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spatchThere is a scene in THE INCREDIBLES, Brad Bird's 2005 animated feature, in which the 10-year-old budding superhero Dash, forbidden to use his powers of superspeed in "everyday" life, is finally allowed to run full-blast in order to escape from some menacing mechanical buzzsaw hovercraft. As he is pursued, he finds himself running over a body of water. He looks down. He realizes that he's fast enough to actually run on water. He grins with wide-eyed astonishment (I believe he also indicates that this is "cooool!") and then takes off even faster. Dash leads the buzzsaw hovercraft through a wild and exhilirating chase sequence which perfectly captures the joy of someone who finally gets the freedom to do not only what they love, but what they do well.
Dash's scene is but one of many wonderful scenes in THE INCREDIBLES, but the only one that really nails that feeling. RATATOUILLE, on the other hand, is all about that joy. I am beginning to suspect it also represents exultation on Pixar's part of gaining creative freedom from under the thumb of Eisner & Co.
See, RATATOUILLE was slated to be the first film released by Pixar after it had finally and officially broken off with Disney. That meant that the film was developed with no creative input, for varying definitions of the word "creative", from Disney executives because it wasn't theirs to touch. It wasn't an easy task; Brad Bird was asked to take over Jan Pinkava's "Rats!" project after assisting as story doctor for a brief spell. Brad then performed a complete overhaul and was able to do so without The Mouse continually sticking its collective fingers into the, er, pie or sauce or souffle or whatever cooking metaphor is supposed to go here.
Then suddenly Disney announces it's buying Pixar outright. As part of the terms of sale, Disney is contracturally obligated to release RATATOUILLE. Without being able to muck about with it.
Brad Bird looks down, looks back, sees he's outrunning the execs, grins and goes "Cooool!"
The result is that we get to see what Pixar was going to show off as its "See what we can do without those guys?" film. Its initial shot across the bow of Disney animation, if you will, and I hope you do. And considering how the film is all about discovering what you love to do, realizing that you do a very good job of it, and then exulting in the freedom of going out and doing it, I'd say that was a rather appropriate message to send as one's declaration of studio independence.
And then Disney got it back. But they didn't know what to do with the film. They had to release it, but had no idea how to market it. They couldn't figure out which target demographic to target (is it for kids? or for people who can actually pronounce the name?) so they just sold it in a relatively quiet fashion, atypical of The Mouse's usual marketing blitz, and told folks not to set their financial expectations too high on this one.
The fact that RATATOUILLE has, in its second weekend, without benefit of Disney's typical relentless promotion and cross-promotion and cross-cross-promotion, posted a domestic gross of just under the same amount as the overpromoted CARS had by its second weekend ($109M vs $117M, respectively) is amazing testament to the quality of the feature. Apparently word-of-mouth can put butts in seats if the film's worthy enough.
And the fact that the film is absolutely gorgeous, amazingly animated and has a touching and inspiring story without turning preachy or treacly (seriously, Anton Ego gets more character development in a 10-second flashback than most cartoon villians get in an entire feature) is just, well, icing on the cake. Or whatever cooking metaphor you want to put there. My god it was astonishing. There was the level of detail and technical complexity (that bread! the wet fur! the way the rats breathe in short little breaths like real rodents do!) and the swirling, swooping, amazingly exhilirating scenes, perfectly choreographed and paced, especially the sequences involving Remy the rat in the kitchen of Gusteau's.
Then there was the fact that while this was rated G, there were still grown-up conventions throughout (did you actually think you'd see the day when a Disney film featured an actual factual honest-to-goodness bastard as its human protagonist, and practically labels him so?) Oh, and all the culinary and foodie bits, including a power dynamic familiar to anyone who's ever worked in a kitchen, from the tyrannical head chef to the martinet sous chef (are they ever not dour?) to the sole woman in the kitchen who's had to fiercely assert herself to even get the privilege to work the line. And on it goes, right on down to "Oui, Chef", the universal kitchen equivalent of "aye aye!" (There's a reason Anthony Bourdain gets a thank-you at the end of the film; this stuff is straight outta Kitchen Confidential.)
It should be no surprise that Brad's crew did some serious research for the film, including what must have been some horribly arduous fieldwork at French Laundry, La Tour d'Argent and Taillevent, among other fancy eatin' places. Thomas Keller even gets a voice cameo as one of the diners at Gusteau's. Pixar does its homework. Pixar wants to get things right. Want to know what a fellow in chef's whites would look like after going for a unexpected dip in the Seine? Well, Pixar actually dunked a guy in chef's whites just to find out. It is this attention to detail and love of the craft (and no shorcuts such as motion-capture, as the end credits boast) combined with great storytelling that makes RATATOUILLE probably the most beautiful animated feature I've ever seen. Sure, I've a few quibbles with some of the story, but they're pfiffling and honestly, at the end of the film, they didn't matter. The applause did.
So yeah, I liked it. Maybe sometime I'll tell you even more reasons why.
Dash's scene is but one of many wonderful scenes in THE INCREDIBLES, but the only one that really nails that feeling. RATATOUILLE, on the other hand, is all about that joy. I am beginning to suspect it also represents exultation on Pixar's part of gaining creative freedom from under the thumb of Eisner & Co.
See, RATATOUILLE was slated to be the first film released by Pixar after it had finally and officially broken off with Disney. That meant that the film was developed with no creative input, for varying definitions of the word "creative", from Disney executives because it wasn't theirs to touch. It wasn't an easy task; Brad Bird was asked to take over Jan Pinkava's "Rats!" project after assisting as story doctor for a brief spell. Brad then performed a complete overhaul and was able to do so without The Mouse continually sticking its collective fingers into the, er, pie or sauce or souffle or whatever cooking metaphor is supposed to go here.
Then suddenly Disney announces it's buying Pixar outright. As part of the terms of sale, Disney is contracturally obligated to release RATATOUILLE. Without being able to muck about with it.
Brad Bird looks down, looks back, sees he's outrunning the execs, grins and goes "Cooool!"
The result is that we get to see what Pixar was going to show off as its "See what we can do without those guys?" film. Its initial shot across the bow of Disney animation, if you will, and I hope you do. And considering how the film is all about discovering what you love to do, realizing that you do a very good job of it, and then exulting in the freedom of going out and doing it, I'd say that was a rather appropriate message to send as one's declaration of studio independence.
And then Disney got it back. But they didn't know what to do with the film. They had to release it, but had no idea how to market it. They couldn't figure out which target demographic to target (is it for kids? or for people who can actually pronounce the name?) so they just sold it in a relatively quiet fashion, atypical of The Mouse's usual marketing blitz, and told folks not to set their financial expectations too high on this one.
The fact that RATATOUILLE has, in its second weekend, without benefit of Disney's typical relentless promotion and cross-promotion and cross-cross-promotion, posted a domestic gross of just under the same amount as the overpromoted CARS had by its second weekend ($109M vs $117M, respectively) is amazing testament to the quality of the feature. Apparently word-of-mouth can put butts in seats if the film's worthy enough.
And the fact that the film is absolutely gorgeous, amazingly animated and has a touching and inspiring story without turning preachy or treacly (seriously, Anton Ego gets more character development in a 10-second flashback than most cartoon villians get in an entire feature) is just, well, icing on the cake. Or whatever cooking metaphor you want to put there. My god it was astonishing. There was the level of detail and technical complexity (that bread! the wet fur! the way the rats breathe in short little breaths like real rodents do!) and the swirling, swooping, amazingly exhilirating scenes, perfectly choreographed and paced, especially the sequences involving Remy the rat in the kitchen of Gusteau's.
Then there was the fact that while this was rated G, there were still grown-up conventions throughout (did you actually think you'd see the day when a Disney film featured an actual factual honest-to-goodness bastard as its human protagonist, and practically labels him so?) Oh, and all the culinary and foodie bits, including a power dynamic familiar to anyone who's ever worked in a kitchen, from the tyrannical head chef to the martinet sous chef (are they ever not dour?) to the sole woman in the kitchen who's had to fiercely assert herself to even get the privilege to work the line. And on it goes, right on down to "Oui, Chef", the universal kitchen equivalent of "aye aye!" (There's a reason Anthony Bourdain gets a thank-you at the end of the film; this stuff is straight outta Kitchen Confidential.)
It should be no surprise that Brad's crew did some serious research for the film, including what must have been some horribly arduous fieldwork at French Laundry, La Tour d'Argent and Taillevent, among other fancy eatin' places. Thomas Keller even gets a voice cameo as one of the diners at Gusteau's. Pixar does its homework. Pixar wants to get things right. Want to know what a fellow in chef's whites would look like after going for a unexpected dip in the Seine? Well, Pixar actually dunked a guy in chef's whites just to find out. It is this attention to detail and love of the craft (and no shorcuts such as motion-capture, as the end credits boast) combined with great storytelling that makes RATATOUILLE probably the most beautiful animated feature I've ever seen. Sure, I've a few quibbles with some of the story, but they're pfiffling and honestly, at the end of the film, they didn't matter. The applause did.
So yeah, I liked it. Maybe sometime I'll tell you even more reasons why.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 05:45 pm (UTC)I hate Disney. Long live Pixar.
Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:10 pm (UTC)And as long as he can show that they can reap big bux without sacrificing quality, he'll be able to do whatever he wants.
Still, there's no promises, only hope. And I hope that this works. If not, well, we'll always have Paris.
Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 06:20 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 06:21 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 06:36 pm (UTC)However, there is one bit near the end which I believe you will absolutely detest. It is an important turning point but one I think that, given what I know about your tastes and creative bent, may be the gamekiller. I'd explain in greater detail but it involves spoilers.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 06:38 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 06:38 pm (UTC)I agree with everything you said about the artistic AWESOMENESS, and it really was a beautiful portrayal of finding your joy in life, of becoming an artist in the non-masturbatory Romantic self-indulgent sense. But I wish it hadn't left me feeling like...well, apparently anyone can cook, but you're only worth making a movie about if you're a man. (Or a male rat.)
Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:40 pm (UTC)Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:40 pm (UTC)Cars 2: I hadn't heard about that, but I guess I have now, and I don't particularly like the concept. I really enjoyed Cars for many reasons, but I consider it Pixar's weakest film to date. (There is the prevailing rumor that, while preparing to depart from The Mouse, Pixar deliberately lowballed Cars so as to let their first independent feature shine, but I'm really not buying that, considering the only failure Cars experienced was of the critical kind, definitely not the financial kind.)
Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:46 pm (UTC)My favorite is The Incredibles. It is probably one of my favorite movies of all time. I can watch it over and over again without getting sick of it.
Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:54 pm (UTC)Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 06:58 pm (UTC)I can see ways to expand on the Toy Story world as TS2 did, at least.
(spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-15 07:19 pm (UTC)Thing is, I don't think Linguini surpasses Colette. Personally, at least. He does in the public eye, however, and she calls him on it. She totally nails him on it. And I'd go so far as to say that when it came to mentoring, Remy was the one who got any benefit from it. At the end of it all, I'd say Liguini is merely a figurehead while Remy and Colette, as equals, exist above him. And I believe he gained the humility to accept that (yet at the risk of spoilers, I was kinda hoping Colette would fully take over the biz. But there's another running theme in the story -- that of the figurehead, be it Gusteau or Linguini, being manipulated behind the scenes. Are we always to accept that?)
Now: What if Colette had been clued in to Remy early on? How would she have treated Linguini? I am suspecting she may have known he was a fraud all along, but then this romance thing came into it.
I think throwing romance into it was forced. Completely forced. I don't like it when romance is forced. It is a device used simply to make sure the two characters have something to like about each other even when there hasn't been much else developed. (One of my pfiffling quibbles.)
The lack of any other major female characters is more than pfiffling now that I reflect upon it.
In the original story treatment, Remy was to have a mom, the matriarch of the brood -- but moms are always the nurturing and caring characters in a story like this. Remy would have never had the compulsion to strike out on his own and continue that way had he not been constantly trying to fight the lifestyle which his father tried to impose upon him. Still, it doesn't explain why the only rats we deal with are guys.
On the other hand, with the absence of female rats, at least we didn't have to endure Remy falling in love, too.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 07:48 pm (UTC)If you do not write reviews professionally - please consider it.
FYI, in Mark Ruhlman's cooking blog, Anthony Bourdain raved about this movie - apparently they hired him to consult after it was nearly done. Bourdain don't give good reviews, often.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 08:30 pm (UTC)And yes, the movie was gorgeous. That moment with Ego was genius. Hubby was a garde-manger and then a sous-chef once--we had many moments laughing our asses off where the rest of the theater completely missed the joke. That took balls on Bird's part. My four-year old daughter dug it heavily. She also thought 'Cars' sucked. A proud moment for Mama.
Re: (spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-15 08:45 pm (UTC)You can't laud Pixar in one breath for their dedication to authenticity, and then complain about the lack of females in a professional high class kitchen. Especially when they make a point of telling you why that is, and mentioning that the system isn't fair.
Re: Quality of Product is Essential to Continuing Success
Date: 2007-07-15 09:13 pm (UTC)Re: (spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-15 09:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 09:53 pm (UTC)As for the lack of females quibble, I honestly mildly noticed but paid it no mind. Colette explains very well and honestly why there's no other women in the kitchen. There's plenty of female diners and news people, even the first critic was I believe a woman. As for the lack of female rats, to be fair we really only saw 4 rats with any depth - Remy, Emile, Dad, and the big lug Emile's friend. It makes sense that most of Emile's friends would be male. We don't know there were no female rats, we just didn't have focus on any but those few.
Re: (spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-15 10:31 pm (UTC)Which would be the reason I didn't complain about the lack of women among the kitchen staff. I *did* mention how disheartening it was that they felt the need to turn the really-blatantly-Julia-Child-figure into a man, which could be seen as a failure of authenticity, if you want to argue primarily on that tack.
Re: (spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-15 10:41 pm (UTC)That's interesting about the original plan for the mother rat! It is true that the mother stereotype is really heavy and annoying, but it doesn't creep me out as much as just *leaving out* the women, which I'm seeing more and more the past several years. I mean, they could have had a mother rat play the same role the father did--he was acting largely out of protectiveness, after all, as well as provincialness and prejudice, which are hardly male qualities. *g* Or Remy could have had two parents, one who supported him and one who didn't. Or he could have had a sister. Or at least a more specific *memory* of his mother, or his father could have had some lines that actually described her, or--*something.* You know?
Colette is definitely more complicated, because the explicit acknowledgement of insitutional sexism is so rare--I mean, it knocked me right over when I watched. Holy crap, the kids' movie is acknowledging how the system is set up to keep women down!!! Which makes a lot of the stuff that came afterward less noxious to me.
(And augh, yeah, why did she have to fall in LOVE--this movie was RIPE for a rich exploration of mother-son relationships! Remy's mother whose death both ties the remaining family together and drives a wedge between him and his father because of the overprotectiveness. Linguine's mother who exercises protective agency from beyond the grave and, bizarrely for an animated kids' movie, is actually acknowledged as having had a sexual romantic relationship with a man in order to *have* that child. Colette as Linguine's protector and teacher and ultimately the one who trusts him unconditionally...Kids' movies are always about father/son or father/daughter relationships, which makes me very sad.)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-15 10:51 pm (UTC)Gusteau--based on a RL woman, but a male character
Ego--male
Remy--male
Emile--male
Emile's friend--male
Dad--male
Lawyer--male
Health inspector--male
Granny with shotgun--female
That's eight roles. One is female, and I don't believe she has any lines(aside from muttering/screaming *g*). You could reasonably argue that the bulked-up physically intimidating rat would have to be male. Which leaves six speaking roles without a fixed gender, and they're *all men.* Not to mention the explicit *absence* of Remy's mother, who didn't even get any specific reminiscing, just a brief mention for a few seconds.
I mean, yeah, it'd be problematic also if there were two or three "bad" women characters and all the protagonists were male. I'd complain about that too, to be honest. But--it would be less disturbing than just deciding there are no women in Paris except this one chef. (Good lord, no wonder she's angry! *g*)
Re: (spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-15 11:45 pm (UTC)Re: (spoiling hopefully minimized, watch out people)
Date: 2007-07-16 12:19 am (UTC)