Ratatouille Discussion Thread (Previews, Reviews, etc.)

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

what frustrates me most of all this Box Office importance is that now that Ratatouille isn't doing as good as hoped, people will start shouting Disney buying Pixar was a bad idea.

If Lasseter can create a creative environment at Disney, so that they can then start making films as good as Ratatouille... isn't that more important?

to all the Jim Hills and the other negative nancy's, what are they suggesting here? that we just dump Pixar and invite Michael Eisner back? any other genius ideas?

No, they're not suggesting Disney buying Pixar is a bad idea, it was really the best thing for both companies(Pixar more than Disney), they're just saying perhaps 7.4 billion dollars was/is too much for a company that has made 8 movies and that their financial results from their last two films show that.

As far as Lasseter goes, well, it's obviously too early to judge as he hasn't done too much yet, I have to say most of his ideas(especially for the theme parks and what he has done to American Dog) aren't that great.

[Siren]

I agree with Paka and Luke.

I think making a point that the movie is doing financially well is good.

However, I rather discuss the MOVIE, rather than how much money it makes. That bores the hell out of me. And I agree with Paka, it doesn't matter how much it makes so long as its good. I can name a bunch of movies that did fantastic in the theaters and still, IMO sucked big time. I don't care about money, I care about substance.

[Kram Nebuer]

I just saw Ratatouille last night, and I enjoyed it immensely, but The Incredibles is still my favorite Pixar movie of all. I went to see it with my friend and he liked it a lot because the story never stopped moving. I actually felt it was moving too fast at some points and kids would get lost, but I understood the storyline (unlike with Pirates III...I had to see that twice to finally get it). Still, I agree with others that it was a very unique movie and it was another terrific Pixar production. Compared to last year's Cars, I feel that the whole movie was on a completely different level. Cars was very straight forward, simple, and colorful. It's simplicity made it appealing, but made it seem a lot like a kids movie. I felt that Ratatouille was a great family movie with enough to please both ends of the audience. I think my favorite thing about the movie was that the story had a lot of mix of genres and such real characters, which was exciting and unexpected.

Also, I can't get over how beautiful the animation and backgrounds/sets were!! It was amazing!! Had the characters not been caricatured so much, I would've thought everything was real!

Overall, I give it a 9/10. At some points the rats seemed a little too real when the whole colony was present and I felt a little sick.

I was at Disneyland on Friday and they had a big Remy and his pal (the fat orange mouse) walking around with a woman dressed as a chef! They were in New Orleans Square and they were signing autograph books and posing for photos with the kids. On Main Street at the Emporium they had one shop window decked out with a scene from the movie - it was very cute! I have never been in the park during an opening weekend for a Pixar film and wondering if it is usual for Disney to put new Pixar characters in the park to promote the film? Of course you usually see Toy Story characters walking around in Fronteirland - but I've never seen a Nemo character or a character from the Incredibles in the park....

That's so cool! I wonder if the woman dressed as a chef was Collete? If so, it's awesome that she's a face character. Oh and Remy's pal is his brother, Emile.

I thought they had a Meet and Greet with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and Frozone at the parks? I know you could meet them in Tomorrowland at WDW before the Monster's Inc Comedy Club opened.

Hmmm...I just had a thought. Was Elastigirl turned into Mrs. Incredible once she got married? Or is she Elastigirl Incredible? I have to watch again and see if they address it. Do superhero names change with marriage? lol

[MickeyMousePal]

I saw Ratatouille along with Live Free and Die Hard on Sunday and I have to say that Ratatouille was way better then Cars. Ratatouille was very entertaining, funny and deliver as the main course. The only reason why Ratatouille didn't make that much money was because some kids hate rats and many teens saw Live Free and Did Hard. But both Ratatouille and Live Free and Die Hard were both wonderful movies. Lifted was funny too I was laughing so much I turn red.

9/10

1. Toy Story 2
2. Toy Story
3. The Incredibles
4. Monsters Inc.
5. Ratatouille
6. Cars
7. Finding Nemo
8. A Bug's Life

[The Little Merman]

Absolutely magnificent. Absolutely. No other words needed.

A+

1. Finding Nemo
2. Ratatouille
3. The Incredibles
4. Toy Story 2
5. Monsters, Inc.
6. Toy Story
7. Cars
8. A Bug's Life

[Ting Ting]

As I said in my last post, I got the chance to see Ratatouille again on Saturday, and I must say, it was even better the second time around.

Seeing it a second time revealed some things that I missed during the first viewing. Still fantastic in every way. Flawless. I know I said Toy Story would always be #1 in my book, but I'm going to have to retract my statement. Ratatouille is officially my favorite Disney/Pixar film

1. Ratatouille
2. Toy Story
3. Monsters, Inc.
4. Toy Story 2
5. Finding Nemo
6. The Incredibles
7. A Bug's Life
8. Cars

[Kram Nebuer]

I don't know if this was discussed already, but did anyone catch any references from other Pixar movies?

This is kind of a joke spoiler, so the text is in white:
I think at the part where Linguini was going to hide Remy in his pants, lol, his boxers looked like it had The Incredibles logo.

I can't think of any other one's I caught other than that. If you see some, please post them here!

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

I can't think of any other one's I caught other than that. If you see some, please post them here!

The car the health inspector drives is Luigi from Cars(without eyes of course). Didn't catch the Pizza Planet truck though(it took me a while to find it in Cars however).

Anyway, yeah, as you expect, I saw it today. Very crowded, and there were babies both in front and in back of me, so it was among my least(if not my least) favorite movie theater experiences.

The movie itself: It was... okay. I don't really get how the critics can say "It's Pixar's funniest movie!" though. Both Toy Stories, Monster's Inc. even The Incredibles and Cars were much funnier. Even A Bug's Life was probably funnier. It just felt bland(I expect ichabod to quote this line). I think if you want a completely brilliant animated comedy on food, you should stay home and see "Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of Were-Rabbi"t again instead.

But I do applaud Pixar for being original though. Their most original film since Toy Story. I can't name anything that you can compare it with plot-wise. The animation was(of course) good, the music was pretty jazzy, but that was really it. It speed wy 2 fas!%! I don't see how people can complain Meet the Robinsons was fast, when this felt twice as much fast. The dialogue also was pretty cringe-worthy as anytime they tried to say dialogue, it became long bumbling and lame attempts for laughs. In fact, too much lame attempts for laughs through-out.

So yeah, it's an enjoyable 2 hours I guess. But not the best film this year released by Disney, let alone by anyone the whole year and the non-stop praise is a bit surprising. Certainly my least favorite Pixar film.

1. Toy Story 2
2. Toy Story
3. Monsters Inc.
4. The Incredibles
5. Cars
6. A Bug's Life
7. Ratatouille

Lifted was more disappointing. My least favorite Pixar short. It was the only Pixar short I could predict all the laughs. The Wilhelm scream was a nice touch though.

[Disneykid]

Certainly my least favorite Pixar film.

Even more than Finding Nemo?

[Prudence]

Saw it, thought it was adorable, and loved the main cast.

[Harbinger]

Just came back from the theater with an okay sized crowd. However the reception from the audience was great. People actually clapped at the end, I have never seen that happen with a non-full house theater and on a non-opening day. The kids seemed to love it but I think the adults liked it even more.

I give the movie: 4 stars out of 4!

When it started I was a little bored but I can't remember where but it sucked me in and I loved every minute of it. The ending was totally predictable but anyone coming in knew the ending from the previews (it was pretty easy to deduce from the premise).

Great Pixar movie. I can't rank them because I haven't seen the Toy Stories in forever but it's up at the top somewhere. Brad Bird is awesome.

[Disneykid]

The ending was totally predictable but anyone coming in knew the ending from the previews (it was pretty easy to deduce from the premise)..

You mean, just from the previews alone, you were able to figure out that Gusteau's gets closed due to a rat infestation, that Ego would be served Ratatouille and love it, that Linguini and Remy would open up their own place and have Ego as a regular customer? Wow, color me impressed.

[The Little Merman]

1. I love you, Al.
2. LMAO DK.

[Harbinger]

The ending was totally predictable but anyone coming in knew the ending from the previews (it was pretty easy to deduce from the premise)..

You mean, just from the previews alone, you were able to figure out that Gusteau's gets closed due to a rat infestation, that Ego would be served Ratatouille and love it, that Linguini and Remy would open up their own place and have Ego as a regular customer? Wow, color me impressed.

lol. Well maybe not to the pinpoint exactly.

But I figured there would be a conflict like that. And that Remy would be discovered as the cook and would be a success. With the evil critic in the picture, I knew he would love Remy's food in the end.

Hey, I still loved the movie.

[mcduck]

I think this is a good movie and Pixar keep the work going on, this is not of course the best of Pixar but you simply can not expect the "best movie ever" every single year, the rendering was amazing this means they keep the development of they software and just by this simple point this is a no cheap movie like many other made by another studios including Disney itself, the story was well enough to keep one interested in what is coming next, but not complex so kids can get the idea, the lack I guess was on the elaboration of characters which could be more deeper. Over all a good movie, we shall see what happens in its release in dvd to declare this a complete good work or a mediocre distribution like cars.

[DisneyGirl22]

well, i took Alexis yesterday morning. there werent too many ppl in the theater so it wasnt so bad. we sat off to the side where there are three seats, i sat on the end so she had the space between me and the wall to roam around.
we made it till where Linguini was supposed to make a recipie but he changes it a little bit and the girl is freaking out at him....then Alexis started to get a little bored so we took off but what I did see I really liked and I cant wait to see the whole thing lol.

[Pasta67]

Certainly my least favorite Pixar film.

1. Toy Story 2
2. Toy Story
3. Monsters Inc.
4. The Incredibles
5. Cars
6. A Bug's Life
7. Ratatouille

Wow, you don't even rank Finding Nemo anymore? Man, your hatred of the film's improved since you last talked about it.

Anyway, I haven't seen it yet, but I'm dying to. I've heard nothing but good things about it. Well, that's not true; I've heard some bad things about it in negative reviews. So, I guess I should say "I've heard nothing but things about the film." I love Brad Bird's movies and PIXAR's never made a movie I disliked, so I can't wait to see it on the big screen. I hear the musical score is fantastic, so that and the animation quality are the main reasons I'm so excited.

I sure hope this movie gets a better DVD release than Cars did, though. Actually, I just hope they re-release that film to promote Ratatouille's DVD release; I held off on buying the skimpy single-disc because it just screams "Double-Dip 'a comin!", but I'm starting to get impatient. Let's hope Ratatouille's DVD release is much more packed with suppliments.

[MadonnasManOne]

Even though it really isn't important to a lot of us, I wanted to update on how Ratatouille is doing at the Box Office. It's actually doing very well. Even though the opening was not up to previous films, since then, the film has been gaining major ground, and it is now very close to the totals of Cars and Monsters Inc., during the same number of days!


Friday, June 29th: $16,452,942
Saturday, June 30th: $16,976,145
Sunday, July 1st: $13,598,308
Monday, July 2nd: $7,550,960
Tuesday, July 3rd: $7,877,998
Wednesday, July 4th: $10,205,079

Bringing the 6 day total to: $72,661,432.00

In the first 6 days of release, Cars had earned $78,008,209.00

In the first 6 days of release, Monsters Inc. had earned $73,265,584.00

So, it does appear that good word of mouth, critical praise, and positive buzz surrounding Ratatouille has helped boost the total beyond the opening! This is very good news, in my opinion. At any rate, I need to make my way back to the theater, and see this during a later showing, when there are less children. I can't wait to catch it, again!

[Luke]

So, it does appear that good word of mouth, critical praise, and positive buzz surrounding Ratatouille has helped boost the total beyond the opening!

And don't forget the Fourth of July and <i>Transformers</i> sell-outs! Good to see the movie holding up well. I'm sure it will have good legs. It's just a matter of holding onto its theaters in light of all the releases yet to come and not getting lost in the shuffle.

[BrandonH]

I absolutely love Ratatouille! Remy is the best lead character I've seen in some time; he is interesting and likable, but he also has some faults and dimension. Story is king, and the people at Pixar know how to make good ones. It may not be the laugh-a-minute type of movie, but every laugh is absolutely earned. It's almost cliche by now, but the animation is truly gorgeous. Every time I saw a closeup of a character, I said, "Wow."

As far as I'm concerned, Pixar is 8 for 8. I will not rank their features because I like them all equally. The best Pixar movie depends entirely on what mood I'm in, just like I might prefer lasagna to grilled chicken or enchiladas on any given night. I will say that Ratatouille is the best movie I've seen this year, and I give it 5 stars out of 5.

Lifted was a fun comic short, but it is on the low end of the totem pole for Pixar, mostly due to the disturbing audio ending.