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cathyr19355 ([personal profile] cathyr19355) wrote2007-07-22 10:24 pm

Rat Charmant

Last night I went with [livejournal.com profile] esrblog and [livejournal.com profile] _shakati to see Pixar's latest effort, "Ratatouille."

It was the best Pixar effort I've seen since "The Incredibles." The script was great--heartwarming and wholesome without gooey moralism or pretension. The animation was beautiful. It had softly beautiful landscapes that were almost photographic in their realism without having the sharp edges of actual photographs. Most of the major characters were, well, rats, and they moved like real rats (which made some of the scenes where the hero's entire clan is shown from above look kind of creepy).

If the movie had a fault, it was the few bits of unnecessary ethnic humor ("Sorry if we're rude, but we're French!") and the odd manner in which our hero, Remy the culinarily talented rat, directs the behavior of Linguini, the red-haired boy who pretends to be the real chief, while Linguini is in the kitchen (he pulls locks of Linguini's hair, and thus makes his limbs move like the limbs of a puppet).

By the way, according to Wikipedia, ratatouille is a kind of vegetable stew from the Provençal area of France. Fortunately for your carnivorous friend here, the movie is much meatier than that. I recommend it for anyone wanting to have an uncomplicated good time.

[identity profile] flaviarassen.livejournal.com 2007-07-23 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I agree with you about both the animation & the stupid Game Master kluge (klooge?) of how the rat directs the chef.

My favorite moment was the movie-in-a-minute-within-a-movie when the critic takes the bite of ratatouille.

I was in a bad mood when we went to see it, so I must have missed the ethnic slurs.

[identity profile] cathyr19355.livejournal.com 2007-07-24 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
Oooh, I love it when people agree with me! Thanks! Keep it up! :-)

I won't make you re-read The New Hacker's Dictionary to check the spelling; it's "kluge"; you had it right the first time.

My favorite moment was the movie-in-a-minute-within-a-movie when the critic takes the bite of ratatouille.

That was a great moment! Very people-wise.

As for "ethnic slurs" it was really more like stereotypes; I quoted one in my post, "Sorry for being rude, but we're French!"

There was another amusing, if stereotyped, bit where Remy is climbing a building, and giving the viewer a good look inside the windows in the meanwhile. One of them shows a couple arguing. The woman's holding a gun, and the man grabs her wrist as she shoots, deflecting the shot away from him. A second later, she drops the gun and they kiss, passionately.