Ratatouille
When the animation and music in the first 10 minutes alone make one automatically award a film 3 1/2 stars, you just sit back and hope that the remainder of the film warrents such consideration. Of course, when the animation house is Pixar, and the writer-director is Brad Bird, one shouldn’t worry too much. From his early days as a director/consultant on “The Simpsons” to his acclaimed short film for Steven Spielberg’s “Amazing Stories” (“Family Dog”) to his critical, and geek, favorite features “The Iron Giant” and the Oscar-winning “The Incredibles,” Bird’s storytelling gifts have been annoyingly evident, so perhaps it was wrong to be suspicious that maybe he was a bit off his mark in choosing to follow an Oscar-winner with the story of a rat who dreams of being a French chef.
Dreamworks did more to tarnish their Oscar with the crass “Shrek” sequels than Bird does in staking his rep on a rat who can cook. While not on the level of genius of Pixar’s “Toy Story” classics, “Finding Nemo,” and his own “Incredibles,” Bird is content to craft a delectable comedy where its’ themes of friendship, family loyalty, and following your dream may not be deep, but they are entertaining, putting it in the company of “A Bug’s Life,” “Monsters Inc.,” and “Cars”- for my money, pretty good company to be with (not a word about “Cars,” Ron), even if it is the Pixar “B” team, as it were. Look, even the greatest chefs are content cooking a simple omlete every once in a while.
But Bird isn’t coasting; working from an original story he concocted with Jim Capobianco and Jan Pinkava, Bird makes it come alive onscreen with some truly invigorating animation. Going into the month of June, none of the animated films I’d seen this year merited even a mention for the Best Animated Feature Oscar; now I’ve seen three movies that deserve full consideration for the category (even if only this one will likely measure up financially to the overly blah “Shrek the Third”) in about a week- it’s amazing how a month will change things in moviewatching.
Bird and the folks at Pixar continue to push the envelope visually, even on Pixar’s eighth film (seriously, has it really been eight already?). The visual splendor in the backgrounds that’s been pushed further with each film since “Monsters Inc.” (actually, since the beginning, but “Inc.” was the first one where the background animation really seemed to pop) now presents a rich vision of Paris that follows with Pixar’s assertion that “they sand the underboards of the drawers.” The near photo-realism of the landscapes in “Cars”- less stylized than in previous films- is enhanced here by character animation that’s eerily life-like in its’ four-legged stars (those rats, including our engaging star Remy (wonderfully voiced by comedian Patty Oswalt), look a little too real), and human characters with remarkable fluidity in their characatured appearance, movements, and expressions (Pixar’s work makes the humans in their early triumphs appear rigid and stiff, though the films still work now). There are individual shots that are simply awe-inspiring to watch unfold, even by Pixar standards. Of course, one listen to Bird on some select “Simpsons” commentaries (as well as “The Incredibles”) and Pixar’s DVD yack tracks, and you’ll know that these guys aren’t your typical idea of what animators might be like. They’re every bit as geeky, to be sure, but they’re always up for an artistic challenge. In “Ratatouille,” they set themselves several- not the least of which being the challenge of making a rat in the kitchen (in fact, many rats in the kitchen sometimes) an appealing idea…
…and that’s where the writing kicks in. To be fair, this isn’t an emotionally complex story, nor is it a terribly exciting one to have to explain. The themes of the story I laid out earlier, and in all honesty, I’d rather not have to explain the story points, except that Remy finds a human ally in busboy Linguini (voiced with stammering silliness by Lou Romano) at Gusteau’s, the one-time toast of France that’s become a forgotten relic since current chef Skinner (voiced with glee by Ian Holm) commercialized the name with microwavable products and a tarnished reputation after a vicious review by esteemed critic Anton Ego (voiced with typical esteem, with a mad glint of mischief, by Sir Peter O’Toole). Remy and Linguini restore the restraunt’s rep with their teamwork, while Skinner and Ego lay in wait to burst the bubble. And Janeane Garafalo is around with some sass as Collete, the lone female in the kitchen. I think you all know where THAT’S headed…
…but I’ll let the film fill in the blanks. Even if it isn’t too easy to see at first glance, Bird and co. (including Michael Giacchino, whose lovely and lyrical score should earn him the Oscar nod denied his exciting work in “The Incredibles”) have more on their mind than just the bottom line. That alone moves it to the head of the class in family entertainment. Once word gets out about what this animation dream team is cooking up, though, they should find themselves the toast of the multiplex.
