Sunday, December 21, 2008

Ratatouille (2007)

Pixar continues to amaze me with the creative ideas they come up with. Not just a story about a rat, but a story about a rat who wants to be a gourmet chef. This movie paints the city of Paris and the world of gourmet food in dazzling colors that draw everyone in, even young children. The plot is a little formulaic halfway through its brilliant beginning, but remains solidly entertaining all the way through.

Pixar has learned the masterful art of telling stories without being entirely dependent on dialogue. In a lesser studio's movie, the wisecracking rat would be hissing insults at the rookie chef left and right, and the chef would be responding. Instead, the chef cannot understand his friend, and the two of them have to come up with a way of communicating. This communication lasts all throughout the movie -- carrying this bizarre relationship of one-sided dialogue all the way to the end. Wall-E conveyed a beautiful story with only five or six words spoken in the first forty minutes. That innovative tactic of showing, rather than telling and wisecracking about it (which most cartoons have come to rely on), can be seen in a slightly different way as Remy makes the perfect menu without once being able to voice his opinion to his human friend. 4 stars.

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