Brad Bird + Pixar present "Ratatouille"

[Head Bee-Guy]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4801300.stm
http://insomniacmania.com/news_default.php?id=3294

The Incredibles creator Brad Bird is taking on a restaurant-dwelling rat for his next project.

He will once again be working for Pixar on the animated film Ratatouille, about a mouse who lives in Paris.

The project had been around for several years and it was originally thought Czech animator Jan Pinkava would be directing it.

Work has begun on the complex animation for Ratatouille and it is due for release in 2007.

Sounds like a unusual idea for a story, but given Brad Bird's track record I'm sure people will be a lot keener on this film than "Cars", around here at least. It says June 29th 2007 for a provisional release date, I can't wait!

[Alpha]

Sounds good, but I'm much more anticipating Ray Gun.

[TriforceBun]

Bump. Here's the trailer!

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/disney/ratatouille/hd/

Looks better than expected. I dig the design of the little mouse and his father, and the theme of this movie is another "world beneath our noses" like the first five Pixar films were. With Bird at the helm, should be great.

[DotheBartman]

Ironic since I thought Bird's Incredibles idea was a major step up from the usual cute animals fare of animated films. And given that Bird himself has said some things about being tired of animation being restricted to "cute little animals."

That said, yeah, looks pretty good actually. I'm tired of mice in cartoons, but that trailer's pretty funny, and wow, the animation is fantastic. With Bird at the helm, I can't wait.

[TriforceBun]

With Bird at the helm, should be great.

With Bird at the helm, I can't wait.

Heh.

It goes without saying that if this is anywhere near the quality of The Incredibles, I'm going to see it the first chance I get. I loved The Incredibles, the way Reverend Lovejoy loves the Rev. It's like a mini-obsession for me.

Ratatouille has some good potential; while Toy Story covered toys, A Bug's Life tackled insects, Monsters Inc. was monsters and Nemo explored fish, I think this one will be about mice and other pests wandering around in wall holes, attics, and sewers. Should be fun, judging from the limited amount of information we have.

[Reverend Lovejoy]

I loved The Incredibles, the way Reverend Lovejoy loves the Rev. It's like a mini-obsession for me.


Aw, thanks, Triforcebun. :D
Anyway, I'd like to see this film as well.

[Keller]

This film looks excellent. I'm really impressed by everything about that trailer. Also, was that rat voiced by Brad Bird too? It kind of sounded like him, but maybe it was just me.

[Moose of Doom!]

It looks good, but I can't help but notice the vague similarities between this and Flushed Away.

[grissom]

Wow, that looks great so far. I'll definitely be anticipating this one. The animation is beautiful

[Cartoonnetwork]

It looks great and I, for once, don't have any problem with animals in animated movies. Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Ren and Stimpy, Tom and Jerry, Droopy, Angry Beavers, Cow and Chicken, Dumbo, Gromit, Dumbo, Basil The Great Mouse Detective or Roger Rabbitt are all animals and they are superb animated characters. It all depends of the characterization and the story and I actually think Bird would try to do something different with that. Incidentally I actually think Dreamworks Over The Hedge gives the animal characters some decent characterization, instead of the usual "jokey" behaviour they use for their characters in other films.

[Snack Related Mishap]

wow, watching that frame by frame is really a treat for anyone who wants to do it, they really put an enourmous amount of detail in every shot. That said, I'm not to sure about the plot, but we really don't know anything yet, so I'm not gonna judge it. Just the plot seems kind of cooky. But if anyone could pull it off, it would be Brad Bird. And I loved the Incredibles, so I have faith that the movie will be great.

[Gatorgod]

Cool looking movie! It makes me want to throw my "An American Tail" & "Fievel Goes West" in the Trash.

[Cerpin Taxt]

Yeah this looks pretty freaking cool. Something about Pixar movies makes them good.

[TriforceBun]

Bump. With the movie coming out next month, it looks like we get no less than NINE full minutes of movie footage, with a bit of Bird narration (scroll to the bottom of the page):

http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=7943

Looking good. Makes me hungry!

[NoOneFamous]

I love Pixar, so I'm very excited for this movie.

[General Jack D. Ripper]

Brad Bird, Pixar, very original story (but still cliched talking animals), awesome video and commercial. Looking great so far.

[sacrelicious]

The first time I saw anything about this movie (on the Cars DVD) I thought it looked stupid. I didn't quite get it that Brad Bird was attached.

Anyway, the previews look really good, and given Brad Bird's and Pixar's track records I would just have to guess that it'll be another Pixar winner.

[Kiyosuki]

Cool looking movie! It makes me want to throw my "An American Tail" & "Fievel Goes West" in the Trash.

Hey lay off Don Bluth. lol He's been through enough.

I think it looks pretty okay. Its a Pixar film so it'll probably have similar themes of self discovery that are in pretty much all Pixar films, I just hope it plays around with the way in which it does that which has been feeling a little similar through all the recent films. I was kind of surprised Bird was doing this too since he is a huge critic over how much animation is saturated with talking animals at the moment, something which I can definitely agree with...I think its doing much more harm to animation than good in the long run. Its one of the things I think helped screw up the 2D animation scene back in the 90's although its debatable.

But I don't think talking animals are necessarilly bad on their own, its just that the stories that go along with them tend to be as sappy as they come and the majority of them start to seem the same after a while because so many of them really are. I mean look at the Penguin movie coming out this summer, another one. So thats one thing Ratatoullie definitely has in its favor, its using a unique story in comparison to all the other animal stuff out there, and rats are certainly not an animal we tend to see prominently too much. I think its a bit of a gamble of sorts for them to have decided to go with a movie using talking animals because one thing Pixar's films have always distinguished themselves with is that they use characters that are always pretty unique for feature film animation. Monsters, living toys, cars (even the flies were cars. :-O ), Superheroes...putting emphasis on ones that are actually older, and fish. So by using animals, the uniqueness of the atmosphere and pacing will have even more riding on them. Since the Incredibles had an incredibly stylish feel to it though and this one's going for a quirky French film thing I'm pretty confident he'll pull that off.

I do like the character design too, its very different than Pixar's other stuff. It also really is pretty beautiful looking, its a pretty noticable step up even from Cars. There's a bizzare almost 2D aesthetic to the facial expressions especially, I guess the animators over at Pixar have just gotten that good at using the equipment.

[NoOneFamous]

Ratatouille has 100% on RottenTomatoes so far:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ratatouille/

[Semaj]

Recent word is that some Disney executives, the same ones that had their powers stripped since Pixar came on board, are secretly expecting this film to fail.

The positive reception it's gaining so far is a good sign of the exact opposite. Ratatoullie sounds pretty exciting, much richer both creatively and artistically than many other non-Pixar CGI productions.

[grissom]

Only 13 reviews so far on Rotten Tomatoes, but a 100 is still pretty encouraging. Can't wait to see this.

[sacrelicious]

^ Unfortunately it won't hold up. I know there are a few Pixar haters out there, that no matter how good the movie is they'll insist it sucked.

[AngryDad33]

http://www.tv-links.co.uk/show.do/4/4145

I saw about half the movie here^

I might even pay to see the rest.

[sacrelicious]

I saw 9 minute sneak peak on ABC sunday night. Looks cool enough.

[D DEBBS]

Seeing it tomorrow!

[Tab]

I saw a ad in a magazine i was reading.
I might go and see it when it is released.
I like all Pixar films, because it reminds me when i was only 5 years old.

[Cape Feare]

I am looking forward to this immensely.

Oh, and while we're talking about Brad Bird... INCREDIBLES II PLZ.

[D DEBBS]

Disappointing: I like Remy (the lead character),liked Collette (the lead female)
more, but Linguini has to be the WORST Pixar character since Boo from Monsters Inc.-his awkwardness got on my nerves!

The credits (flat animation in lieu of computer) was better than the film!

Out of 10 points, I'd give it a 6.

[sacrelicious]

Is D DEBBS the only one to see it so far? More NHC reviews please.

[TriforceBun]

I saw it a couple hours ago, and thought it was really good. The movie takes food seriously, and Remy's passion for fine eating is positively infectious. The themes range from following your passions (even if the world is against you), taking risks in art, balancing work and family, and even the power of criticism. It's a very smart and entertaining film, with absolutely beautiful scenery and amazing animation (the way the rats are animated is extremely convincing). The storyline is unique and captivating, with some surprisingly dark moments and in Pixar tradition, a touching scene or two (I'm partial to a near-end revelation, myself).

I have a couple of minor complaints regardless, but they're slightly story-based so I spoilerized them just in case.


Linguini is a fun and likable underdog, but at times he begins to push it with some of his selfish behavior in the last third, reminiscent of Moe in Flaming Moes/Moe'n a Lisa. At one point, I realized he was just a lucky guy who didn't really have many redeeming qualities outside of his gentle nature towards rats (i.e. he didn't kill Remy when the chefs found him in the kitchen). And the romance is cute but feels like it's developed a tad too quickly with the motorcycle scene. Finally, there weren't quite as many memorable characters in this as in many of Pixar's past films. Remy, Colette, Skinner, Ego, Gusteau, and Linguini are notable, but I would've liked to see Remy's family and the other chefs get more screentime.

Regardless, the film has some great themes, it's subtle, it's funny, it's creative, it's unique, and it's generally a lot of fun to watch. The atmosphere in the kitchen and dining room is presented wonderfully, and the food just looks delicious.

Great movie, though not quite in Pixar's upper half, I'd say. I'll have to give it a few rewatches before I can place it accurately in the Pixar ladder, but it's an extremely entertaining film regardless. And the ending (last 20 minutes) wraps things up really well.

A-, possibly A

[Binky]

What an awesome movie. Brad Bird just keeps getting better with every new movie he makes.

Also saw it in digital projection. The color was so much more vivid and brighter than film projection, and the picture was so crisp. Wish more theaters would go digital.

[Kiyosuki]

I saw it tonight. I loved this movie! I had a feeling it was going to be good but it really exceeded expectations. Its always pretty cool when something mundane (the "action" in this movie isn't like, Incredibles or dangerous Finding Nemo stuff in other words. There were some very exciting parts though but you know what I mean. ) can be turned into something really fun to watch. There's just a certain class that this movie had, and also a sort of strange sophistication too thats definitely been missing in a lot of feature length animation even Pixar itself has done. That kind of sophistication is really becoming Brad's signature to all his films, a true general audience movie that really everyone including adults can equally enjoy, rather than just a children's film that adults can sit through or in some cases, survive. The audience we saw it with this Saturday night is a testament to that, kids were actually not the majority of the audience. There were some but there were a lot of teens, adults, and even older people too. And many of them didn't seem like they came as parents either.

You know what really got me about this film though? Some of the themes and subtext were really pretty deep, or at least thought provoking. I think they're especially relevant to the current times. Stuff like integrity in a world of mass production, and dealing with major change. It sounds strange but my friend who went and saw this with me, she and myself got into a full blown little conversation after this movie about how we're strange in that we crave change and difference in our lives, but at the same time we don't want it. Its like the great contradiction of life...but that aside its just the fact we started talking about that after this film. I think being open minded to change was really one of the most driving themes in it.

We also noticed, and it could be just coincidential...that it almost seemed like the whole thing with selling out was a little poke at former Disney president Eisner. You know, a guy comes and helps out a foundation financially, and does his part well...but eventually he just sells it too far and there is such a thing as too much. I mean, its a very universal ideal so maybe we're thinking too much about it, but at the same time I have a feeling Brad or maybe some people writing this intended it.

Also, the thing with the food critic. I think that review he writes at the end was a pretty deep but simple little statement. How many of us tend to take critisism a little too far to the point it becomes not even critisism, but a reflection of our own selfishness. But in the end, critisism in reality can only mean so much. I dunno, I can't help but think in media especially today, so many of us love the sound of our own voice a little too much to the point we may forget whether it actually has substance to it or not.

I dunno, I know it seems like I'm looking into it a bit much but the point is, is that I thought all of this just shows that it was movie with a lot of substance to it under the surface. And it was all wrapped up in a really enjoyable package. The animation was just insane. Like I said before, its really making me think about whether it really is impossible for 3D animation to capture a certain charm that only 2D expressions can get or not. I loved that they snuck in a little stylish 2D animation in the credits though.

Well, audience clapped which was a pretty rare thing.

[Henrik P]

I can't wait to see this movie. The animation looks awesome. Too bad it doesn't come to Sweden until October 19.

[Binky]

Well, audience clapped which was a pretty rare thing.
Same here. The only other movie I've been to where that's happened was Borat.

[Kiyosuki]

Same here. The only other movie I've been to where that's happened was Borat.

Man, what a contrast.

Brad though really does have a certain balance down right now that makes the difference between something entertaining that you want to watch and experience, and something thats just a momentary distraction

[General Jack D. Ripper]

Unfortunately, I don't remember people clapping at this, but I remember them doing it at Evan Almighty. Ugh. Actually I don't think some people can really appreciate this. I saw it with many younger kids and a couple of them merely stated "it was okay." On the other hand, several others loved it.

Saw this the other day, and it is easily a top 2 or 1 Pixar film, the other competitor being Brad's other film. Both films did seem to have subtle undertones, this movie having the most subtle. Kiyo makes a good point about the aspect of change to humans that worked well as an undertone here. Like the Incredibles, this movie excelled in outstanding animation, character designs and expressions, and creating interesting and funny characters. The most prominent of those characters being the critic who was hilarious with his amazingly death-like visage and showed emotion at the end.

Anyway, I just plain loved this movie. I laughed plenty and was just enthralled in the whole story. From start to finish, this never lost my interest. Every scene was great from the hilarious opening with the rats in the old lady's house to the new restaurant opening at the end. My favorite parts were the random humor in Remy running by a couple with one threatening to shoot, and then suddenly deciding to kiss and Ego's flashback when eating the Ratatouille.

Let's just say this wildly exceeded expectations and is one of the few films I already want to see again.

[Simpsons Forever!]

I can't wait to see this movie (half as much as The Simpsons Movie, though), especially after hearing all these brilliant reviews. I found Cars to ba a bit bland, but loved The Incredibles, so I'm sure this will be another great Bird film. It's opening weekend was a bit disappointing, however. The lowest-performing Pixar film since A Bug's Life. Hopefully word will get around, as this sounds like a film you shouldn't miss.

[General Jack D. Ripper]

I'm surprised more NHCers haven't seen it yet.

[RJF]

I'm surprised more NHCers haven't seen it yet.
Well it's not actually out in the uk yet.

[nathaniel]

weird that the entire thread doesnt mention patton oswald.. best thing about the movie

http://media.npr.org/programs/fa/photos/2007/birdoswalt_200.jpg

bird and patton on npr's fresh air (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11510006)

[moneychair2003]

saw it yesterday and loved it. i found it weird though that remy didnt talk with the humans, the only communication he did was by nodding and facial gestures. i think it was that way just to make it seem more realistic compared to other disney movies.

[billi vanilli]

i saw this last night. i thought the beginning was sorta slow, but once they got into the cooking scenes i was into it. o'toole and oswalt were both excellent choices. i also saw it on a digital screen and, yeah, it's definitely the way to go.

all the pixar/disney movies ranked...

the incredibles
monster's inc
toy story
a bug's life
ratatouille
toy story 2
finding nemo
cars

there's a pretty significant dropoff between toy story 2 and finding nemo and cars

[TriforceBun]

I guess I might as well join in the inevitable "rank the Pixar films after the newest one is released" posts. Always fun!

8. Cars - B
7. A Bug's Life - A-
6. Finding Nemo - A-/A
5. Ratatouille - A-/A
4. Monsters, Inc. - A
3. Toy Story - A
2. Toy Story 2 - A+
1. The Incredibles - A+

[General Jack D. Ripper]

1. The Incredibles- A+
2. Ratatouille- A+/A
3. Finding Nemo- A/A-
4. Toy Story- A-
5. Monster's Inc.- A-
6. Toy Story 2- A-
7. Cars- B+
8. A Bug's Life- B

[homer5000]

If I haven't said it yet: great fucking flick. Just...really some of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen, as well as terrific story and characterization. A+

Anyways, there's big controversy with this movie at IMDB. Seems that about a week after the movie came out, it reached the #1 spot on the Top 250, and so some 400 asshole IMDB-ers teamed up and gave it a rating of 1 (most never even seeing the movie), downgrading it to #40. The funny thing is that one of Ratatouille's major themes gives this event a deal of great irony...

[grissom]

There are a large number of assholes on IMDB. Gives and otherwise fantastic site a terrible reputation.

[Binky]

Well IMDB actually uses a weighted system to get the score used in the top 250 list. Even if the movie has something as high as a 9.0 (which Ratatouille had a few days ago), their system averages that with the average score given by their "top 1000 voters", which was something like a 7.5 (and these top 1000 voters ALWAYS rate movies lower than everybody else, for whatever reason*) so the movie never actually reached the top spot. Highest it went was something like #32 and now it's down to #40.

* http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:FbDChbVhXSA8dM:http://minimateheadquarters.com/fujis/ComicBookGuy.jpg comes to mind

[homer5000]

^Really? According to some it acquired #1 early in the morning on Thursday, but was quickly back down to 20 by noon. Then again, I am speaking of the ever-untrustworthy board members...

[Gatorgod]

i found it weird though that remy didnt talk with the humans, the only communication he did was by nodding and facial gesturesDon't forget that the movie was set in Paris, France. And they're all about praise for zee Sad, funny, Silent clowns. Be it Mimes or Charlie Chaplin, Marcel Marceau,...ect etc.

Saw the movie and :gatorlove: it. Want to see it again. I even liked the 2D animation end title sequence.

...Funny thing I noticed in the end credit scrolling. There was a little ad looking thing with a 1950 clipart type guy beside it, touting what looked like a promise to uphold some kind of CGI standard, It went by too fast, but I think it said ..."Our guarantee to you that this film was made with 100% NO MOTION CAPTURE!" ..I had no idea that there was this "thing" going on in the CGI biz involving "for & against" ideas about MoCap in a CGI film. ..Or maybe its just Pixar's thing?

Then again, Homer might of turned alot of people off to it when he took a leak while still hooked up to that MoCap cartoon dog, and blew the families savings on MoCap stock when the company went into Super-Duper bankruptcy. :silly:

[Binky]

It's because Robert Zemeckis and jolly band of studio executives have been going around proclaiming that "animation is dead and motion capture is the future". And here's the latest - "Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol" in 2008...starring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge. Zemeckis hasn't made a good movie in 15+ years.

Oh and the exact wording of that thing in the credits was "Our Quality Assurance Guaratee: 100% Genuine Animation! No motion capture or any other performance shortcuts were used in the production of this film."

[Kiyosuki]

It's because Robert Zemeckis and jolly band of studio executives have been going around proclaiming that "animation is dead and motion capture is the future". And here's the latest - "Robert Zemeckis' A Christmas Carol" in 2008...starring Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge. Zemeckis hasn't made a good movie in 15+ years.

Oh and the exact wording of that thing in the credits was "Our Quality Assurance Guaratee: 100% Genuine Animation! No motion capture or any other performance shortcuts were used in the production of this film."

I have my suspicions that Robert Zemeckis is a robot from the future trying to slowly replace all human jobs and roles with machines, starting with acting since he's trying to seemingly create full blown replacements for real human actors.

But serious my idiocy aside that guy's just got the artistic merit of a dead Moose and only half as fun to look at. The fact he doesn't even seem to know the definition of animation...which is anything that doesn't have actual human beings doing stuff in film (really stripped down definition I know but bear with me.) says that more than any amount of attempted cleverness I could ever come up with.

i found it weird though that remy didnt talk with the humans, the only communication he did was by nodding and facial gestures

So having a human being have a full blown verbal conversation with a rat that speaks human is less weird? :silly:

Oh and on that IMDB stuff...

If I haven't said it yet: great fucking flick. Just...really some of the most beautiful animation I've ever seen, as well as terrific story and characterization. A+

Anyways, there's big controversy with this movie at IMDB. Seems that about a week after the movie came out, it reached the #1 spot on the Top 250, and so some 400 asshole IMDB-ers teamed up and gave it a rating of 1 (most never even seeing the movie), downgrading it to #40. The funny thing is that one of Ratatouille's major themes gives this event a deal of great irony...

Yeah thats why I say there's a message in this movie that was surprisingly relevant to our current times. It differs from country to country but I truly believe that because of a mix of various things in recent history, the way we've culturally progressed in the latter half of the recent century, and the huge boom in digital technology like the internet we've become a society of spoiled whiners. Especially us internet dwellers.

There's a lot of cynicism around us of course but with a lot of people its almost as if that cynicism becomes something that we prize as if it were worth more than a dime. Complaining for the sake of complaining, its not even actual critique or words of any particular worth. Anton is in a lot of ways, the collected embodiment of every single ignorant rant, unsubstantiated opinion, egotistical trolling, movie/show/book/song review from someone who's never actually seen what they're even reviewing, and and just plain bitchy anything you've ever seen on the internet and beyond. I mean the guy's last name is Ego. We all bitch, I know I do, and I'm not saying everyone has to stop all the time but I thought it was all really well summed up with that review he does in the end, about how once in a while we all have to stop and put things in perspective. That cheap critisism in the end is usually worth less than scrap metal you find in a junkyard. I guess maybe not get too comfortable with complaining.

Its why I liked this film a lot. A lot of modern films like this go for themes that are more universal and timeless, even most Pixar films. But while this one has the whole thing about integrity which is as timeless as you can get, it was a nice change of pace to have an animated film in a subtle way address something relevant to the current times as well.

[TriforceBun]

Well said, Kiyosuki, as usual. What's even more amazing is the Ego stuff all comes at the end, after we've absorbed plenty of other great themes presented in the movie (such as our role in society's preconcieved notions, the rise above mediocrity, change in relation to nature). By that point, we also get two more excellent observations--the nostalgic, simple joy of a home-cooked meal, and the power of criticism in art.

The more I think about this movie, the more I appreciate it.

[Kiyosuki]

Yeah, the whole thing with substance to the food was another pretty relevant to current times thing. We're so surrounded by mass production mentality that I can't help but think that it just makes showing how important even a little bit of substance to things is to make it mean anything. Even if its food.

[NoOneFamous]

I finally got around to seeing this...

and it was hands down one of the best, most beautiful, creative, and artfully done movies I have ever seen.

What I really love is how all of the themes in the movie itself play into the public's reactions to the movie. The movie uses cooking as an art form, and does a wonderful job doing so. Food should have substance. Movies are an artform... and should have substance. And it shouldn't matter who the artist is, as long as its actually good.

This movie will, unfortunately, never really get the recognition it deserves because people dismiss it as a "kids movie", "Disney", or "just another CGI movie with talking animals."

But OMGz, FUCK DISNEY!!11 LETZ ALL GO SEE SUM ROBOTS BLOW SHIT UP LOL!!1111

[Kiyosuki]

I got the Ratatouille artbook the other day. I love the Pixar artbooks and this ones pretty nice too because the particular illustration style that was used in concept arts for this was really interesting looking and different from the final product. It had a very almost...60's two-tone animation style but not quite, its hard to explain but its really beautiful.

A friend of mine knew one of the guys who did a lot of the concept art, he went to Cal-Arts. I forgot his name, I'll ask her tomorrow but she was pretty surprised at his Ratatouille work because his work before was very dark, gothic, and almost depressing when she knew him.

[Binky]

Tony Fucile? Didn't he go to CalArts at the same time as Brad Bird, John Lasseter, et al?

[America: Fuck Yea!]

can someone explain the Ratatouille hype and its insane rating on every website?

I have seen Nemo (little cousin), and Shark Tale (on the plane).. while both were pleasant to the eye aesthetically, I found the stories and jokes to be rather textbook..

and I guess I saw Shrek which was ok... but still, is this movie actually like some awesome underground 70s Neo-Woody Allen film or something?

[NoOneFamous]

Ratatouille is an absolutely amazing movie. One of the best I've seen in theaters in a loong time. Its incredibly inspired, artistic, and by no means a kids movie.

Seriously, its some of the best stuff Pixar has done, and you really can't put it in the same boat as Shark Tale... which was one of the worst CGI films evar btw... or really any Dreamworks picture.

Ratatouille is nothing like those, its in a class of its own. I mean, the simple fact alone that they took a mundane topic - cooking - and made exciting action sequences and a great story out of it.

[billi vanilli]

yeah it's pretty great. just see it.

also, it sounds like you maybe haven't seen the incredibles. check that one out too

[Gatorgod]

2 things that don't go together, A Disease caring Rat - and Food preparation! At first, I assumed Ratatouille was just going to be a story about misplaced desire (see Nightmare Before Christmas) ..even tho, I was eager to see it anyways because I like well done big budget CGI movies.

But I ended up getting more than I bargained for,... is what you usually get when you see a Pixar movie. It was more meaningful and deep than I had imagined. I plan on seeing it again when it hits the dollar theaters, my last chance to see the movies I care about on a Huge screen, before they get sent to the dinky-vision of home theater.

[Mr_Scorpion]

I loved it too - it's pretty easily in my top 5 movies so far this year. Everything about it is done perfectly; the animation is beautiful, the writing is top-notch, the satire/social commentary is actually quite thought-provoking, and above all, it's very funny. It's on a whole other level, pretty much incomparable to stuff like Shark Tale.

[NegaDuck]

At first, I wasn't interested. But after seeing that even the cynical, volatile nerds of the internet have nothing but praise, it has to be good. And, now that I know that Brad Bird directed it, I know that it's got to be great.

I must see it...

[NoOneFamous]

Seriously. I was excited to see it but I even had my doubts as to how well it would live up to the praise. But it really did.

the only strange thing is the slightly contrived way in which Remi (the star rat character) interacts with Linguini (the main human character) - by tugging on his hair causing him to spazz out, thus enabling Remi to control Linguini like a puppet. But, it was a better decision than having the humans understand what the rats are saying.

[Kiyosuki]

What I think was best about Ratatouille is it took its own message pretty seriously. It was silly about many other things but not what it was trying to say. It didn't beat around the bush, it gave you something beautiful looking, fun and at times pretty funny but no matter what it still presented itself as a film that wanted to say something.

Thats something you don't see in a lot of 3D feature length animation at the moment.

[General Jack D. Ripper]

Yeah, definitely a great movie. I'd reccomend it to anyone who likes other Pixar or Brad Bird films. There's a thread somewhere with plenty of praise for it going into a lot more detail than these posts.

EDIT: threads were merged so now this post makes no sense.

[conor.]

I went in not expecting anything at all, and was thoroughly entertained through out the whole movie, I enjoyed nemo and the incredibles more, but Ratatouille was still very good and had some excellent voice work and over the top animation

[brody]

patton oswalt and will arnett in the same movie makes me want to see it

[Head Bee-Guy]

This only came out in the UK a couple of weeks ago- 3 month delays between US and UK are unusual these days, maybe they wanted to avoid it clashing with Shrek 3?- and so I only saw it last night, despite me having started this thread ages ago.

I really thought it was excellent, quite different from the stories and morals of some of the other Pixar films. The action wasn't over the top for the sake of it and the ainmation was superb. I think it was good to play down the potentially funny supporting characters like the rest of the rat family. Given it was a relatively serious story, having someone keeping on popping up making wisecracks would have taken away from the fim itself.

I rarely go to the cinema but I made a point of seeing this and it's my faith in Pixar has held strong! It's only a shame we won't have the DVD before Christmas over here.

Did anyone/everyone else get a Pixar short and a trailer for the next Pixar film, before the cinema showing? We had neither where I saw it but I know they're both a bit of a tradition for them. Was that to be expected?

[Henrik P]

The movie was incredibly good, way better than I expected. One of Pixars best movies for sure.