Ratatouille

Pixar has outdone itself with this film with attention to detail, animation quality and a truly entertaining story.

While I was geeking out on the incredible animation and the subtle nuances intended for the adult audience, my 4-year-old daughter was watching the movie from a different viewpoint and was equally enjoying it.

Definitely not one of those kid movies that adults feel forced to sit through for their kids. I'd go see this one again by myself.

I actually went into this movie expecting something sub-par. I was delighted to find that it was an incredibly well done animated movie with great characters, and an imaginative storyline. This is definitely a good movie to see with your kids, or do what I did and bring a date.

I've always been crazy for Pixar movies, but this is their best work yet. It's a movie for adults that children can also enjoy.

Brad Bird has an impeccable track record for writing and directing amazing animated movies ("The Incredibles", "The Iron Giant") and he doesn't disappoint. Indeed, "Ratatouille" is the best movie about food I have ever seen.

The animation is outrageously good -- so good that it sets a new and almost impossibly high bar. I was astounded again and again at the perfection of color, texture and depth; the handling of light; the sheer cinematic brilliance. I could watch "Ratatouille" five hundred times on the strength of its imagery alone.

The story is brilliant and the voice actors superb, especially Patton Oswalt as Remy and Ian Holm as the evil chef Skinner (as French a name as I have ever heard, n'est-ce pas?) and the superb Peter O'Toole as food critic Anton Ego.

I loved the fact that Ian Holm plays heavies in food movies. He was the vile Pascal in "Big Night", my other favorite food movie.

"Ratatouille" will undoubtedly win "Best Animated Picture" next year. If there were any justice at all, it would win "Best Picture" as well.

A friend and I went to see Ratatouille over the weekend. Little did we know that we would both walk away singing the praises of not only the visual quality but the storyline and content of the film as well.

This was indeed the best movie I have seen this year (and I see a lot of movies)! In San Francisco it is not typical (not in my experience) for the audience to erupt in a thunderous applause at the end of a movie as school children do in their libraries before recess. However, the audience of this film reacted as such and kept the applause rolling as the credits continued. In fact, the person attending the film with me was spotted crying near the end of the film when the critic recites his review (the most amazing review I have ever heard!).

The funniest line in the film... well.. you will have to see it, but it involves the phrase.. "as soon as they found out there were rats in the restaurant..."

An amazing film which I intend to add to my personal collection when it is released on DVD. This is a must see.

Out of all the Pixar pictures, I like Finding Nemo the best. What I love about their style is how they really pull emotion and humanity from the most unexpected characters. Rather than being limited by their genre of computer animation, they're freed by it - turning even a slinky into someone special.

In Ratatouille, they've got a lot to work with. Rats are furry and can be made to look cute, and the French cuisine backgrounds are ripe for gorgeous visuals. They nail the look: copper pots, fur both wet and dry, cobblestones and sewer grates... I'm amazed at the visual elegance of the whole movie. At some point, we're going to have to seriously consider giving cinematography awards to things filmed inside a computer - the work required to get a certain look is an equally high form of art to capturing a version of real life.

But the movie, you ask? Sublime. There's one awkward transition, one
ho hum" moment and the other 90 minutes or so are sheer bliss. You laugh, you cry, you worry, you celebrate. It's magical. It's special. It's one of the best movies I've seen yet this year.

Highly, highly recommended.