Ratatouille - Dark Publications

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Product Description
Remy is a young rat in the french countryside who arrives in paris only to find out that his cooking idol is dead. When he makes an unusual alliance with a restaurants new garbage boy the culinary and personal adventures begin. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 11/06/2007 Starring: Voices Of Janeanne Garofalo Peter Otoole Run time: 111 minutes Rating: G

Amazon.com
One key point: if you can get over the natural gag reflex of seeing hundreds of rodents swarming over a restaurant kitchen, you will be free to enjoy the glory of Ratatouille, a delectable Pixar hit. Our hero is Remy, a French rat (voiced by Patton Oswalt) with a cultivated palate, who rises from his humble beginnings to become head chef at a Paris restaurant. How this happens is the stuff of Pixar magic, that ineffable blend of headlong comedy, seamless technology, and wonder (in the latter department, this movie's views of nighttime Paris are on a par with French cinema at its most lyrical). Director Brad Bird (The Incredibles) doesn't quite keep all his spinning plates in the air, but the gags are great and the animation amazingly expressive--Remy's shrugs and nods are nimbler than many flesh-and-blood actors can manage. Refreshingly, the movie's characters aren't celebrity-reliant, with the most recognizable voice coming from Peter O'Toole's snide food critic. (This fellow provides the film's sole sour note--an oddly pointed slap at critics, those craven souls who have done nothing but rave about Pixar's movies over the years.) Brad Bird's style is more quick-hit and less resonant than the approach of Pixar honcho John Lasseter, but it's hard to complain about a movie that cooks up such bountiful pleasure. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews: Read 629 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

A Rat Chef Dishes Up Delights...Bon Appetit! August 29, 2007
123 out of 139 found this review helpful

Once again, the creative minds behind Pixar have created enchantment ... possibly their best film in years. Everyone loves Ratatouille...even though he is a rat in the kitchen.

Indeed, the idea of rats in an upscale restaurant would normally have us run for cover. Nevertheless, the movie successfully blends the themes of the Ugly Duckling with Cyrano de Bergerac to come up with a fantastic story. Remy is a simple rat with an extraordinary nose. His idol is a great French chef who lectures on the Food Channel. "Anyone Can Cook" is his mantra. So when Remy and his rat family have to leave their homes, Remy accidentally ends up in the very kitchen of this great Chef. Alas, the great chef has passed away, and the food standards are falling, as well as the Michelin stars. To reverse this trend, Remy - the rat - teams up with a clueless scullery boy in the kitchen to whip up some wonderful recipes. Indeed, the rat's food creations are a hit with the customers. The problem, as in all Cyrano stories, is that no one knows who is really behind those wonderful recipes. And most important, will the most difficult restaurant critic in Paris condemn or praise the food that Remy prepares?

Everything about this film is wonderful...the streets of Paris are recreated in rich colors and exquisite detail. I haven't seen a European city look this good in an animated film since Disney's "Pinocchio." Oh my, even the French copper pots look authentic.

I laughed hysterically throughout the film...particularly the times when the rat conceals himself in a chef hat and rides the garbage boy like a cowboy on a bronco. Please don't miss this treat. Highly recommended.

4 out of 5 stars

Bon appetit! September 24, 2007
63 out of 72 found this review helpful

Considering the Disney empire was founded on a mouse, it would be harsh to dismiss Ratatouille simply because it's about a rat as even the most rodent-phobic will be melting for this charming dish.

This is Pixar's second collaboration with Disney since it's fusion. And while Ratatouille may lack the pioneering invention and sardonic wit of some of Pixar's previous films, there is plenty to enjoy.

Ratatouille has a culinary flavour as it tells the story of Remy, a rat with a passion for cooking. Much of the film is set in the kitchen of Gusteau's, a restaurant so realistically rendered it's possible to almost smell the mouthwatering aromas lingering around.

Remy is possessed with a more sophisticated taste than his brother Emile and the rest of his rat colony. He is visited by the ghost of his cooking hero, Gusteau, whose motto is 'Anyone can cook' and encourages Remy to use his catering skills to rescue his restaurant whose reputation has floundered since his passing.

Once there, Remy befriends Linguini, the garbage boy. Hiding under Linguini's chef's hat, Remy indicates the talentless boy how to create fabulous dishes, quickly raising both Linguini's and the restaurant's reputation. Ratatouille cleverly explores the restaurant world with its envious rivalries and turbulent kitchen politics. Through stories of jealousy, intrigue, friendship and love, Ratatouille tells us what it takes to overcome a lack of self esteem and to become the person (or rat) you were meant to be.

Ratatouille is also filled with other life's lessons. How do you deal with family members who don't see the potential in you? How do you handle people who are emotionally close to you who want you to bend the law for their benefit? Do you become something bigger than you are, or can you achieve the same results by just being honest?

Like any good story, this one operates at many levels. Children will love the simplicity of the message, the funny chases, while adults will love the complexity and reality of the relationships. Ratatouille is the name of a simple peasant food that if prepared with care, will rival anything you can serve in the best restaurants of the world. It is also symbolic of our own lives. It may be simple, but if we lead it with care, love and kindness, it will be as good and valuable as the life of the most notorius man in the world.

5 out of 5 stars

The best Blu-ray family DVD of the year September 2, 2007
30 out of 36 found this review helpful

If you're looking for a Blu-ray DVD that you and your kids can enjoy equally, you can't do better than this one. Silly, sophisticated, full of surprises and a joy to watch, "Ratatouille" is not only the best animated movie of 2007, it's also the year's best family film. Better still, its scenes are often full of detail, which will make it a Blu-ray treat.

The character animation is Pixar's best ever. The lead character, a rat named Remy, has the most expressive hand gestures, shrugs and other body language I've seen in a cartoon creature. The compositions, like the ground-level shots of Remy scurrying on a kitchen floor, or the overhead shot of a food critic's office, are simply inspired.

As for the story, after watching a celebrity chef on television, Remy the rat, a rodent blessed with an exquisite sense of smell and taste, dreams of becoming one himself. And soon he does, after he is accidentally swept into a storm drain, washes up near the most famous restaurant in France, and comes up with a delicious soup recipe. Teaming up with Linguini, a lowly dish boy, Remy fulfills his dream, in a funny, moving tale about fulfilling your potential against all odds.

The best scene? When Linguini has to reproduce Remy's soup himself, the rat helps him out by hiding in the boy's chef hat, steering Linguini around a kitchen by yanking on his hair like a puppeteer. It's physical comedy at its best.

This Blu-ray version has two special, Java-based bonus features:
* "Cine-Explore" is an in-movie Java feature that lets you customize your viewing experience with animation briefings, documentary shorts and deleted scenes.
* In "Gusteau's Gourmet Game," when the orders are stacking up in Chez Gusteau's kitchen, you help Linguini move quickly from station to station to prepare the right meal.

It also includes all the bonus features found on the non-Blu-ray disc, which include:

* The Pixar short that appeared with the film in theaters, "Lifted," in which a novice alien pilot tries to abduct a sleeping human
* Some deleted scenes, with introductions by screenwriter and director Brad Bird.
* A second animated short, "Your Friend the Rat," starring Remy and his brother, Emile.
* "Fine Food and Film: A Conversation with Brad Bird and Thomas Keller," a featurette with the California celebrity chef who served as a consultant to the film.

5 out of 5 stars

A Feast for the Eyes November 7, 2007
29 out of 31 found this review helpful

Ratatouille is a beautiful film and a wonderful showcase for your new Blu-ray player. As beautiful as this film was on screen, it's even more breathtaking on Blu-ray. Every detail and subtle color shine. I was truly blown away by the quality of the picture.

As for the film itself, it holds up even better the second or third time around. Definitely a more sophisticated tale than what's usually expected in an animated film. And while really young children may squirm through a lot of this, that doesn't at all detract from the quality of this great film. Creative, amusing, heartfelt and ultimately satisfying, Ratatouille defies the genre - raising the bar once again on American animated films. PIXAR continues to create in an entirely different league than it's competitors. You can't even compare this film to anything else. It makes the ridiculously popular Shrek look, well, green.

Bonus features are entertaining, particularly the well-concieved short on the history of Rats. New Blu-ray Bonus materials let you interact with the film in new ways making the "Making Of" featurette quite imersive. Most of the info is for student's and hard core fans of animation. The short LIFTED also appears on this disc as well as the just released PIXAR SHORTS DVD/Blu-ray.

While it lacks the high adventure and fan-boy characters of some of Pixar's earlier works, Rataouille will be regarded with more and more acclaim as time goes by. Critic's rightfully praised the film in it's theatrical release but American audiences didn't take to it as eagerly as past films. The overseas market has been strong, bringing in quite a bit more Internationally than other Pixar hits, which is an interesting side note I think. What it says about American tastes and tolerance for animation that isn't Happy Meal ready is sobering.

5 out of 5 stars

EASILY THE BEST MOVIE OF THE YEAR ! August 25, 2007
22 out of 34 found this review helpful

This may very well be Pixar's best film and that's no small feat.
I can't believe they could come up with such and incredible movie based on quiet a disgusting subject matter but there is no question the people at Pixar have pulled it off. Ratatouille and the Toy Story movies are the only computer animated movies I can remmember in which I've found myself smiling from begging to end. My favorite scene was probably Remy cooking two omelettes, a large one for his friend, a small one for himself.
I love the fact that, unlike every other animated movie today, Pixar's have no current pop references and also unlike them, they will stand the test of time.
To learn the insipid Shrek 3 made more money than Ratatouille is frankly puzzling and I for one can not find any explanation whatshoever.

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