JohnD
Well-Known Member
First week would be nice. That's when I'm going. Or more accurately when I have plans to go.
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EPCOT Remy's Ratatouille Adventure coming to Epcot
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
As someone who both loves the design of the movie and has spent time living in Paris . . . it is caricatured. It is very Well Caricatured - it isn't egregious, it has a strong basis in the truth - but it's not a photorealistic representation of Paris. That's not a criticism - it's an animation, it would look weird to have cartoony Rats scampering over perfectly realistic rooftops. It was clearly their intention to soften things a little.
Soul does the same - there's been a lot of talk of the accuracy of its representation of New York City, but anyone who lives there will tell you it's still a caricatured version of it. It just selects the right things to caricature. Pixar is very good about this.
Ratatouille does this too, and it's reflected even in the arcitecture of the new facades in EPCOT - everything's a little more squat, the walls run at funny upward angles, the pipes and chimneys are eccentric. The existing France Pavilion facades are generally very slender with a lot of verticality and upright angles, and the pipes all run in rational ways. Even the Cornerstones are perfectly
"stacked" - in Ratatouille they're all stacked irregularly.
Compare:
I've got screenshots from the film that I can share as well, but I figured for the topic at hand the actual constructions in EPCOT were the most pertinent.
Again, none of this is a knock against Ratatouille or its interpretation of Paris - but it's fair to say it doesn't follow all the same rules as the 82 original France Pavilion. They're both different interpretations of the same source.
wdw71fan
Well-Known Member
Sad truth really.. It's not, and never will be, what it once was... It's not visionary anymore, it's turning into Magic Kingdom B
Yep. I’ll go for some traditional food. Meet a few friends. China, France, Canada, AmAd, Land. Then go to Uni.
Bocabear
Well-Known Member
It's light caricature and a romanticized vision of what Paris is... It is not a mythical place, the buildings and style evoke the feeling of Paris....which is all it was trying to do...and in the end it is very successful. I think it feels more French than say the Italy pavilion feels Italian...
As far as IP and cartoons in EPCOT, this seems like the most appropriate way to do it... Content makes sense... it fits.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
Ah, missed this . . .
Here are some screenshots from the movie. Compare the details and eccentricities with what they've now built in EPCOT . . . it's reflective of the film. They were working from its style. Some architectural elements were even directly lifted - check out the Chimneys on top of Guesteaus vs. those over the main entrance of the ride. Imagineering didn't make it up:
Like I said, it's a GOOD caricature, and scans as regular at a quick glance, but it's demonstrably a different take than the rest of the Pavilion, which was my point from the beginning. Pixar included irregularities everywhere that you wouldn't find in the original parts of the Pavilion.
To the film's credit, it does also put its Eiffel Tower on top of other buildings
That's obviously Pixar taking a liberty to get more of the iconic structure in view, but it does sort of accidentally look like the full Tower is situated on top of other buildings. But then, even EPCOT Center made the point to not build the lowest third of the Tower, knowing that from a similar relative vantage point it would be blocked by nearer buildings, which maybe makes for a good microcosm of the difference between EPCOT's France and Remy's France:
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
I mean, it's a version of Paris where Rats can cook (and, indeed, be in contention for the finest in France #SpoilerAlert). Not mythical, but not wholly real, and you can tell by looking at it.
My point is that the romanticization of Paris in Ratatouille and the one already on display at EPCOT are not totally congruent, and that bears out in the different architectural stylings that are now both onsite in World Showcase.
Wrapping around the corner of the Pavilion seems to give sufficient space to transition visually from one to the other, but that there need be a transition speaks to what I'm saying.
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aladdin2007
Well-Known Member
speaking of, and I know this isn't the thread for it but is the new China film still going to happen or have they decided to ax that?
So far as I knew it was in production. Given a tie in with the live action Mulan that didn’t go as planned I don’t know.
DreamfinderGuy
Well-Known Member
Did it ever make it to post? They showed a clip in the experience film so they at least got some filming done.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The attraction, at least in France, also goes the extra, contradictory, step of including rat motifs in the architectural ornamentation of the land.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I didn’t love that. I get the impulse at Disneyland Paris to build a version of Paris that can’t simply be found in . . . well, Paris, but it doesn’t really agree with the story.
But then, the ride isn’t really free from that either. There are big gaps of logic and seams in the guest experience. I liked what they wanted to do but I didn’t feel like they fully committed to it, just made what they did build very shiny.
I found the whole Ratatouille development in WDS to be a little overwrought and under-thought.
Which, ironically, makes it a perfect fit for this iteration of EPCOT.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
I knew about the fountain, which you could explain away as a new installation for Remy's restaurant, and was thinking more of stuff like the manholes. There are some others touted as "details".
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
The Crush Coaster is overrated. The dark ride parts are nice and all but the gravity building part is awful.
EricsBiscuit
Well-Known Member
You can see the metal panels of the showbuilding and the track haha
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
Ah - I didn't know about those until looking it up just now. Yeah, it's another nod to the story that doesn't actually make any in-world sense.
I suppose we'll see if they turn up in EPCOT.
That they go to this sort of trouble but don't give a literal second to making sense of how we enter into the building and suddenly end up on the roof without going up a single step and offer no meaningful transition from us being normal size to us being rat-sized is sort of evidence that the term "Disney Details" is getting confused even internally.
I'd forgive a "regular" (in-theme) manhole cover (and fountain) if the conceptual foundings of the project got more attention.
This problem exists beyond just Ratatouille.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
It's actually a storyline from the comic book. Remy crowns himself Napoleon V and the newly titled Baron Emile sets about remaking Paris. It gets a little dark.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
I enjoyed myself, but the gravity building definitely doesn't feel like a Disney-level attraction. Fun though the spinning was.
You're in a warehouse and you can absolutely tell.
This is part of what I meant in my above post about some projects needing more conceptual attention - if you have an idea for a ride that takes place in the ocean, but the ride system of choice offers you no meaningful opportunity to create the impression that you're under the ocean . . . maybe you need a new idea.