Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Last week, at the Ratatouille premiere here in Austin, Patton Oswalt looked out over the crowd and remarked how odd it was to be in a room full of both children and Jaded Internet Hipsters. Later in the evening I leaned over to Patton, shot him a sarcastic look and said "Jaded Internet Hipsers, huh?" "Dude, take the hit," he smirked. "Because I haven't written my review yet…" "Dude, take the hit." Of course I can take the hit. I mean Internet, definitely. Hipster, maybe. But jaded? That's the joke. I'm not jaded. Am I?
Yeah. Says the man who is about to write the following statement. I am just not in love with Pixar like everybody else is. My most vivid memory of this fact was walking out of Finding Nemo remarking, "Hey, that was pretty cute," only to stare into Robogeek and Harry's blank, slack jawed expressions asking "Are you out of your fucking mind? That was incredible!" No. It was cute. It was about two fish looking for another fish. It was sweet. But I probably wouldn't sit down on my own to watch it again. No. It was incredible.
And I've faced this phenomenon several times. Friends from all over the spectrum respond the same way. They just LOVE Pixar. And I just don't. I like them. And that goes for every last one of their films EXCEPT The Incredibles, which I own in several different formats and will watch over and over again until my eyes fall out of my skull. Oh, and that one about the Rat.
That's right. This very one about the rat. Because I fucking love the hell out of Ratatouille. But that by no means was a forgone conclusion. I mean, I had an awful lot of concerns about this one. While everyone else was excited for years, I was cautious. I love Brad Bird. His previous two films are epic works of animated genius. BUT, they were also geek movies, tailor made to all of my deepest, geekiest dork fantasies. And this was about a rat in Paris.
Then there's the fact that it stars Patton Oswalt. This had me really concerned. I mean, I love Patton. I've listened to his CD's, comedy specials and bootlegs so often that I know most of the bits by heart. Sometimes when I sit down to paint a Goblin War Troll, I want to listen to someone muse over what it might be like to work at Piss Drinkers magazine or what Star Wars would sound like if Nick Nolte had played Han Solo. God damnit Chewbacca, it makes me happy. And while I am very accustomed to the sound of that voice, I also was fully aware that Pixar was not going to let Patton be Patton. He was going to be a cute, adorable character. And I was worried that he would just sound wrong or somehow out of place.
But all that worrying was for naught. Because Ratatouille is exactly the type of sweet, entertaining film that got me right in the gut. Once again. Where Bird has managed to bring tears to my eyes every god damned time that Vin Diesel belts out that final SOOOOPERMAAAAN and gives me a 10 megawatt smile every time the Incredible family dons their masks to take out the Underminer, Ratatouille gave me a case of the fuzzy warm tinglies, delivering another perfect Brad Bird ending that spoke to me in ways other films don't.
Technically speaking there's not much to say. It's a Pixar film – and love them or hate them, you have to admit their animation and character design is light years ahead of pretty much everyone else. They have a way of bringing anthropomorphized characters to life unlike anyone else. And here, they give rats personalities and allow them to emote in a way that surpasses even those of NIMH. And the way they smoothly shift back and forth between talking Remy (Oswalt) and his pure nonverbal interaction with his human counterpart really gives a great impression of two distinct worlds.
But while the visuals are fantastic, the voicework is a dream. One of my biggest issues with animated films is that having spent the better part of a decade as a video store clerk, I used to spend 8 hours a day listening to movies, so I pick out an actors voice usually a few words in. And a lot of times, the actors voice just doesn't feel right in the role. I see the actor and not the character. But here, I wasn't recognizing anyone. Every actor was immersing themselves in their character and creating something new and different – rather than the bored line reading of many animated films (see Justin Timberlake in Shrek the Third.) Hell, had Janeane Garofalo not walked onstage and recited a few of her lines in the proper accent, I might never have believed it was her. The same goes for the rest of the cast. Each character is perfectly realized and wonderfully unique.
But what really grabbed me and played with my heartstrings in particular was the subplot with the films secondary antagonist, Anton Ego, the malicious but brilliant food critic voiced magnificently by Peter O'Toole. What Brad Bird does with this character and his arc is absolute perfection. He says and accomplishes almost effortlessly everything M. Night Shyamalan fumbled painfully with in last year's Lady in the Water, but manages to find something relevant to say and never stoops to being insulting or needlessly cathartic. Perhaps it is that I not only agree with, but live by his ultimate thesis with this character, but it hit me where I live. What can I say?
The film is a riot. It's funny in all the ways the very best written of the Pixar films are and is equally delightful. While the idea isn't quite as "out there" as many of their other films, it feels a hell of a lot more original that most of their other efforts. And I simply loved it from beginning to end. I hold this right up there with The Incredibles, although I've got to say I still hold The Incredibles as Pixar's very best. Ratatouille comes Highly Recommend for anyone who loves family, animated or just plain Pixar films and will probably be one of the most agreed upon films in this very divisive summer.
Until next time friends, smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Massawyrm
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