Ratatouille

I hadn't planned on seeing two movies last night but I thought it was a better idea to sit in a darkened theater than to wait around in a darkened house for the power to come back on. I'm glad I did though because Ratatouille is every bit as good as any of the other Pixar movies.

This movie sort of snuck up on me. I was enjoying it though out its running time but it wasn't until the final fade out that I realized just how much. Director Brad Bird steers clear of all talking animal movie cliches, not even allowing the rats and the humans verbally communicate. Sure the rats can talk to one another, but when a human observes this is just sounds like, well, like the noise you would imagine a rat making. He also moves his camera as if he was filming a live action motion picture, not an animated one. Depth of focus, long tracking shots, all of these make the movie seem more real (as real as a movie about a cooking rat can seem).

I also liked that Bird didn't dumb down any of the cooking scenes. I didn't think I would ever be watching an animated movie discussing what the role of a seux chef is or that the one thing a soup is missing is a little saffron. There are also small details that really pop, like the virtual jazz like flavors that show up when Remi (our main rat) is tasting something he really loves.