Beth and I happened to walk by the City Cinemas Village East yesterday just in time for Ratatouille (well a few minutes late, but movies never start on time anyway) so we decided to stop in. That proved to be fortuitous. Ratatouille is a wonderful movie, absolutely perfect. It didn’t hit one false note. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced it’s the best movie Pixar has ever made, and that’s saying something. It’s certainly the most adult movie they’ve ever done, despite the talking rats. Don’t worry: Ratatouille is completely appropriate for children too, but adults will enjoy this film on a whole different level.
Without giving anything away, the plot was original. Every character was fully drawn out, and a real character, never a caricature. And speaking of drawing, the animation has achieved a new level of fluidity and grace. Technically I don’t think there’s anything Pixar couldn’t achieve at this point.
I suppose Ratatouille doesn’t slap you upside the head with its originality quite as much as Toy Story did. However, you can’t hold that against it. There can only be one genre-busting original, and Pixar more-or-less invented the 3D-animated feature with Toy Story. However, with Ratatouille they’ve finally perfected it.
The only quibble I have isn’t even about the movie itself, but the previews. In the reverse of the usual situation, the previews made the movie seem a lot less interesting than it actually was. That’s a big reason I hadn’t gone to see it already. The previews made it look like just another silly animal picture, but really this movie is so much more. There’s a heart to this picture that a two-minute preview just couldn’t bring out.
If you haven’t seen it yet, go see it. You won’t be disappointed.
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