June 17: Rats

Katie and I went to a sneak preview of the new Disney/Pixar movie Ratatouille last night. We give it four thumbs up!

The story was sweet and funny and entertaining, but it was the animation that was absolutely stunning. What have they done with their software? It's like they have a pastel filter on it, but it makes things look amazing instead of blurry. Being set in Paris certainly didn't hurt.

All the rats are cute, but you should know there are at least two scenes where they're scurrying all through the old lady's house and the restaurant kitchen. It might be a bit unsettling if you're bothered by that sort of thing (if they were spiders I'da been outta there faster than you can say, "Hey lady, that's not an exit!"). Ye be warned.

Disney's Ratatouille web site has lots of pictures, downloadable wallpapers, movie clips, and a cool 19-page PDF activity book.

The animated short they showed before the movie was Lifted. It was good, definitely better than the last one (I thought One Man Band was a little high-brow, especially to be shown before Cars, even though the animation style was quite beautiful).

As this was a sneak preview, and every other sneak preview I've ever gone to has sold out long before showtime, I bought our tickets at Fandango earlier in the day. I'd never actually used the service before, and it was so easy I didn't mind paying the $1/ticket convenience charge. The best part, of course, was knowing that we wouldn't have to wait in line forever just to find out the movie was sold out. I will totally use Fandango again.

The only bummer of the evening was that this was going to be the first movie all four of us would see together in the theater. However, Jack was naughty naughty naughty earlier in the day and we're trying to teach him about consequences. He does not like learning about consequences, especially when it means staying home and missing Ratatouille. Vic wasn't so thrilled about staying home either.

So that's my not very critical critique of Ratatouille. It's really a great feel-good movie and we liked it very much. It opens everywhere June 29. Just be sure to check out the IMDB site before you go so you know who does the voices and then it won't drive you crazy the whole movie long like it did me. (Ohhhh! Peter O'Toole! Of course!!)