Oscar Calling
Simply put, Ratatouille is the best-reviewed film of 2007. At movie review aggregator RottenTomatoes.com, it has a 97% Freshness rating.
Worldwide, this Disney/Pixar presentation of a Brad Bird film has grossed over $553 million dollars. Ratatouille is an international sensation, still generating in excess of $20 million a week overseas…and it doesn’t appear to be slowing down.
Dependent upon the number of qualifying films for the 80th Academy Awards, there will be three to five films nominated as Best Animated Feature Film. Ratatouille is almost certain to be one of those films.
As if that wasn’t enough, recently, several entertainment industry publications, along with the Los Angeles Times, have reported that many critics feel Ratatouille also deserves to be considered for Best Picture of 2007.
If Ratatouille is nominated, it will only be the second time in Academy history that an animated film has been selected for Best Picture consideration. The first time was in 1991, when Disney’s Beauty and the Beast became the first animated film ever nominated for Best Picture.
After all that, I have to admit that on revisiting Ratatouille, it is deserving of a higher rating than I first gave it. (Read the theatrical review here.)
I still think Ratatouille has flaws and that, despite his brilliance, Brad Bird fell back on technique a bit more than he needed to, but truth be told, watching it again on DVD, I was far more impressed by its artistic achievements and moved by its story than I was the first time I saw the film.
Ratatouille, the story of two outcasts from different worlds (Remy (Patton Oswalt), the rat who dreams of being a great chef, and Linguini (Lou Romano), the garbage boy who just wants to hang on to his job), is perhaps the best example to date of Pixar’s and Bird’s belief that animation is a medium, not a genre. This is not a “kids” film. It’s first-rate entertainment for people of all ages and walks of life, and it just happens to be animated.
In addition to its superb artistry, Ratatouille also features outstanding vocal performances by Award winner Brian Dennehy as Django, Emmy Award winner Brad Garrett as the sprightly Auguste Gusteau, comic star and Emmy nominee Janeane Garofalo as Collette, Academy Award nominee Ian Holm as the conniving Skinner, and the legendary eight-time Academy Award nominee Peter O'Toole as food critic Anton Ego.
Das Discs
Now that Disney owns Pixar, it’s brought the Emeryville animation studios’ DVD releases in line with its own distribution policies. For fans of Pixar’s more traditional two-disc DVD releases, chock full as they were of features, commentaries, and just plan clowning around on camera, the menu of Ratatouille Bonus Features is a bit sparse.
There is no audio commentary.
Ratatouille’s DVD Bonus Features include a small selection of deleted scenes, introduced by Brad Bird and accompanied by selections from Michael Giacchino’s light, bubbly, Parisian style score.
Something Pixar fans have been waiting for, for a long, long time: a 2D-animated short Your Friend the Rat. Patton Oswalt and Peter Sohn reprise their roles as Remy and his brother Emile for this lighthearted take on ‘50s style edutainment films.
A scene from the 2D Pixar short Your Friend the Rat.
All images copyright© Disney Enterprises all rights reserved.
Fine Food and Film: A Conversation with Brad Bird and Thomas Keller is a featurette that cuts between Bird and Keller—who was a consultant on Ratatouille—as they discuss the similarities of bringing their respective crafts to the table and the screen.
The Pixar CG-animated short Lifted, about a young alien learning that failure is an option, which was screened with Ratatouille, is also included.
The Disney Home Entertainment press release says the DVD disc contains “More Surprises!” If by this they meant Easter Eggs, we didn’t find any. They may be referring to the several dozen inside jokes contained in the film, which have become a hallmark of virtually all Pixar films.
The Blu-ray Disc includes everything contained on the DVD, plus a few Blu-ray-only items.
Gusteau’s Gourmet Game, a Java-based game that rewards players with a “delicious bowl of ratatouille” if they keep the guests in Chez Gusteau’s happy.
Cine-Explore is an in-movie Java feature that allows viewers to customize their own behind the scenes experience with
- Animation Briefings
- Documentary Shorts
- Deleted Shots: R.I.P.
- Deleted Scenes
The day of the feature-laden, two-disc, special edition DVD release may be coming to an end. Research indicates that families with children prefer single-disc releases for their ease of use. Take heart film buffs, a compromise may be just over the horizon.
Along with their programmability and increased capacity, Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD have the potential to make feature-rich home video releases a single disc reality.
— Film A, Disc B
Disney/Pixar Presents Ratatouille
Suggested retail price: $29.99 U.S.
Feature run time: 111 Minutes
Rated: “G”
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Blu-ray Disc:
Suggested Retail Price: $34.99 U.S.
Feature Run Time: 111 Minutes
Rated: “G”
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Sound: Uncompressed High-Definition Surround Sound (48k HZ / 24-bit)
