This little gem comes from the DLRP Today blog:
Now, I want a Remy character dining experience! But I don’t want him rotating around from table to table, like at Chef Mickey’s…I want him popping out randomly from under your food. A little extra magic on your plate, n’est-ce pas?
Mr Broke Hoedown brought this to my attention, on the NPR “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” web site:
Brad Bird, director of Ratatouille and The Incredibles plays a game called, “And I Love You … Dennis J. Kucinich” Three questions about the love affair between Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich, taken from a Washington Post article about their courtship and marriage.
You can download or listen to the show on that same page.
Mr Broke Hoedown argued that the headline should read, “Disney Cuts the Cheese for Ratatouille” . . . but I just couldn’t do it. Even yours truly has some limits.
From the Appleton Post-Crescent:
Cheese carver Troy Landwehr planned to finish this week his cheddar rendition of Remy, the French rat and chef-in-training of Disney and Pixar’s summer animated feature “Ratatouille.” The carving will be delivered and displayed as part of Disney’s “Ratatouille” DVD release party in Hollywood.
(Hat tip: Upcoming Pixar.)
The other amazing thing here? When I texted the link to Mr Broke Hoedown, he said, “Oh, Troy Landwehr? I’ve written about that guy before.” Further proof that Mr Broke Hoedown and I are made for each other.
Upcoming Pixar reports that four attractive lithographs are now available with Ratatouille pre-orders at the Disney Store.
Disneyland Paris now has a Ratatouille-themed buffet restaurant, described in a September 16 post at the DLRP Today blog:
The changes took place literally overnight, with all the previous cafeteria menus being covered with Ratatouille-themed advertisements for the new buffet and various views from inside the kitchen of Gusteau’s, the restaurant featured in the film.
For the launch of the new buffet, Cast Members were given costumes a little similar to those seen at the Disneyland California pre-parade and the Ratatouille Big Cheese Tour, both promotional events in the US. It’s unknown whether this new buffet is part of a deal with Buena Vista International, Disney’s film distrubution arm, similar to the Cars and Ratatouille billboards and posters covering Disney Studio 1.
Hmm, Mr. Broke Hoedown is a huge Ratatouille fan . . . could this be enough to tempt him into another trip to the Disneyland area of France?
Cute alert! Cute alert! Check out this adorable little felted Remy, courtesy of the Upcoming Pixar blog. (Hat tip to The Disney Blog.)
Need an excuse to go see Ratatouille again? The Disney Blog has a list of 15 reasons, many of them Easter Eggs.
Now, those of you who read my blog regularly know that Mr Broke Hoedown’s not a big fan of Disney. But Pixar? Well, that’s a whole other story.
In his blog today, Collateral Damage, Mr Broke Hoedown raves about Ratatouille (warning, spoilers below):
It never takes the obvious route. It is never hack (which is what comedians’ name for the easy and cliche). It isn’t “HEARTWARMING.” Every choice made by the people involved is true to the story and the characters and not just what the audience expects. As a result it gives the audience so much more than mere easy laughs. The big challenge that our hero (voiced by the wonderful Patton Oswalt) overcomes is not will he become a chef, it’s how to make peace between being a rat AND being a chef. When his family comes to his aid it’s not a big sweeping emotional moment, it’s a much more realistic “yeah we’re family and this is what family does even when they’re angry at each other” moment. In other words: It’s a true moment, not a Hollywood one.
One of Ratatouille’s greatest strengths is that it never forgets that rats and people eating food are not something that go together. Even when the rats ride to the rescue and run the kitchen, the movie is smart enough to include a stomach-jarring shot of rodents swarming. If this had been made just by Disney Ratatouille would have had an ending where the restaurant is saved, the rat and the human both get the girl and snoooooore. That sort of happens, but not in the predictable way that ruined so many of Disney’s later animated movies.
Also it’s hard to imagine the later Disney movies including the wonderful scene where our hero and his father walk by the exterminator’s shop in the Marais whose window is decorated with dead rats in traps. (I’ve been by that store a number of times, it is quite wonderful.) Pre-Pixar animation at Disney long ago gave up being willing to actually upset the audience. For all that Lion King was willing to show the father’s death, it did it without the terror and darkness that makes Pinocchio one of the greatest and scariest movies I’ve ever seen.
John Frost of The Disney Blog also found Ratatouille a significant departure from the usual Disney fare, and in a good way:
. . . I had convinced myself that Pixar had strayed too far away from the traditional animated children’s film with Ratatouille. But what is a traditional animated children’s film? That is decided anew with every genre busting film that’s released. All you can do is to find what you love and keep doing it to the best of your ability. That’s the lesson of Ratatouille and the philosophy behind Pixar. That Walt’s Way and it’s a recipe for success for us all.
Earlier in his article, Frost relates this back to earlier days of Disney:
With Ratatouille, animated film, at least the way Brad Bird and Pixar produce it, stands at a cross-roads similar to where Walt Disney stood after Pinocchio and Fantasia. They can go on along the path they’re following and convert the medium into something new that appeals to adults while not being tethered to the ‘family film’ rules. This is the fiscally risky route (see the initial box office results for Fantasia). But the greater the risk, the greater the reward (a theme common to Pixar films, not coincidentally I imagine).
Alternatively, they can return to something more appealing to the kid in all of us (and more entertaining for those who actually are kids). Think Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty. When those films were released they were anything but conventional. Indeed Sleeping Beauty stands as a singular masterpiece of art. The irony is that while they’re all commercially less risky, that’s not to say they were all box office successes. Nor is it to say there is a simple formula to follow. It’s harder to swing for the fences when you’re deliberately using a shorter bat as Walt Disney found out during and after WWII. In modern day animation this method isn’t resulting in any box office gold right now either (see recent Dreamworks and WDAS releases).
Let’s hope that the success of Ratatouille emboldens Disney Animation to take more chances, and bust a few more genres themselves.
Hungry for reviews by people who’ve seen the Ratatouille sneak previews? Ain’t It Cool News has got you covered.
This is a slightly different kind of film for Pixar. In fact, it’s unlike any American animated film we’ve seen in quite a few years. With its relatively relaxed tone (for a cartoon) and lack of wacky, wise-crackin’ sidekicks, this one is miles away from the hellzapoppin’ hijinks of the SHREK films and their various rip-offs. This is not to say it’s not funny. There’s a set piece involving a character being used as a sleepwalking marionette that will remind some of the classic Goofy films, and there’s a moment where one character’s *very* last-second decision not to pepper-spray another got the biggest laugh I’ve heard in ages.
Director Brad Bird’s visual inspiration seems to be vintage Disney fare like LADY AND THE TRAMP. They’ve set a new standard for using computer animation to achieve a marvelously warm, hand-made quality, and I thought more than once during the film that I wish they gave Cinematography Oscars to cartoons. It gives us a Paris that’s modern, yet dreamlike.
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