning, too.  They captured the ‘night lighting’ of a city so well that you really thought you were overlooking a real and working city.  There were several shots of various city streets and waterways throughout the movie — I wonder if these shots were accurate to the actual streets and waterways of Paris.   I suppose a trip to France will only prove this question.

Early in the movie, little Remy floated through a sewer system on pursuit of his family.  He was flushed, and turned, and twisted, through various waterways and pipes.  The water movement was so lifelike — the little ripples water makes as hits walls, the ‘white’ affect of fast moving water, the bubbles.  All so lifelike.  Most definitely incredible.

My one complaint about the movie is that I don’t remember any characters names except for Linguini.  But then again, who forgets a name like Linguini?  The incredible rat chef?  All I remembered was that his name began with an R.  It took looking at a tissue box (Ratatouille branded tissed box) to find out his name, Remy.  “Ravi,” “Rammi,” “Rava.”  I stood there guessing like a dumbass until Rebecca pointed me in the right direction.

Looking back at Cars, though, I cannot remember their names either.  I suppose maybe I’m just getting older.  Shrug.

Story wise, the movie was quite good, too.  Their focus on two villains (the sell-out head chef, and the food critic) was a bit overwhelming.  The movie would focus on one villain for many minutes, and scenes, and then all of a sudden, attention would be brought for the other villain.  Villain wise, it just seemed to jump around too much.  I did, however, enjoy near the end when the two villains were in the resturant and both were anxiously awaiting Remy’s suprise food dish.  Very well done.

I’d go into more detail about the story, but it’s not needed.  Just go see ‘Ratatouille.’  While it’s not quite as good as ‘Finding Nemo’ or ‘Toy Story,’ it surely fits into my top 3 Pixar movies (with Monsters, Inc close behind).

Over all, the movie was good.  4 out of 5 stars.  It’s a movie that could be watched 100 years from now and still be enjoyable.  Hell, I’ll throw in another half star for the storywriters poking humor at French rudeness.

And as a side note, I like what Pixar is doing with their next film, WALL-E.  Their promos so far have only hinted slightly about the plot.  They’re leaving much to be anticipated.  I have a feeling they’re trying for an ‘E.T.’ quality movie.