Ratatouille: the best movie of 2007
Release Date: 29 June 2007 (USA)
Genres: Animation | Comedy | Family
Actors: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Julius Callahan, James Remar, John Ratzenberger, Teddy Newton, Tony Fucile, Jake Steinfeld, Brad Bird
Directors: Brad Bird
Country: USA
Download "Ratatouille": DivX ($2.99)
Ratatouille is the best movie I’ve seen this year. Granted, we’re talking about the year of the threequels, where the only films opening to good reviews were The Simpsons movie that was a decade too late, a fourth Die Hard film and a tolerable Michael Bay film based on a toy franchise cartoon. However, even in a year where expectations were higher, Ratatouille would be the top of the pack.
The plot is a simple one: a rat with a gift for cooking and a lowly wannabe cook team up to pass themselves off as a world-class chef. One has the skills but is reviled, the other has the presence but needs guidance. That’s right, it’s the Cyrano de Bergerac plot again…but it’s all in the execution, and that’s where Brad Bird fires on all cylinders again.
Brad Bird, of course, is three for three. The Iron Giant didn’t do well at the box office due to a mediocre promotional campaign, but it is still a cult (and personal) favorite. The Incredibles needs no superlatives for the Monitor Duty crowd; you all know it is hands-down one of the best superhero movies ever made and one that is eminently re-watchable.
However, Ratatouille outshines them both, with greater fine tuning of expression and a more down-to-Earth "human" drama. No giant robots or destroyed buildings; intense dramatic moments are wrung out of a food critic’s decision or a scheming head chef’s conniving to control a frozen food empire. Brad takes something as impossible to communicate via film as the taste of fine cuisine and he manages to make it work; there are even moments seemingly borrowed from Fantasia where Remy discusses food while scribbly visuals evoke the aroma he envisions. Bird’s gift for manic comedy that was first displayed in "Family Dog" really shines here, as the seven inch rat Remy struggles to stay alive in the flurry of activity in a busy kitchen.
Remy the Rat is also something of a new experiment. Although he talks to himself, his fellow rats and his imaginary friend in flawless English (with the voice of geek fave comic Patton Oswalt), he cannot actually talk to humans. His thoughts are communicated entirely by expression and gesture. What’s more, he isn’t an anthropomorphized cartoon character. He moves like a rat. He has the anxious eyes and rapid heartbeat of a rat. And yet he’s adorable.
Tags: best movie 2007, Brad Bird, Patton Oswalt
Posted in Animation, Comedy |
