I got to catch this yesterday at a Black Carpet preview. I don't quite understand the team-up of miceSpace and Pixar, but I can't argue with a free screening to an excellent film =) Captain Keri was kind enough to play advance scout and save me a spot in line over an hour before showtime.
Honestly, I can't say I'm surprised, but how else to put it? — PIXAR does it again! Freakin' genius! A beautiful Paris full of loveable rats! And some pretty okay rodents, too! All voiced by talented actors (including Patton Oswalt, Will Arnett, Janeane Garofulo, Ian Holm, and Peter O'Toole) and animated with style, personality, and brilliant timing. A clever and wonderful follow-thru on a sweetly improbable premise. In case you're not familiar with the set-up already, the film is about a young rodent named Remy. He's an outsider among his own family because his tastes lead him to want more than a simple rat's life of foraging in garbage for sustenance. Instead, Remy wishes to cook, create, and enjoy culinary delicacies! When he finds himself in Paris, in the kitchen of the restaurant of the chef he idolizes, he teams up with a clueless cook and, in an odd foodie's Cyrano de Berge-rat scenario, finally has an opportunity to realize his dream.
Kooky, no? Pfah, I don't do it justice. Please see the trailer for a better summary and taste of the story.
And, for those who care about cg 3-d imaging, you will be knocked out, not only *gorgeous* water, fire, and fur, and a Paris with all the right atmosphere and cinematic beauty and appeal of every Paris you've seen on film, but remarkably delicious-looking FOOD!
A heartwarming story populated with entertaining characters and full of laughs and visual treats for all ages.
One note on a funny from the film. Me being me, perhaps I'm too quick to go to the gutter with humor, particularly entendre material, but MAN, that dirty old O'Toole gets to drop a pretty adult joke in there!
Don't dare show up late or you'll miss the pre-show short, the simple comic genius of "Lifted!" Thank you, Pixar, for doing what you do, and do best, once again marrying most excellent characters and storytelling with such *animated* animation!
A note about the Black Carpet screening. While there was a line of miceSpacers forming almost two hours before showtime, once in the theater, after at least a 40 minute delay past showtime, the room was still NOT "sold out." There were still dozens of seats available. Apparently, the draw of a free screening of RATATOUILLE promoted by/via miceSpace wasn't able to fill the theater. Pearls before swine? (oink oink) Just bad timing? If you check Black Carpet's ms page, you'll see videos from previous multi-city screenings, of the likes of RENO 911 and JACKASS 2, reinforcing the apparent ubiquity of the network and its power to promote. Alas, it seems that the channel just didn't do as much and couldn't generate as much participation for RATATOUILLE as it did for AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE.
As long as I'm the beneficiary of such offers, I'm certainly not gonna complain. I'm just, y'know... sayin'
July 3, 2007. Hrmm... Somewhen in the last few weeks "Black Carpet" changed their name to "Black Curtain..."
Keep on keepin on~
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