Movie Review: Ratatouille

Did you honestly think that I could write a bad review for a DisneyPixar release of any kind?
I didn't think you could.
But the fact is, I'm more than willing to admit that this is not one of their stronger releases.
There I said it! Ratatouille is not a strong Disney/Pixar release. Garsh that is cathartic. Now I don't want you to think that I went in specifically looking for a problem with this movie, for there is little wrong. It wasn’t as if I needed something wrong to point out the fallibility of this wunderkind studio.
It is a pretty cute little tale of a rodent named Remy with dreams of cooking at a great Parisian restaurant like Maxim's named Gasteau’s. He reads the books by the author and when the opportunity is afforded to him, he takes the chance to cook. Pretty simple—and what could be predicted by the trailers. The young rat finds a decent enough patsy, a quasi-nerd that just wants to succeed at something. The rodent uses the young man as a front to make his own dreams come true.
Now I said this is a good movie. Heck it sounds like it was tailored for someone like me--a great lover of delicious food. So we have a Disney movie AND a foodie movie. So, there, you have two biases, right next to each other. So any negative criticism takes on a new sort of importance.
The kind of movies Pixar makes are profoundly more mature then the audience tends to aim for when heading out to the matinee. Look at Toy Story 2. Toys being taken away to Tokyo for a musuem? What 9 year old is going to get that? Power problems in Monstropolis in Monsters Inc.? That doesn't go well in the single digit set.
And great cuisine created for a most difficult critic in all of Paris?
See? I loved the movie, but it just did not fit the definition of a good Disney film. Sure, the rodents are cute when alone; but when we are treated to them en masse, our brain immediately cuts to images unintentional-rats that carry fleas and the plague.
It is innate for all of us. It is like flinching when you see a snake. You might have no fear of them, but if one appears in your vision, you jolt.
Protagonist aside, there are some other drawbacks to this movie that distract from the fact that this is a Disney movie. Kitchens are serious places in my world. It is one locale. How do you make it funny for the tykes? The filmmakers add a series of slapstick moments where the rat manipulates the geek named Linquini into becoming the best chef in the world. Remy uses hair pulling to make the geek a total puppet and leads to some great, old-fashioned, silent-movie-reminding gags.
But it appears forced. The movie is still so top notch, it is like adding a fight scene in the middle of "Terms of Endearment." It may have worked on paper, but in execution, it is uneven.
Such is the whole movie. It is brought down by a being such a mature movie and a perspective that running around merely ‘enhances’ it’s story.
It hurts me as I write this. The filmmaker, Brad Bird, has a special place in my heart. He worked and created both the Iron Giant and Incredibles. Both are highly intelligent flicks and every moment is used as if it is supposed to be there.
These mistakes surprise me.
My guess is, I have recently learned, the film was abandoned for a period of time while Pixar ironed out their contract with Disney. This flaw shows. It shows because the rest of the film is so good. It was as if some teens were given the helm, added the silly 'puppet' sequences and by then, it was too late. They went ahead and edited what they could.
The main thing is Pixar tried. They really did. Who would have thought of an animated film about rats and cooking? It's brilliant in sheer audacity! And for me, that gives me home that these moviemakers will continue to make films that are creative and deep.