Tag Archive for 'pixar'

Ratatouille

Published
by
James McNally
on June 29, 2007
in Theatrical Release
. Closed

Ratatouille

Ratatouille (Director: Brad Bird, USA, 2007): My first thought upon seeing an animated rat cooking in the kitchen of a French restaurant was “Wow! I hope this film can get kids interested in good food.” So I hope we don’t end up seeing Ratatouille Happy Meals at McDonald’s. Seriously, although the main theme of the film was being “true to yourself” or something like that, I was just impressed that a film aimed at kids would take the risk of trying to bring something adult and exotic (and some would say snobby) within their reach. Especially at a time when the food offered to the majority of us is so bland and unhealthy.

As always, Pixar have outdone themselves. I skipped Cars after hearing a few less-than-stellar reviews, but am glad I saw this. The attention to detail is simply stunning, and the food looks real enough that I could almost smell and taste it. Thomas Keller, of Napa destination The French Laundry, was a consultant on the film and it shows. (Maybe The French Laundry could offer Ratatouille Happy Meals. It would be great if they could get the price under $100. Ok, not funny.)

Food blogger Meg Hourihan and her husband Jason Kottke have both posted better reviews than mine, so I’ll stop here. Besides, I’m suddenly a little bit hungry…

P.S. As someone who works in the wine business, it was funny to see the very special 1961 Château Latour at the heart of a key scene.

Official site for the film

9/10(9/10)

TMNT

Published
by
Jay Kerr
on March 27, 2007
in Theatrical Release
. Closed
TMNT

TMNT (Director: Kevin Munroe, USA/Hong Kong, 2007): If you’re over the age of ten, you might not know that TMNT stands for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If you’re under the age of ten, you might not know that TMNT was the top weekend flick with $25.45 million in ticket sales.

I found myself sitting in the a theatre with my 7-year-old son Daniel, waiting for TMNT to start. Like most 7-year-olds, he has a fascination with ninja turtles. I don’t. All I could think about were the really bad one-star reviews I had read about the film.

By the time the credits rolled, I was relieved. The movie wasn’t that bad. It’s basically a 3D version of the TV show but with really good production values. The animation by Imagi Entertainment is impressive and gave me something to admire while the turtles ate pizza and bickered.

The animation and the rendering don’t live up to Pixar standards, but so what. A 7-year-old kid isn’t going to notice or care about how realistic the fabrics are rendered or if the inverse-kinematics in the character animation is incredibly realistic.

It made me wonder who Pixar is really making their incredible films for. Why not crank out a bunch of mediocre movies like everyone else? Why raise the 3D bar with every film? The kids won’t care or really notice so long as the story is solid. Will they?

I tried to get Daniel to write a review but he thought that would be too boring. So I asked him what he thought about the film. “It was good” was the only response I could get at first. I asked him what he hated about the film and he responded with, “the long talking parts.” Hmm, okay.

I asked which movie he thought was better, Superman Returns or TMNT. I was sure he would pick Superman Returns but he quickly replied with, “TMNT. It had way more action.” My shoulders slumped forward and my chin collapsed into my chest. When I recovered, Daniel asked me if we could get the TMNT video game for PS2.

Official Film Site
Official Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Site