Ratatoille

[DisneyDefenders]

I had an opportunity to screen RATATOUILLE today. In my opinion, this has to be the worst Pixar movie released by Disney. That is not to say it is a bad movie. Pixar set such a high bar, that I'll admit it's tough to match or surpass the greatness of movies like TOY STORY, A BUG'S LIFE, MONSTER'S INC, THE INCREDIBLES, AND FINDING NEMO, but this one falls even shorter than I thought CARS did.

A couple of reasons for this include that it lacked real great humor. The comedy in this seemed rather forced...not as badly as in MEET THE ROBINSONS, but quite rough at some points. Also, all of the other Pixar films have had creative plot lines, and as highly imaginative as they were, the plots seemed plausible. Unfortunately, a rat controlling a chef by pulling his hair, doesn't seem very plausible to me.

I will say that the animation was superb, the message was heartwarming, and Remy (even though his name is barely mentioned) is quite a loveable character. The first half of the movie doesn't do much to wet your appetite and leaves a mess in the kitchen, but the second half seems to have all of the right ingredients to have you leave the theatre satisfied.

 

[disneypearl]

That is too bad that you don't think it was as good quality as a typical Disney Pixar movie. I am really looking forward to seeing this movie. I really liked Cars and Meet the Robinsons so maybe I will like this movie too. The hair pulling is a bit of a stretch but maybe they can pull it off. Good news that you thought it was great animation, heartwarming message, and Remy is lovable. How did you get to see it early?

 

[haveyoumetmark]

That's good. I'm still excited to see this movie as I thought Cars and Monsters Inc. were lackluster films. I don't have extremely high hopes for this one, but the characters seem pretty loveable.
EDIT: I enjoyed Monsters Inc. and Cars very much, but IMO they weren't as great as some of the other Pixar films. My personal favorite is Toy Story.

 

[mousermerf]

It needs to do well so we can get a Remy ride in the France pavilion.

 

[haveyoumetmark]

It needs to do well so we can get a Remy ride in the France pavilion.

:ROFLOL:

Don't give them any ideas. :lookaroun

 

[Piebald]

Everyone I know wants to see this movie....Disney fans and non-Disney fans who just like funny, cartoon flicks..... I think it will do fairly well as far as attracting people to go in the first place. They are doing a good job marketing the movie (even going as far as having advertising on Myspace!).

I hope the movie is good though... I've seen a lot of merchandise already (hell, I saw toys at Publix, a local supermarket).

I loved Meet the Robinsons and I enjoyed Cars a lot (I know some people didn't like the latter but who knows).

 

[dxwwf3]

I'm very excited to see this film when I get back home from Disneyland. From what I've seen so far, I think this will be up there with my favorites from Pixar (Cars and the Toy Story films).

 

[sarahwiggles99]

I'm quite excited about it myself also. I hope its still a good movie even if it does lack humor. I liked the characters from the first time I saw the preview so that might make up for it. And when you say that Remy pulling Linguini's (the dish boy) hair is a far stretch from reality? Now just think about that for a minute. Talking childs toys, one eyed monsters controlling the city by screams, talking cars and fish? A little tug of the hair doesn't seem that far from reality IMHO.

 

[dizpins14]

Talking childs toys, one eyed monsters controlling the city by screams, talking cars and fish? A little tug of the hair doesn't seem that far from reality IMHO.

I see what you are saying however, all of those character's movements and behaviors were restricted by what they were. The toys who were not jointed in real life, did not all of a sudden start flailing their arms, i.e. the Troll doll. Dory and Marline when they were on the pier could only flap around, they were fish and could not breath out of water.

Pixar makes movies that have a fantasy element but at the same time you wonder if it could really happen. The only time they have really dropped the ball with that was with A Bug's Life, having blue and purple ants, who have two arms and two legs instead of six. I think there is something to be said about Remy pulling hair and turning the guy into a puppet though. It does break the reality of the story.

 

[k.hunter30]

I'm quite excited about it myself also. I hope its still a good movie even if it does lack humor. I liked the characters from the first time I saw the preview so that might make up for it. And when you say that Remy pulling Linguini's (the dish boy) hair is a far stretch from reality? Now just think about that for a minute. Talking childs toys, one eyed monsters controlling the city by screams, talking cars and fish? A little tug of the hair doesn't seem that far from reality IMHO.

Exactly what I was thinking. :shrug:

 

[sarahwiggles99]

I see what you are saying however, all of those character's movements and behaviors were restricted by what they were. The toys who were not jointed in real life, did not all of a sudden start flailing their arms, i.e. the Troll doll. Dory and Marline when they were on the pier could only flap around, they were fish and could not breath out of water.

Pixar makes movies that have a fantasy element but at the same time you wonder if it could really happen. The only time they have really dropped the ball with that was with A Bug's Life, having blue and purple ants, who have two arms and two legs instead of six. I think there is something to be said about Remy pulling hair and turning the guy into a puppet though. It does break the reality of the story.

good point :wave:

 

[sarahwiggles99]

Exactly what I was thinking. :shrug:

yay i'm not alone in my thoughts

 

[SWatsi]

Pixar are a bunch of creative people. Why would they want ot be constricted by the same rules for every movie they make. Same with the genre, why would they want to do the same genre everytime.
Disney has certainly done this over the years, changing the rules that govern the way the movie plays, or the genre or the art-form where it fits.
Fox and the Hound, versus, Aristocats, versus, Robin Hood, versus, Peter Pan.
All are different in the way you have outlined.

Its fine if you dont like the plot point, I just wanted to follow up in the argument

 

[Disnut]

At first I didn't want to see this movie but now I want to. I hope it is good.

 

[majortom1981]

hmm

I liked what I saw in the 9 min clip.

Anyway I am seeing the movie at 7:15. Here on Long Island 2 movie theaters are showing it tonight at 7:15. Me and my gf have tickets.

I think of it this way. Even if Ratatouille is a bad pixar movie its still better then tons of other movies that come out.

 

[haveyoumetmark]

I'm going tonight at 7:00 with a friend. I'll let everyone know how I thought it was when I get back. I'm surprised Disney's doing all of these sneak previews, they must subtract from the weekend gross somehow.

 

[tmp]

I thought it was just okay. I actually think I might have enjoyed Meet the Robinsons more. The last three Pixar films I haven't been to thrilled with. It was just to slow moving. Even though I did enjoy the characters more with this then with Cars and The Incredibles.

 

[unkadug]

I think they are more impressed with themselves technologically speaking than they are concerned with story quality.

Have you seen the clip where they are tooting their horn about getting the water to look JUST right? HOURS and HOURS

Did they spend that much time on the story? :shrug:

 

[haveyoumetmark]

I just got back. I loved it. Thought it was better than Cars and Monsters Inc., which I thought were the worst movies from Pixar. There was a trailer for Wall E and another for Enchanted, which is the 2-D animation flick from Disney and then the characters change into real life people -- it looks funny.

About Ratatouille, I completely disagree with the OP. There was an animated short, like with all Pixar movies, before the film. They called it Lifted and I thought it was hysterical. Ratatouille was a hit with the crowd in the theater, everyone was clapping and you could hear people saying how they thought it was "great" and "really funny." I thought it was a nice movie. The characters were cute and loveable, and the story wasn't so bad at all. There wasn't really that much substance to the storyline, they just told the story and it was really easy to understand -- nothing like the pirates trilogy. :lol: The animation was superb, and the movie was very comedic. I didn't think the comedy felt forced at all, it just came. I enjoyed it, I'm not sure if I would see it twice, but it's easily one of my favorites from Pixar.

EDIT: The crowd was exploding with laughter constantly, I had a few hysterical moments myself. About the plot not being plausible, IMO it was. They way they showcased it worked well with the movie. The rat moved and acted like a rat. How he was pulling the guys hair, I'm not sure how, but I thought they made it look kind of natural. I thought it worked well. This was definitely a fun and imaginative storyline from pixar, and they made it work really well. All in all, it wasn't the absolute best from Pixar, but it's an instant classic and one of my favorites.

 

[Not For Sale]

I loved the film, absolutely loved it. I had very high expectations for it and it exceeded them to such an extent that I cannot find one bad thing about the movie. I usually hate when people do this, but I clapped at the end of it. It was that good. Don't go into the theater hungry, and I know it sounds corny, but sincerely, the food was remarkably photorealistic.

Also, why do people say with every movie Pixar released that it's going to be their first failure?