MICKEY MOUSE HAS COMPETITION: For the first time in a long time, Pixar sneak-previewed its new film Ratatouille to the general public--perhaps because it's Pixar's first film without an immediate "hook" to grab kids in particular (toys come to life, the monsters in your closet, superheroes, etc.). The good news is that after a slight mis-step with Cars, Pixar has yet again put together a remarkable film. The more surprising news is that while they've stuck with certain eternal Pixar themes (the parent-child relationship, seeking independence and finding one's place in the world), this is Pixar's most adult oriented effort yet. Sure, there's plenty for kids to love--some very nice slapstick comedy, and a couple of very exciting chase sequences--but this is a movie for adults, that for the first time for Pixar, is substantially set in the "real world," rather than a comic book world or a world hidden from our view.
Unlike Dreamworks, Pixar doesn't anthropomorphize its characters. Our hero is a rat, who spends a substantial chunk of the film scurrying around on 4 legs and we watch him and his family eat garbage. Also, while there are name actors involved (Peter O'Toole plays the villain), Pixar doesn't hesitate to use unorthodox casting (cult comic Patton Oswalt voices the hero, and a Pixar employee voices Linguini, the chef who works with the rat), and the name actors aren't the selling point of the film. It's about the story. In a summer of disappointments, Ratatouille is a treat for kids and adults alike, though I'm a bit concerned Disney's going to have trouble marketing (pssst---ads on Top Chef are probably a good call).
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