Ratatouille

I missed this movie upon its original release, and after great reviews I was disappointed. Then, the wonderful State Theater decided to put it back in theaters. Awesome. So, I got a haircut down the street and walked over and caught a showing of it.

And I was very glad I did. Not only was this movie very funny, but it was also full of heart. You know, the type of movie that Pixar is great at. In fact, all of Pixar's movies that I have seen (the only one I haven't is Cars) they have all been very good. You know why? Because they don't greenlight movies for the money, but because they want to tell a story.

Thier newest film, which will probably win Best Animated Feature this year (only movie I can see beating it out is Beowulf, which I haven't seen yet but it looks awesome), is about a little rat named Remy (Patton Oswald) who lives in the country with his family and friends. He isn't completely happy though, because, you see, his nose is super developed and his great passion is food. Not rat food, but real legitamate food. So, when he ends up in France he goes to the retaurant where his favorite chef used to cook before, after the disappointment of losing two stars off his five stars because of a scathing review of critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole). It just so happens that on the same day, a new person has been hired that day. His name is Liguini (Lou Romano) and he is a terrible cook, but he wants to be good. When he and Remy meet, they form a partnership and restore the glory of the once great restaurant. As they are on their rise to fame though, many problems arise.

The voice acting in this is spot on. Everybody nails a perfect french accent. Especially Janeano Garofolo, who sounds nothing like herself... at all. I was constantly stuck by it. Patton Oswald gives a performance with more substance than just laughs for once, and I was very surprised. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the man's stand up and when he is in different TV shows, but I never thought he would be able to be that good. I cannot give him all the credit for the performance though, about half the time Remy is on screen he is saying nothing and the animators did an incredible job at bringing realistic emotions to the rat.

Speaking of the animation. It was the best I've ever seen. Simply watching these gorgously rendered visuals appear on screen was enough of a treat. There is incredible detail in every frame. It had a different feeling to it than anything else that had been done before. What I really must tell you is that there was some food that looked as if it was real. The amount of time they put into making sure that everything looked as real as it possibly could really paid off.

It could have only been done with the best animator on the scene right now: Brad Bird. This man seems to be able to make anything that is animated great. The Iron Giant: Great. The Incredibles: Great. Now Ratatouille. I really loved his style in this one especially. His camera movements were so elegant and very powerfully moving. No matter what if it was people chasing the rats or if it was an emotional scene, he captured every beat. The moments I especially loved was when he did the visual representations of the tastes. They were exciting, experimental and like a sence of discovery.

Ratatouille is really one of the best animated films I've ever seen and I can't wait to see Brad Bird's next film.

P.S. Sorry for the long delay on my reviews. I have about 2 more coming up: one for 3:10 to Yuma and one for Death at a Funeral.