I just watched Ratatouille, and while I found it to be a fun film, it's nowhere near Pixar's best.
Really? Which do you find to be better? I just saw the movie a little while ago, and I found it to be more enjoyable than any other Pixar film. The Incredibles comes real close, but I would say Ratatouille wins out.
Speaking of Cars, it's the only Pixar film I haven't seen, and I don't imagine that will change any time soon. It's probably not nearly as bad as I imagine, but I just can't bring myself to watch it.
Ratatouille is a great film, don't get me wrong, but I was distracted and sometimes bored throughout the viewing, but don't ask me why. As for which Pixar films I think are better, I would say Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, Toy Story and Finding Nemo in that sequence. Why? Toy Story 2 manages to elicit a large range of emotions from it's audience, while being very funny and a perfect example of the Disney/Pixar relationship at it's best. The Incredibles was a beautiful tribute to comics (which I don't read and never did get - they weren't around in Ireland when I was growing up, so I missed the boat, so to speak) and an excellent attempt at tackling more adult issues, focussing more on adult humour than any Disney/Pixar film before it, yet remaining as funny as ever to people from age four to seventy. The original Toy Story is almost as good as it's sequel, and it shocked and wowed us all when it came right out of left-field, triggering the age of the CGI film. It marked the end of traditional 2D-animated films for a while, but that was hardly it's intention. Finding Nemo is possibly the most hilarious of all the film I have watched. I don't really like Ellen DeGeneres (sp?) but Dory was perhaps the funniest character to ever come out of Disney and Pixar. Marlin was annoying, and some of the dialogue was just a tiny bit awkward, but the film was solid.
After those films come Ratatouille, A Bug's Life, and Cars. Cars isn't a bad film, I really didn't like the look of it at first, and after reading reviews, I didn't want to see it. But I was bored one night, so I gave it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's not a bad film by any means, just lacking the usual polish of a Disney/Pixar film. You should see it, because it is a good film, and really funny when it wants to be.
Rohan on
...and I thought of how all those people died, and what a good death that is. That nobody can blame you for it, because everyone else died along with you, and it is the fault of none, save those who did the killing.
I just watched Ratatouille, and while I found it to be a fun film, it's nowhere near Pixar's best.
Really? Which do you find to be better? I just saw the movie a little while ago, and I found it to be more enjoyable than any other Pixar film. The Incredibles comes real close, but I would say Ratatouille wins out.
Speaking of Cars, it's the only Pixar film I haven't seen, and I don't imagine that will change any time soon. It's probably not nearly as bad as I imagine, but I just can't bring myself to watch it.
It really isn't that bad, but honestly, if you have no desire to watch it in the first place, there's nothing there that makes watching it worth it. It's really Pixar's worst film, which isn't actually poor praise, since the worst from Pixar is still pretty decent.
Bionic Monkey on
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Alfred J. Kwakis it because you were insultedwhen I insulted your hair?Registered Userregular
edited July 2007
So, the general opinion is that this movie is better then Cars (which I quite enjoyed, but not at the same level as the previous Pixar movies)?
No way, I found it to the second-best of Pixar's, though the Incredibles is almost impossible to beat. Bizzare as it might be, I liked it because it didn't really sugar-coat anything. It wasn't talking cars or living toys, it was rats and people, and yet it managed to make those characters incredibly endearing. It was almost plausible, even though obviously impossible.
Long story short, the brain sees something that is almost real, and things that are not human but look human set off alarms in the brain.
Thanks for jogging my memory on the term there. And yes, that video is super-freaky looking.
Which I guess is one of the many reasons Pixar is so good at its craft: they clearly understand effects such as this and deliberately work around them. Imagine if Incredibles had been rendered with "realistic" actors like that one? It'd look terrible, and you wouldn't be able to enjoy the movie as a result b/c they'd be so distracting.
That's one thing that Pixar movies have almost never failed to do to me, actually: despite the amazing rendering techniques each showcase, I still get pulled in by the story to the point that I keep forgetting to notice the amazing effects until there's a pause or a lull in the story, when I suddenly do a double-take and think "holy shit that looks amazing".
Which I guess is their intent: story first, rendering quality second, but make sure both are outstanding (so what does it say that I noticed the rendering quality more on my first viewing of Cars than any other Pixar film? :~
Mathew Burrack on
"Let's take a look at the scores! The girls are at the square root of Pi, while the boys are still at a crudely drawn picture of a duck. Clearly, it's anybody's game!"
I always felt that the moral of Cars was that as society progresses, people will inevitably be left behind through no fault of their own. Additionally, it mirrored American progress, as small towns with thriving downtowns became replaced with easy travel to the suburbs where you can get everything at Wal-Mart. Also, city folk don't really take the time to enjoy the country and the scenery, which was a primary jab of the movie. Sheesh, people complain when they have to drive fifteen minutes to where I work, taking a drive through the vineyards twenty minutes away is a thought foreign enough to make their heads explode.
I saw this last night with my wife, and we both left the theater with a smile. We used to own four pet rats, but they've all passed on. They couldn't cook for shit, but they knew how to grab a sock from the laundry pile next to their cage and completely eradicate it.
One reviewer compared
the scene with Ego's first bite to the scene where the Grinch's heart grows.
I have to agree.
I'm also really glad they didn't
take the chump way out and have Linguini just learn to cook on his own by believing in himself or something.
I always felt that the moral of Cars was that as society progresses, people will inevitably be left behind through no fault of their own. Additionally, it mirrored American progress, as small towns with thriving downtowns became replaced with easy travel to the suburbs where you can get everything at Wal-Mart. Also, city folk don't really take the time to enjoy the country and the scenery, which was a primary jab of the movie. Sheesh, people complain when they have to drive fifteen minutes to where I work, taking a drive through the vineyards twenty minutes away is a thought foreign enough to make their heads explode.
Yeah, and I think it's stupid and pointless to complain about how your town, which is built on servicing people driving down a particular road is made obsolete by a much better road. Sure it sucks that your town is no longer useful, but you don't hang around and whine about it. There is absolutely no moral obligation for anyone to go out of their way and visit random towns.
Also, you just complained about people's willingness to commute from the suburbs, and then their dislike of commuting in the same paragraph.
RandomEngy on
Profile -> Signature Settings -> Hide signatures always. Then you don't have to read this worthless text anymore.
take the chump way out and have Linguini just learn to cook on his own by believing in himself or something.
The fact that Linguini never became a chef in his own right really cemented Pixar's message, that greatness is something achieved through passion and dedication rather than the circumstances into which you are born. Linguini is the great chef's biological son, but it's the far more enthusiastic and committed Remy who carries on the chef's legacy despite a handicap of birth which would seemingly preclude him from achievement in a field dominated by another species (and if you want to get into metaphor, species can easily be substituted for race and gender).
The more I think about it, the more I love this film.
Hooraydiation on
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
Pixar's mistake was not making it a movie about a penguin. People fucking love penguins!
Also, where're all the contemporary pop songs in the soundtrack?
Bo-ring.
And where are the celebrity voices?
Jennene Garofolo is your biggest star and it doesn't even sound like her.
What the fuck Pixar? What the fuck.
I know... right? This movie really needed an irritating character voiced by Robin Williams. Maybe he could pretend to be French, but still throw in some American pop-culture slang just so we know he's still with it. Also, Smash Mouth's "All-Star" makes every movie 100,000,000x better, which is why they put it in so many of them.
I always felt that the moral of Cars was that as society progresses, people will inevitably be left behind through no fault of their own. Additionally, it mirrored American progress, as small towns with thriving downtowns became replaced with easy travel to the suburbs where you can get everything at Wal-Mart. Also, city folk don't really take the time to enjoy the country and the scenery, which was a primary jab of the movie. Sheesh, people complain when they have to drive fifteen minutes to where I work, taking a drive through the vineyards twenty minutes away is a thought foreign enough to make their heads explode.
Yeah, and I think it's stupid and pointless to complain about how your town, which is built on servicing people driving down a particular road is made obsolete by a much better road. Sure it sucks that your town is no longer useful, but you don't hang around and whine about it. There is absolutely no moral obligation for anyone to go out of their way and visit random towns.
Seriously, and you know doing that is just asking to get murdered. Seriously it's not going to be long until you wander in to a secret cult of bloodthirsty locals and find out you're the sacrifice.
I saw this movie also on the weekend. It was good, not quite what I was expecting, but I cant complain too much, since anything Pixar has put out is still better than most everything else out there. I was expecting this movie to be more comedy-like, but it was fairly drama-like. I am not complaining at all as I was still entertained. The true test will be to see how this movie holds up on repeated viewings when it comes out on DVD.
If anyone cares, here is my list of Pixar movies:
1. Finding Nemo - Head and shoulders above everything else
2. (Tie) - Incredibles - For fun action romp
2. (Tie) - Monsters Inc - For pure cute factor (Kitty!!!)
4. Lets pencil this one in here for the time being
Everything else is either not as good or its been too long since I have seen them.
I love Toy Story because the whole thing's an atheist's allegory. Note that Joss Whedon helped write the screenplay for it, and he's one of the angriest atheists in Hollywood. Man can't direct to save his life, though.
He's a decent enough writer, but letting him direct gives you the caliber acting of Buffy and fight scenes that look like they were choreographed (sp, I never use that word) by a Tae Bo instructor.
He's a decent enough writer, but letting him direct gives you the caliber acting of Buffy and fight scenes that look like they were choreographed (sp, I never use that word) by a Tae Bo instructor.
Did you not actually see The Body? Or Hush? Or Once More With Feeling? And the acting on Buffy and Firefly was fine; it certainly represented the pinnacle of Sarah Michelle Gellar's acting career. Now, Kevin Smith, that's another story.
But yes! Cartoon rats! Awesome CGI water! Nothing to do with Mr. Whedon save that he probably saw the movie at some point by now! Sorry!
EmperorSeth on
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
Disney just released a ton of trivia about the details in its current hit film Ratatouille. Besides the interesting news that the dish is becoming hugely popular at four-star restaurants in NYC, here’s what they had to say:
• The Pizza Planet Truck, which first made an appearance in Toy Story, has made a cameo in nearly every Pixar film. For example, the truck can be seen whizzing by when the tank gang is escaping from the dentist’s office in Finding Nemo. In Ratatouille, the infamous Pizza Planet Truck can be seen on a bridge over the Seine during the scene in which Skinner is chasing Remy.
• The number A113, which refers to Brad Bird and John Lasseter's former classroom at CalArts, makes an appearance in every Pixar film. For example, A113 can be seen in Cars on the train that McQueen narrowly misses when he first loses Mack and exits onto Route 66. A113 also appears in Ratatouille, but you'll have to look carefully for yourself to find it.
• Pixar’s official “Good Luck Charm,†actor John Ratzenberger makes another appearance in Ratatouille as the head waiter, Mustafa. John’s voice has appeared in every Pixar movie including as Hamm the piggy bank in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, PT Flea in A Bug’s Life, The Underminer in The Incredibles, and Mack the truck in Cars.
• Mabel's living room has several framed photos depicting Mabel and her late husband as members of the French resistance during WWII. This might explain how Mabel learned to use a shotgun.
• The character Bomb Voyage from The Incredibles makes two appearances in Ratatouille. He appears as a mime on the bridge by Notre Dame when Linguini and Colette skate past [see the attached photo]. Bomb Voyage’s second appearance is the front-page headline and photo on the newspaper Colette is reading with the Solene Le Claire review.
• Restaurant critic Anton Ego's (voice of Peter O’Toole) office is shaped like a coffin to reinforce the idea that a bad review from Ego can be the “death†of a restaurant.
• There were 372 graphics created that appear on food labels, boxes, street signs, posters, and businesses. Many of these graphics are named after Ratatouille crew members.
• Some other details:
* Lasseter Cabernet Sauvignon is named for executive producer John Lasseter
* Chateau-Bird Champagne named for director Brad Bird
* Chateau-Jessup Pauillac Medoc named for production designer Harley Jessup
* Colette rides a "Calahan" branded motorcycle, named after Sharon Calahan, the director of photography/lighting.
* The “Bouchiba†brand spaghetti Linguini cooks with in his apartment is named for animator Bolhem Bouchiba.
* The “Bradford†mixer in the kitchen is named for producer Brad Lewis
* The “Susman†brand olive oil is named for associate producer Galyn Susman.
* “Bar Des 7 Chanceux†is a storefront seen on the streets of Paris. It is named for the “Lucky 7 Lounge,†a homemade secret lounge inside Pixar Animation Studios.
I saw this last night with my wife, and we both left the theater with a smile. We used to own four pet rats, but they've all passed on. They couldn't cook for shit, but they knew how to grab a sock from the laundry pile next to their cage and completely eradicate it.
One reviewer compared
the scene with Ego's first bite to the scene where the Grinch's heart grows.
I have to agree.
I'm also really glad they didn't
take the chump way out and have Linguini just learn to cook on his own by believing in himself or something.
IMDB is a great place for info movies, but man, I was randomly browsing the message boards for Ratatouille the other day and those people are stupid!
They were complaining that
The ending was not happy enough, and that Ego didn't get his comeuppance. How much happier do you need the movie to be? It already had: New popular restaurant? Mortal enemy turned biggest supporter? Successful macking on the French lady? some people! gah!
There's not a lot of kids' fare on the horizon, so it should be in theaters for quite a while. I mean, there's Underdog. And . . . *shudder* Bratz. Not much animated stuff though.
I didn't think Incredibles was that great myself, and I can't really imagine myself watching it for the action. I mean I can get action in movies that are focused on the action, Pixar movies are supposed to be funny damnit!
Posts
Ratatouille is a great film, don't get me wrong, but I was distracted and sometimes bored throughout the viewing, but don't ask me why. As for which Pixar films I think are better, I would say Toy Story 2, The Incredibles, Toy Story and Finding Nemo in that sequence. Why? Toy Story 2 manages to elicit a large range of emotions from it's audience, while being very funny and a perfect example of the Disney/Pixar relationship at it's best. The Incredibles was a beautiful tribute to comics (which I don't read and never did get - they weren't around in Ireland when I was growing up, so I missed the boat, so to speak) and an excellent attempt at tackling more adult issues, focussing more on adult humour than any Disney/Pixar film before it, yet remaining as funny as ever to people from age four to seventy. The original Toy Story is almost as good as it's sequel, and it shocked and wowed us all when it came right out of left-field, triggering the age of the CGI film. It marked the end of traditional 2D-animated films for a while, but that was hardly it's intention. Finding Nemo is possibly the most hilarious of all the film I have watched. I don't really like Ellen DeGeneres (sp?) but Dory was perhaps the funniest character to ever come out of Disney and Pixar. Marlin was annoying, and some of the dialogue was just a tiny bit awkward, but the film was solid.
After those films come Ratatouille, A Bug's Life, and Cars. Cars isn't a bad film, I really didn't like the look of it at first, and after reading reviews, I didn't want to see it. But I was bored one night, so I gave it a try, and I was pleasantly surprised. It's not a bad film by any means, just lacking the usual polish of a Disney/Pixar film. You should see it, because it is a good film, and really funny when it wants to be.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
It really isn't that bad, but honestly, if you have no desire to watch it in the first place, there's nothing there that makes watching it worth it. It's really Pixar's worst film, which isn't actually poor praise, since the worst from Pixar is still pretty decent.
Augh! Alarm isn't a strong enough word, something in the back of my head was saying "look out, it's a goddamned alien in a suit. Something is WRONG!"
Thanks for jogging my memory on the term there. And yes, that video is super-freaky looking.
Which I guess is one of the many reasons Pixar is so good at its craft: they clearly understand effects such as this and deliberately work around them. Imagine if Incredibles had been rendered with "realistic" actors like that one? It'd look terrible, and you wouldn't be able to enjoy the movie as a result b/c they'd be so distracting.
That's one thing that Pixar movies have almost never failed to do to me, actually: despite the amazing rendering techniques each showcase, I still get pulled in by the story to the point that I keep forgetting to notice the amazing effects until there's a pause or a lull in the story, when I suddenly do a double-take and think "holy shit that looks amazing".
Which I guess is their intent: story first, rendering quality second, but make sure both are outstanding (so what does it say that I noticed the rendering quality more on my first viewing of Cars than any other Pixar film? :~
One reviewer compared
I have to agree.
I'm also really glad they didn't
Yeah, and I think it's stupid and pointless to complain about how your town, which is built on servicing people driving down a particular road is made obsolete by a much better road. Sure it sucks that your town is no longer useful, but you don't hang around and whine about it. There is absolutely no moral obligation for anyone to go out of their way and visit random towns.
Also, you just complained about people's willingness to commute from the suburbs, and then their dislike of commuting in the same paragraph.
The more I think about it, the more I love this film.
This is so, so, much better than Transformers, you buncha movie-going schmucks.
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They need better commercials for it.
Or any at all... I dunno if I've seen any.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
The commercials for it are sparse and mediocre. It really is an awesome movie, though, I hope word of mouth gets it going.
Also, where're all the contemporary pop songs in the soundtrack?
Bo-ring.
And where are the celebrity voices?
Jennene Garofolo is your biggest star and it doesn't even sound like her.
What the fuck Pixar? What the fuck.
What's the point of celebrity voice actors when they just sound like the characters they're portraying?
I dunno. Ask someone who spent money on Shark Tale.
Incidentally the no celebrity voices comment was an actual complaint from Entertainment Weekly movie reviewer.
I'm gonna go ahead and assume that they completely retarded.
Yeah.
I know... right? This movie really needed an irritating character voiced by Robin Williams. Maybe he could pretend to be French, but still throw in some American pop-culture slang just so we know he's still with it. Also, Smash Mouth's "All-Star" makes every movie 100,000,000x better, which is why they put it in so many of them.
Seriously, and you know doing that is just asking to get murdered. Seriously it's not going to be long until you wander in to a secret cult of bloodthirsty locals and find out you're the sacrifice.
If anyone cares, here is my list of Pixar movies:
1. Finding Nemo - Head and shoulders above everything else
2. (Tie) - Incredibles - For fun action romp
2. (Tie) - Monsters Inc - For pure cute factor (Kitty!!!)
4. Lets pencil this one in here for the time being
Everything else is either not as good or its been too long since I have seen them.
I have 549 Rock Band Drum and 305 Pro Drum FC's
REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS REFS
But to say nothing else, it featured Billy Crystal at his most tolerable.
The hell?
He's a decent enough writer, but letting him direct gives you the caliber acting of Buffy and fight scenes that look like they were choreographed (sp, I never use that word) by a Tae Bo instructor.
I wuv you again Forum people.
Did you not actually see The Body? Or Hush? Or Once More With Feeling? And the acting on Buffy and Firefly was fine; it certainly represented the pinnacle of Sarah Michelle Gellar's acting career. Now, Kevin Smith, that's another story.
But yes! Cartoon rats! Awesome CGI water! Nothing to do with Mr. Whedon save that he probably saw the movie at some point by now! Sorry!
IMDB is a great place for info movies, but man, I was randomly browsing the message boards for Ratatouille the other day and those people are stupid!
They were complaining that
Here's hoping it's still in theatres.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop