Ratatouille
Went to this one on an Orange Wednesday, slightly wishing I was going to see Stardust and fearing corny sentimentality, but came out rejoicing! Apart from The Incredibles (da da da dah, da daaah) this is the only Disney-Pixar/Dreamworks product to come close to the magic of Toy Story, first and best. Production values were stratospheric, the voices were delightful (even though real French people might find them rather hammy), the plot full of interesting twists and details, and there were plenty of belly-laughs. It even had moments of depth and profundity that brought a tear to my eye.
For some reason it did not do so well in the US. I wonder whether the lack of family relationships in the human story (and where were the female rats, may I ask?) was behind that, along with the replacement of the sentiment “there’s no place like home” (Wizard of Oz, but cf. Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Antz, Bug’s Life, etc.) with “life is really about change” – a scary thought for some people, obviously…
