Author’s Note: I try not to give away spoilers or ruin the movie, but there are some scenes and plot points I will discuss that I feel are important if you are bringing a child to this movie. I hope that this will not ruin your enjoyment of the film. If you don’t want to be spoiled, skip down to my final paragraph.
My initial reaction when I heard about this film was probably the same one that most people over the age of 18 or so had when they thought about a film starring a rat that cooks. I was disgusted. Rats are revolting creatures that carry disease and the rumor of a single rat in a restaurant kitchen is probably enough to ruin that restaurant. I couldn’t imagine how even the mighty Pixar could turn that into a cute feature film for families.
I watched a few film clips on the Moviefone site, and on the Disney site (see my previous entry), and I started changing my mind. The film looked great, the actors sounded great. I showed a clip to my children (girl age 12, and boy age 8 ) and they were enthusiastic about going to see it. We made plans to go see the movie on opening day, Friday June 29. I was actually looking forward to it, having taken the same 2 kids to see Shrek the Third a week previously, I felt that this movie would probably be much better.
I have been a fan of Pixar since Toy Story came out on video, and my kids wore out the VHS tape. The only Pixar/Disney film I haven’t seen is Cars. My whole family has seen and loved The Incredibles, directed by Brad Bird, who is the director of Ratatouille. Therefore, my anticipation for this movie, after I watched a few clips, was pretty high. I felt confident that if Pixar could make me believe in Woody and Buzz, they could charm me with a rat who cooks.
Before heading to the theater, I had a brief conversation with my 5 year old niece. I told her we were going to see Ratatouille, thinking that if she was interested, I would invite her along. Her mother had taken her to a Sneak Preview a couple of weeks prior to opening day, but I thought she’d like to go with her cousins if she enjoyed the film. Her review was as follows: “You won’t like it.” Stern frowny face, arms crossed over chest. If she had been standing, she would have stamped her foot. Niece’s mom explained, there is a scene where Remy’s dad tries to convince him that humans really have it in for rats, and shows him a shop window full of rat poison and dead rats, which really bothered my niece. She didn’t understand why something like that would be in a kids’ film, and I kind of agreed with her. I decided that at 8 and 12, my kids could probably handle that level of scariness.
I won’t lie to you and say I headed off to the theater confidently with my kids in tow. I was reasonably sure my 12 year old would be just fine, but I wasn’t sure about the 8 year old. He’s a pretty sturdy rough and tumble kid, but he has a sensitive side, and I didn’t want him to be worried or frightened by the film. Then I got a grip, and reasoned that Pixar, unlike other film studios, hadn’t let me down yet, and I’m a good parent, I should be able to handle my son’s concerns, if he had any.
I really enjoyed the film, ick factor and all. There were points during the movie where I turned to my 12 year old and said “that’s just gross” or “now they have to throw all that food away”, but her reaction was “Mom! He’s so cute!” So I don’t think the feeling was mutual. The kids seemed more able to turn off that “ick factor”. There is no blatant grossness like you would find in a lot of films put out for kids today, other than rats eating garbage and even that was only mildly gross in comparison with some other kids’ films I’ve been forced to sit through. (*cough* Shrek*cough*)
The scenery and animation are beautiful, and well up to the Pixar standard. Its all so detailed you really do feel like you are there with Remy and Linguini. I want to see it again just to look at all the beautiful scenes of Paris, and the detail of Gusteau’s kitchen is fantastic.
***Possible Spoilers in the next 2 paragraphs, don’t read if you don’t want to know*** (more…)
