Film Review

Ratatouille and No End in Sight

I saw two films on DVD the other night: Ratatouille and the documentary, No End in Sight.

I don't have a hell of a lot to say about either of them, actually.

First: Ratatouille. Good movie. But did it live up to all the hype? Not in my book. Yes, the animation was stunning. Yes, there were some incredible cinematic moments - the ride on the cookbook through the sewer, Remy's tour of the apartment building in Paris, or my friend Michael's high-point (which I agree with): the moment when the critic (Ego) tasted the Ratatouille and immediately flashed back to his childhood. Brilliant.

I had a couple of BIG problems with it, though. (Spoilers ahead!) The biggest peeve I had was: why is the screenplay getting such raves? The basic story is a rat who wants to cook gets separated from his colony, helps an inept human, learns something about himself, and we're done. The contrived storyline of Linguini maybe being the bastard son of Remy's inspiration was straight out of The Young & the Ratless. "Oh my goodness! Is he his son? What if he finds out? Will everyone live happily ever after?" It was so...contrived...I wanted to throw up a little.

But, I wanted to throw up even more watching a bunch of rats cook meals for humans. I know it's a cartoon and they're cartoon rats, but it gave me shivers every time I saw it. The director (Brad Bird) tried to soften that a bit by having human characters almost vomit when they saw it, too. But self-referential humor like this basically screams: "I know this is wrong, but what else can we do? We started the movie and we have to finish it." Just because Bird knew it might make some viewers uncomfortable, doesn't make it "all better" by showing us he's aware of it. He was basically telling us to "get over it." Blech.

The voice characterizations were super, as was the art direction, cinematography and score. I just wish I wasn't so turned-off by a lot of the movie.

No End in Sight is a documentary about the mistakes the US has made in the war in Iraq. I can only say this: watch it. You'll get angry. You'll get aggravated. You'll be so sorry you ever voted for George Bush (if you did). It's amazing that this ineptitude was right in front of our noses and never reported by the mass media in such a clear, concise way. This film is Sicko's chief competition for the Oscar(r) this year. I'm willing to bet it wins.