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| Ratatouille | 
 enlarge | Actor: Ian Holm
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $11.99
You Save: $18.00 (60%)
New (84) Used (34) Collectible (4) from $10.11
Avg. Customer Rating:  634 reviews
Sales Rank: 195
Format: Digital Sound, Dolby, Ntsc, Widescreen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: G (General Audience)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 111
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: DISD53714D
UPC: 786936727173
EAN: 0786936727173
ASIN: B000VBJEEG
Theatrical Release Date: June 29, 2007
Release Date: November 6, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 "Ratatouille": A Pretentious, Unfunny, Ear-Splitting Mishmash of Social Agendas, Bad Ambiance and Visual Excesses July 1, 2007
21 out of 257 found this review helpful
Ever since the preview came out, I looked forward to seeing "Ratatouille" with a glowing and anticipatory glee. I even made a point of reserving a seat at the most luxurious, opulent moviehouse in Manhattan, the Ziegfeld showplace theater on 54th Street. As I walked onto the luxuriant plush red embroidered carpeting of the Ziegfeld, I was sure that I could spend the next two hours of my life in pleasant laughter, relaxation and artistic bliss.
No such luck!
Ratatouille turned out to be another over-the-top, soulless, conceited Hollywood animation gimmick to lure a big box office with over-the-top high-definition animated graphics, over-the-top, gratuitous action scenes (bordering on violent and scary), and lazy, contrived attempts at humor and storytelling which were nothing more than a rehash of tired old stereotypes, slapstick vaudeville routine, and use of any ethinic, social or psychobabble urban mythology which might possibly provoke an audience to force themselves to laugh.
In fact, I can't even write a complete review of "Ratatouille" here, because I was so irritated and assaulted by this film that I felt compelled to walk out of the auditorium and leave after only thirty minutes. Not only that, but I actually felt compelled to wait in the lobby for ten minutes while the manager gave me a refund, that's how indignant, offended and violated I felt.
Specifically: The movie's first 30 minutes featured the following irritating, offensive aspects: 1. The sound levels of the movie (not the theater, because there were quiet segments which disproved that it was the theater's sound system) were ear-splittingly, dangerously loud during many of its "action" sequences, most of which in my view would be scary, upsetting and maybe cause nightmares or upset in children. I would certainly not take my young children to see such a movie. OK, the movie is about a rat, which would be ok since he is drawn adequately cute and cuddly, but the producers felt it was also necessary to show marauding packs of thousands of filthy rats hoarding and swarming the entire screen as if they were trying to parody the rat horror flicks of the 1970's. Was it effective? Yes, it effectively made me nauseous and even disturbed, and I'm not 5, I'm 39 years old. 2., In the first 20 minutes, there are several scenes of extreme violence, all of which I thought were totally unnecessary, excessive and again, disturbing. Animated films are supposed to show *restraint* and *discretion* in the choice of their visuals and dialogue, not to immitate a Rambo action movie. Yet no such restraint and discretion was observed here, instead, the directors seemed to think they were free to shoot this movie as if it was "Die Hard III". In addition, 3., the film felt continuously as if the producers had a definite, pre-conceived "agenda"; that is, not to make a natural, free-flowing story of real characters, compelling storyline and natural comedy, music and jokes, but rather to make a movie where they had to insert an endless amount of P.C. (politically-correct) story elements and opinion-points to get across a pre-conceived "message" to the audience, checking off political points from a list as they went along. So, in the first twenty minutes, our senses are bombarded when an otherwise quiet senior citizen-retiree grandma character quietly enjoying TV suddenly gains the strength of a 20-year-old young man and literally goes "berserk" when she sees Remy and his brother rat, pulling out a 12-guage shotgun, firing about twenty-five 150-decible rounds into the walls (this is where I think my ears were damaged--in fact, my ears still hurt me now even 4 1/2 hours later), trying to blow Remy and brother to pulp, before the producers have her reach on her shelf for more buckshot to reload.
Obviously (unless I'm just imagining things), the producers of this film (isn't Pixar and Dreamworks owned by the anti-Gun Rights zealot Steven Shpielberg?) are against people owning guns, because as they emphasize so aggressively and violently, all granmdas in farm country who own shotguns apparently always keep their guns leaning next to them on their recliners when they are watching TV, and they are all so senile and dementiated that they have pop-open umbrellas shoved into the barrels, which pop open in their face when they try to fire at any assailant; and, these otherwise placid grandmas will grab the shotgun at the drop of a hat, and proceed to shoot up their entire cottage, causing thousands of dollars of damage, on the mere sight of any rodent or any other possible threat, whether it's a stray ant, butterfly, or a scary unknown shadow. It's obvious that Steven Shpielberg and his team at Pixar have never lived with gun owners nor in farm country, otherwise they would know that gun owners in country cottages don't shoot up and destroy their homes when they find rodents, they lay traps and poison or they dispatch their cats. But then, if Pixar left out the crazed shotgun-wielding grandma scene, they wouldn't be addressing their producers' pet-peeve gun-control agenda item. (Of course, maybe Steven Shpielberg HAS lived in the country, but he probably lived on an estate with private armed security guards, which is why he doesn't understand that most of the rest of us can't afford private security and we need to own our own guns if we want self-defense.)
Then ten minutes later in Paris, Remy spies on a typically-explosive, zealously jealous French couple, who are arguing so intensely that they point a semi-automatic pistol at each other, before quickly flinging it away and leaping into a passionate embrace. Again, according to the producers, anyone who owns a gun is a crazy, unstable basket case, and no one, especially French lovers, or those inclined to love as passionately as French lovers do, should ever be allowed to own a gun, which apparently is why France is wise and intelligent to have so much stricter gun control than we have here in the U.S., or so we're meant to believe. Thank God gun owners and people in general are almost always more responsible than how they're portrayed in this hairbrained movie and the rest of Hollywood. Now granted, the threat of gun violence has been portrayed even in classic animated movies I've loved greatly, such as "Pocahontas", but it was done subtly, and it was done in appropriate moments, and it was not over-the-top or even contrived, it was done because it was right and it made sense--here it was obviously and overtly a political or social message: gun owners are all crazy, guns should be banned for civilians, who are just too incompetent and stupid to have them, and inanimate guns are dangerous in and of themselves, blah, blah, blah. Maybe America's #1 Victim-Disarmer, Michael Bloomberg, was one of "Ratatouille's" principal investors, who knows. It certainly does display all of Bloomberg's famous manipulativeness and conniving dishonesty.
Even in the fancy kitchen environment of Chef Gusteau's 5-Star restaurant where Remy winds up, we're made to sit through fancy, multi-trillion dollar special effects when our poor dopey rat falls into simmering stews, soapy kitchen sinks and buckets of detergent, and we can see every boring pixel of these various liquids and sauces as Remy tumbles into them and thrashes to the surface, yet nowhere is all of this fancy technical animation wizardry even the least bit pleasing or redeeming. And, the creators bungled Gusteau's character, instead of being humorous they only succeed in giving him the biggest jowls and stomach in all of France, but they forgot to make him look genuinely pleasing and enjoyable. The movie's portrayal of French people in general was merely a cross between the usual cynical, surly, nasty French grease ball-type or the pompous, self-absorbed effeminate fools which Americans are constantly urged to think all French people are by our media pundits, people like Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and similar low-lifes (all of whom themselves usually enjoy vacationing in France, which they know is one of the most beautiful and sophisticated cultures and nations in the entire world. Maybe they just don't want to let the rest of us in on their little secret, but is there really anyone anywhere, even here in Freedom Fry America, who ISN'T aware that France, with its charming, classy, educated men, knockout-gorgeous style-savvy women, classic architecture, art, exquisite geography and culture, is an utterly beautiful and heavenly place to eat, live, talk, and love??).
The dialogue and storyline, for the first 30 minutes I was there, was more irritating, incoherent and scattered than it was illuminating or inspiring. In fact, the story played on all the usual gimmicks and cliches, with a sourpuss cynical rat father, the bright, go-for-anything younger brother character who turns out having the exact opposite of dad's personality, the Chef-deity spirit of Chef Gusteau, who the film prematurely reveals is only "a figment" of Remy's over-active culinary imagination; and of course, the hopeless underdog loser Linguini, who doubtless succeeds beyond everyone's wildest expectations at the end, right?
How sad it all is. As I truly had been eagerly looking forward to enjoying a fine animated work of art, or at the very least a skillful and tastefully done film production. I had very high expectations for this movie, and I was grossly let down. Alas, when we crash into Reality, we realize again that it is usually not to be, not when rich investors need only pluck down a few hundred million, and their Hollywood animation houses can think up an appealing story idea (a French country rat who becomes a world-class chef--yes, that really is a GREAT idea with true potential, yet miserably wasted in this film), crank out a high-tech, easily-marketable animation extravaganza along with a slick movie trailer to pull in yearning audiences, and count on a horde of reliable industry-insider movie critics who will guarantee them a five-star, glowing review, all turned on a dime. And No, I don't care how happily or rosily this movie turned out in the end; like all Hollywood films, I'm sure everything turned our perfectly for our heroes and they all lived happily ever after, yet all that matters to me was that the first thirty minutes were TERRIBLE, therefore the movie was terrible for me, Period. A really great movie is great from start to finish, not just great for the last half or two-third's.
When I go to animated movies, I'm prepared to suspend my disbelief and actually accept that Paris' most celebrated Chef has returned from food heaven to guide our heroes to immortality; but magic just won't be allowed, for this movie is made by the same kind of therapeutic-state businessmen as the ones who invest in a pharmaceutical industry that wants to force-feed our children Ritalin and anti-depressants; and a bad animated film like this is certainly enough to make any young child viewer eventually need to be put on a regime of Ritalin or anti-depressants--it's probably movies like this that are partly one reason so many of our kids ARE on Ritalin and Zyprexa.
In summary, this film was so disappointing, assaultative on my senses and sensibilities, and disrespectful of my aesthetic tastes and intelligence that I was forced to quickly leave before enduring any more of it.
I'm the kind of kid at heart who yearns for things of beauty that I can believe in and admire with all my soul. I love films like "Mulan", "Pocahontas", "Fantasia", movies of pure beauty, innocence, elegance and simplicity, and of course also Japanese anime and European comic novels where artists and writers at least treat their audiences with intellectual respect and sensitivity, if some young children happen to get a hold of those; but I don't care at all for an aggressive, loud, intellectually-lazy film like "Ratatouille" where the producers are calculatingly intent on shoving an aggressive and crude political and social agenda down my throat.
I feel very upset having had my evening ruined going to this. How is a young child going to feel seeing Ratatouille? Either they're going to be upset by it, or they're going to be bored (hopefully) and leave, or worse, they're going to be further damaged and desensitized from another of the gratuitous, psychologically-heavy "entertainment" offerings we're constantly bombarded with in this country, films like Shrek Parts 1-100 and the rest of them, where every kids' film has to be a mind-blowing electrocution of subtle messages, hyperactive pranks, social commentary, elaborate visuals, clever entendras, nerve-shattering action scenes and cruel inside jokes. I'm sorry, but it all gives me a headache. Can't we make simple, enjoyable, warm movies anymore, movies that don't try to be too much, movies that even might have some quiet, tranquil moments??
Yeah, Ratatouille has stunning, near-divine high definition animation. Unfortunately, it's the product of a bunch of shallow, politically-motivated Hollywood business people who don't know the first thing about what is important in High Art--and that's the kind of art I think animated movies should live up to, when they are following in the footsteps of the classic Disney-type films, and animation was first created with that aspiring ideal and commitment to pure beauty. I'll give them a hint: Any great movie starts with the writing and scripting, not with budgeting $100 billion for the f/x department. And animation art is supposed to flow and blossom naturally, not be jerked and prodded along like prisoners on the Bataan Death March.
"Ratatouille" was a complete failure before the film even ended, when I was nowhere to be seen by the other people who had stayed to watch it. Apparently, they have far more endurance and tolerance for mediocrity than I do. Instead, I found a beautiful new art deco bar nearby where they had about a million times the sense of style, taste, beauty and restraint, just in their pinky fingers, as "Ratatouille's" producers had displayed in a mere thirty minutes of screen time and $50 million dollars of production costs. There was no loud music, no garrish visuals, no cheap jokes and no earthshaking thrillrides--finally I had regained some quiet and peace in which to attempt to decompress and calm down after this movie's body-slamming, full-frontal assault.
Great movie, but crappy copyright protection freezes DVD player! December 29, 2007
20 out of 25 found this review helpful
This movie is a great movie - I've always loved Pixar's productions, however, you might want to be careful, because Disney has placed the ARccOS copyright protection scheme on this DVD. To me, this shouldn't even be called a DVD, because the ARccOS DVD protection inserts "bad sectors" all over the DVD, This means that some DVD players, including mine, freeze up periodically during loading, playing, etc, and cause headaches trying to view the movie. Be really careful about this DVD, as Disney claims that there 'isn't anything wrong' and that I should just 'fast forward through the parts that are not compatible with my DVD player'.
Disc won't play in Pioneer DVD players! November 14, 2007
16 out of 51 found this review helpful
The movie is wonderful - 5 stars - but the disc won't play correctly in Pioneer DVD players. The menu freezes when it first pops up (although you can push fast forward to get to the main screen), and then freezes again when you select "play movie." I contacted Disney DVD about this, and they did recognize that it is an issue. They told me I have to go to scene selection and select the first chapter to watch the movie, and there was nothing else they could do. Personally, I find this unacceptable -- I think a disc I paid for should play when I push play. I think the problem is probably a result of some copy protection code they have on the disc, although I can't say for sure.
That said, the movie is beautiful, both visually and thematically, and I highly recommend it to anyone. I do miss the 2-disc sets with lots of extras that Pixar has released in the past. I think Disney is a little too fond of releasing subsequent "special editions" and "limited releases," and my guess is that we will see another version of this movie with more content on DVD at some point. Maybe that version will work in my DVD player.
disappointed June 30, 2007
14 out of 91 found this review helpful
My son has loved every Pixar movie so far so his reaction to this movie was new for me. We went to see this movie today and he asked to leave half way through. I understand that it's a kids movie, but this is not Pixar's best effort.
 another great movie courtesy of Pixar and Disney May 18, 2008
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Ratatouille tells the most unlikely story of Remy, a rat who disdains garbage and wants nothing more than to cook and eat gourmet food. Ratatouille progresses at a good pace and it held my attention all the way! The animation is excellent and the voiceovers are very nicely done.
When the action begins, we meet Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat who must run for safety along with the other rats when they are discovered by the old woman whose attic they inhabit; and this is after poor Remy has already been "relegated" to food inspector to make sure that no food is poisoned. Remy's father only complains that his son Remy is way too picky about food; and Remy's brother Emile (voiced by Peter Sohn) "tolerates" Remy even though he doesn't understand Remy's desire for gourmet food.
After a harrowing, close escape from the woman whose house they inhabited, Remy finds himself alone in the sewers of Paris. He has lost his way and he doesn't know where his fellow rats and his family are. However, he soon discovers that he is underneath the kitchen of his idol chef, Chef Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett) who has written a book entitled "Anyone Can Cook." Eventually Remy wanders into the kitchen and risks his life to see what goes on there, although he is saddened when he earlier discovers that Chef Gusteau is now deceased.
Things become even wilder! Remy saves the day for a young, newly hired garbage boy named Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano); Linguini cooks a terrible soup and Remy secretly adds a few things to make the soup even more then perfect. Pretty soon Remy and Linguini actually form a partnership with Remy hiding under Linguini's chef cap and tugging on Linguini's hair (either left or right with his rat paws) to tell Linguini what to put in the soup to make it wonderful. Linguini's subsequent success is extremely disturbing to the crude, bullying chef in charge Chef Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm). Chef Skinner tries to get Linguini to admit that a rat is behind his success; but Linguini never admits anything even when Skinner gets him drunk.
Of course, from here the plot can go anywhere. Will Skinner be able to hide the secret that the restaurant belongs to Chef Gusteau's son--Linguini? What if Linguini and Colette (voiced by Janeane Garofalo), another cook in the kitchen, begin a romance--will this complicate things or help things along? What becomes of Remy--will he stay in the kitchen working with Linguini? Will Remy ever find his family? And what happens when the nasty restaurant critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O'Toole) wants to destroy Chef Gusteau's restaurant's reputation? No plot spoilers here, folks--just watch the movie and find out!
The DVD has a plethora of extras. You get an interview with the writer and producer; and there are three deleted scenes. There's also a short animated film entitled Lifted.
Ratatouille is a strong film from Disney and Pixar, although I do agree with other reviewers that the film could have been tightened up a bit to run a few minutes shorter. This is an excellent family movie but there is, of course, the possibility that some won't be enchanted by the images of rats running en masse through restaurant kitchens. However, all of this didn't bother me too much, so I heartily recommend this movie.
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