Ratatouille

Saw Ratatouille over the weekend. Was very disappointed - not at all what I was expecting. Too long (1 hour 51 minutes), it kind of bumped along with no real purpose, yet you knew what the climax would be five minutes into the movie. Too many subplots, random tangents and unnecessary chases.

It wasn't my style of humour either - I enjoy witty one liners and sarcasm, not the physical comedy that was, quite frankly, way overdone - and the 'figment of the imagination chef' really got on my nerves by the end. Especially when Rémy kept reaffirming the fact that "You don't actually exist! You are a figment of my imagination!" Yes, we're aware of that fact, we realized it the first time he appeared. Now, either stop talking to him, or just deal with the fact that you have an imaginary friend and move on. Another thing was that it was set in Paris, France, and the main characters (Rémy and Linguini) inexplicably spoke English with American accents.

The good - well, okay, amazing - point about it, however, was that the animation was very detailed and superbly done, as is everything done by Pixar. It is this films greatest - and some would argue only - strength. You could see every tiny strand of hair on the rats, every iota of curl on Alfredo Linguini's red hair (yes, the main characters name was the same as a type of pasta, how original). You could tell they did an amazing amount of research of how a commercial kitchen works, as every little aspect of it was presented in loving, rich detail. Very realistic, one of the best efforts from Disney/Pixar to date, in my opinion.

And the funniest - yet slightly disturbing at the same time - scene was when the roof fell down in the beginning and exposed the entire colony of rats (and trust me, there were a lot of rats). I love and adore rats and have been the proud owner of one - and that still would have given me a slight heart attack, or sent me screaming out the door, as fast as my short little legs could carry me. At the very least, it would have put me off rats for life.

Overall, I give this three cheese wedges out of five, mostly because of the incredible detail of the animation in every aspect. The plot, dialogue and the actual 'comedy' could have used some work, but overall, it is a sweet little film if you go to animation films to actually enjoy, you know, the animation.

Release Dates:
Chille, Russia - June 28th, 2007

Canada, United States, Mexico - June 29th, 2007

Australia- August 30th, 2007

New Zealand - September 6th, 2007
United Kingdom - October 5th, 2007