My wife and I attended a “sneak peek” of the new Pixar animated film “Ratatouille” this weekend.
A direct cut to the chase: it’s one of the two best movies I’ve seen this year. My other nomination for “best,” to date, is 300.
My list of “good” movies this year include: Breach, Zodiac, and The Last King of Scotland.
List of considerably monumental turds:
Spider Man III;
Pirates III;
Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
The above three movies were overblown, over-long, poorly scripted (if at all) and, in the case of Pirates, barely comprehensible. Quite frankly, there was little character development, slapdash plotting and the heaviest possible reliance on CGI. Not to mention that all three were plainly stupid.
I’ll put it this way: in the packed theatre for the showing of Ratatouille I attended, the place was rife with kids, adults with infants and teens. There was no talking, no yelling and, at the end, the audience spontaneously broke out in applause. They had been, in fact, caught up in the movie.
Why? Because the movie had a plot and the viewer cared about the characters.
At a time when plot and character development are minimal at best, and computer imaging overshadows all (to the point where audiences are simply jaded anymore), Ratatouille was a burst of cool, fresh air in an oppressive, lackluster, oven-toasted summer movie season.
I won’t spoil the plot (which it definitely has), but I will tell you the animation is absolutely incredible. Ratatouille is appropriate for both kids and adults. Just go see it. It’s great fun.
BZ
That’s why “Finding Nemo” is one of my favourite movies…it has a plot; which Hollywood seems to feel is unnecessary for many movies.
Thank you, BZ, for the review. I look forward to a good film.
Nice to know that a good time was had by your family.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
Thanks for the review, BZ. I will wait for it to come out on NetFlix.
My daughter loved Pirates III. What can I say? She’s only 19! I think there is hope for her though. 🙂
Funny, I had saw the preview for it and thought I might catch Ratatouille at some point, I’ll add it to my list now for sure.
Deborah: “Finding Nemo” was another GREAT animated adventure. It was beautiful to look at, ingenious, very clever, and carried a host of engaging characters (that you CARED about!) through an actual plot.
Gayle: are you customarily not a movie-goer? I bet I know why. . .
Jenn: I think you can actually trust me on this one; if you see it, please let me know what you thought about it!
BZ
I rarely see movies these days; and even rarer, still, to see it twice. 300, I slapped down the bucks to see twice. I liked it that much. Just last week, I watched “The Warriors”, which I had forgotten that it too, touches upon the Spartan 300 at Thermopylae, and also incorporates comic book graphics.
That’s nice to hear, BZ; I was *only* going to see this movie because it was a Brad Bird film — I had no real attraction to the subject matter or theme, but:
Bird created “The Iron Giant” and followed up with “The Incredibles,” two of the best — if not the best — family films of recent vintage. I would be very pleased if he pulled off three-in-a-row.