Ratatouille

[Daniel]

You went on a holiday? Egad, it must have been mad house!

And seriously, Therese, haven't you been to your local toy isle lately? They have oodles of stuff, consisting of Remy -- misc. friends -- and cooking supplies! Got myself a keychain the other day, I did.

Although my opinion might not really count on this. My parents let me watch Roger Rabbit over and over again when I was 6

Haha, me too!

[Therese]

LOL, re the merchandise, clearly, I need to get out more.

And going to the movie on the 4th wasn't bad, a good-sized crowd, but not as full as last Saturday. I went to a noon-hour show, though, which usually tends to be less crowded. (And, from what I could tell, everyone else in the ticket line was going to "Transformers.")

[Daniel]

Oh, well that's good than. I just expected there to be more of a crowd, because of the holiday and word of mouth.

[Mitch]

I thought for sure that it would receive a 'G' rating here in America, but I guess not....

But it did...

Oh gosh, I meant to say 'PG'. Heh. Sorry about that.... *sweats*

Eh. I'm gonna see the film again today for the ninth time. Maybe "obsessed" is an understatement....

[Whippet Angel]

Speaking of cool merchandise, there's also a Ratatouille cookbook out...

[Therese]

Yesterday, I finally managed to find the soundtrack CD in a store! (I can't believe how hard it has been to find the darn thing, and the store that finally had it had only ONE copy!)

Anyway, I already knew I loved the score from seeing the movie twice, but now I'm going to be even more disappointed if Michael Giacchino doesn't get an Oscar nom for this. Such a mix of beautiful melodies, Le Jazz French, romance, excitement, so perfectly suited to the movie... ::le sigh::

I'm going to mention a couple of favorite tracks (that I already loved in context), and I'm going to do the hidden content thing so I can talk freely about the movie.

"100 Rat Dash" underscores one of my favorite scenes, the rats evacuating the farm and launching their boats into the river. This is going to stick as one of my favorite Pixar Action Set Pieces (a list led by the Flight of Flik's Bird from "A Bug's Life," and the untoppable Door Vault from "Monsters, Inc.").

"Dinner Rush" represents the climactic sequence of Linguini skating through the dining room while Remy's clan works the kitchen, and until I listened to the soundtrack, I never got that there was a "Linguini's Theme" that runs through the score. It's played for comedic purposes when Remy is first figuring out how to control his "puppet," but really soars as this big, triumphant, heroic theme for Linguini the Skating Waiter. (And I still love that business because it's where Linguini finally steps up and takes charge and proves his competence at something.) There's also a wonderful moment in this track that I can only describe as this "sparkling Gershwin" passage that I just know belongs to a wide shot of all the rats cooking away.

[droosan]

Agreed, Michael Giacchino's Ratatouille score is fantastic (and somewhat hard to find .. even in L.A.!) And yes, he does seem to 'channel' Gerschwin at times; much as he 'channeled' John Barry for The Incredibles.

I've listened to it several times a day over the past week, and I'm continually amazed by its lush variations of the central theme. It really should be a strong candidate, come Oscar season .. we'll have to wait and see.

-------------------

Happily, the Ratatouille CD contains the complete score from the film .. unlike the abbreviated offering of Meet the Robinsons from earlier this year, which squeezed nearly 20 minutes of Danny Elfman's score off the disc in order to accomodate the songs (some of which weren't even in the film!). Although Disney did produce a 'complete' Elfman score CD, which was given to the animation crew at the wrap party, the (very few) examples which have made their way onto eBay have sold in the $150 to $300 range!

It's instances such as this which provide a strong argument for separate 'score' and 'soundtrack' CD releases (as DreamWorks does for most of their films).

Actually, I've noticed that there is a separate 'song' CD for Ratatouille, entitled "What's Cookin'?" .. but I haven't bought it, since it doesn't seem to have much to do with actual music from the film .. it seems to be music 'inspired by', or even just 'tangentially related to' Paris and/or food.

[Therese]

I don't have the Ratatouille "What's Cooking?" album but I've checked it out on Amazon - it appears to be a kid-friendly album of songs about food (unrelated to the movie except for the food-centric connection). I take it some of the songs are new, but at least some of them - "Saturday Night Fish Fry," "Shoo Fly Pie," "One Meatball" and "Hold Tight," for sure - are old, big-band era songs, and most of the album seems to have that sort of "swing" feel to it.

Oh, something I've meant to say for a long time - I've known for a long time what ratatouille was and how to pronounce it, only because of the great "Fawlty Towers" episode, "Basil the Rat," and the whole verbal routine involving putting Basil in the ratatouille. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about?

[droosan]

I do. Great episode, from a great series!

[YCougar]

Last week I saw Ratatouille again, and I actually enjoyed it better the second time.

And I have to agree - the "rats escaping to the boats" scene is awesome... gave me shivers this last time. I also realized just how fantastic the chase scene between Remy and Skinner was, too.

And this time I did notice that the person being abducted in Lifted was Linguini. It made me grin.

[ShyViolet]

The Ratatouille dish looked SO mouth-watering in the film, didn't it?

Here's what it's made of:


http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/conten ... 75OTC.html





Wish there was an emoticon for "hungry"! (smiley with a knife and fork? J/K )

[Phil]

OK, Hi

I have not been here in a loooong time (new job, etc.). But I heard about a Ratatouille review that had some very interesting ideas and I wanted to pass them along here. I’ve decided to create a new thread because, although this is about Ratatouille, it’s also about studio history and politics. Moderators, feel free to move it if you disagree.

I’ll put it in spoilers, just in case.

Once upon a time there was a famous chef named Auguste Gusteau. His five-star restaurant (named after himself) was loved and respected. But when Gusteau died, his restaurant began to falter. His successor, Skinner, led the restaurant into a period of mediocrity, and eventually began to use Gusteau’s reputation and likeness to sell microwave dinners. Enter Remy, who has idolized Gusteau and has a natural talent for cooking. Remy takes Gusteau’s original recipes (with some much-needed updating) and sets the restaurant on a path toward restoring its former glory. However, due to Skinner’s continued interference Remy was no longer able to continue working at Gusteau’s and left the restaurant to open his own little bistro, Le Ratatouille.

Now let’s take that same story and change a few of the names:
Once upon a time there was a famous filmmaker named Walt Disney. His five-star studio (named after himself) was loved and respected. But when Walt died, his studio began to falter. His successor, Eisner, led the studio into a period of mediocrity, and eventually began to use Walt’s reputation and likeness to sell cheaply-made direct-to-video sequels. Enter John Lasseter, who has idolized Walt and has a natural talent for filmmaking. John takes Walt’s original recipes (with some much-needed updating) and sets the studio on a path toward restoring its former glory. However, due to Eisner’s continued interference John was no longer able to continue working at Disney and left the company to open his own little studio, Pixar.

I realize that the analogy falls apart a little toward the end. I’m not sure who Anton Ego is, and for a while I was thinking that Linguini, Gusteau’s illegitimate son, was Roy, Walt’s nephew, but that doesn’t fit very neatly either. So it’s not a perfect analogy, but it is very telling. What do you think? Are there parallels that I’ve missed?

[Ben]

Interesting, but not tied. At all.


I've also merged this to within the Rat thread, as it <I>does</I> deal with themes the movie suggests.

Glad to have you back around!

[Meg]

Hee, that's pretty funny. I think I read something similar in an article about Toy Story...Interesting but probably not true, as Ben said.

[Mitch]

ShyViolet - Oh gosh, yes. The ratatouille look liked you could eat it right off the screen....

The dish itself is actually really delicious. My sister fondly describes it as the "vegetable oatmeal" dish.

Phil - Ha! That's cool. Even if it's not true, it is pretty interesting to note....