When TallGuy and I were first getting to know each other via e-mails, the “favorite movies” question came up early on. He’s more of a movie maven than I am, and his favorite movies tend to depend on his mood, but at the time he had The Incredibles pretty high on his list, and we both agreed – and still agree – that Pixar totally rules. If you ask us, Cars was robbed of the Best Animated Feature Academy Award last year (although Happy Feet wasn’t bad by any means), and the studio has yet to produce a dud. After seeing Ratatouille yesterday, we think the streak is still going strong.
Ratatouille is the story of Remy, a French rat who’s not satisfied with eating garbage – he’s got a nose for good food, and is inspired by the famous chef and restauranteur Gasteau’s belief that “anyone can cook” to learn how to do it himself. When his colony is displaced from their home in the country and Remy is accidentally separated from them, he ends up in Paris at Gasteau’s restaurant, which is struggling since its founder’s death. Remy’s arrival coincides with that of Alfredo Linguini, the son of an old “friend” of Gasteau’s who is given a job in the restaurant kitchen as a “garbage boy.” A misstep of Linguini’s almost ruins the soup, but Remy intervenes – unseen by everyone except Linguini – to create an improved recipe. The young man and the rat secretly join forces in the kitchen. What follows is very engaging, hilariously funny, dramatic and gorgeous to watch – the animation is outstanding. Most of the characters’ voices aren’t immediately recognizable (unlike in Cars, where the personas of actors like Paul Newman and Owen Wilson informed the “personalities” of the car stars), but I don’t think it works against the movie, and the music stays in the background. There’s a real devotion to good food and cooking behind this movie, though – similar to the way Cars was obviously created by “car nerds” (one reason TallGuy loves it – that’s his peeps!) – and I left the theater hungry and inspired to do something fun and tasty in the kitchen (haven’t acted on that second one yet, though – we had a long drive back home yesterday after bringing the kids to Mom-in-law’s for the week).
The Pixar short screened before Ratatouille, Lifted, is the tale of an alien abduction gone very wrong and had me convulsed with laughter.
