Been there, done that..

Had a look at France, got hungry and ate there. (Imagine that in the eyes of Emil, Hammy's brother. I think I kind of resemble Emil wrt his eating habits... OMG!!)

I went to watch "Ratatouille" today.. By myself. Its been a LONG while since I watched a movie by myself. And I just thot that since everybody has watched that show already, or busy, or u know the typical reasons, then I might as well just DIY. I thot of asking those who haven watched to join but Im meeting mom after the show; kind of rush so I still thot DIY is better.

For one thing its a 5-star movie. As u read on, things may not be so 5-starish but I based my current grade in comparison with other cartoon movies, ie Finding Nemo (FN) and Over the Hedge (OTH). The latter two movies are the comparable ones with Ratatouille, probably the only few that can be on par. I believe I will get its DVD when it is released, and gets cheaper :P Its more than just "Anyone can cook"..

I watched at GV Max Vivo. It was a maiden experience. Great legroom (sth like LT11), plush red couch seats with movable handrests for the intimate ones. The screen was obviously bigger and viewers will probably find it more realistic, as if we are watching from our own eye-view compared to the normal screens. The seats kind of vibrate during the exciting parts so it was thrilling.

The graphics of the movie was obviously better than OTH and FN. Well its about time really, since those shows were some time ago. The visible improvements can be seen in the way they drew the water features and food etc..I thot the graphics of the human portrayal can be improved but either way it was still comfortable.

The story was clear and does not lose viewers halfway like certain cartoons. Even Hammy (I think its the protagonist rat's name) and his hallucination of Gateau (I cant spell French for nuts, yet) was believable and not confusing. Some movies tend to overdo it with hallucinations eg Pirates 3 etc. But I thot Rat portrayed it well, maybe cos its a cartoon so things that are fantasty-worldish tend to get accepted by viewers more easily.

Somehow I felt an affinity with Hammy's dilemma on being a chef or a rat, kind of empathise with him but I wont elaborate on that. The twist (if any) wasnt impressive ie to say the story is pretty predictable. Still it is a comfortable and pleasant story, with smooth flow and the cheesy happy ending which I will get to in a while.

A point which I MUST HIGHLIGHT will be the critic's revelation in the end. (I forgot the critic's name, the sinister-looking skinny guy) . I thot of him as the antagonist at first but things did not go that bad. The narrator spoke his speech real fast so I could not catch all of the critic's speech but the speech further concretes the fact that a critic's job, and (especially) the jobs of those that he is criticising, are not easy.....

Rats (basically anything, anyone) deserves a chance to show his or her potential.
Passion and the will to excel vanquishes all odds.

Quite a philosophical show towards the end if u think hard enough. As one of my fren told me "Not some mindless cartoon" which just makes u feel like u paid 7-9bucks to laugh yr guts out (The Simpsons was an exception. I LOVED that too... Lame but loveable).

I will analyse his speech again when I get the DVD. No more pirates.

As I was saying, the ending was a cheesy happy ending. Somehow I have a thing with happy endings. Im no malevolent masochist but it takes more than just a happy ending to make me ace a movie. The ending was really expected. Maybe if they had come up with a more UNEXPECTED happy ending, then I will give it a 5-star without qualms.

One thing I must admit, the action, antics and witty parts are better in Rat than OTH and FN. Maybe its cos I havent watched the other two for a while so the impression is vague. Nonetheless, even if the Rat does not have better action than the other two, it was great travelling around Paris, sewer and all, from the rat's eyes. I have a liking for show that use the animal's perspective as the first person narrator; at least it reminds us that someone (something?) out there besides us has feelings and the right to deserve something better. Ok forget the animal rights rally speech (which I almost embarked on. Phew otherwise it will be another sermon). Basically the action in this movie is good.

Lastly, I wish to touch on the axiom "Anyone can cook". Its pretty heartening that a good fren of mine actually used this axiom as a theme for their camaraderie sessions. Its really high time that ppl make their money's worth in movies and start extracting moral values from any possible analogy in the show. The additional lessons that can be derived from this axiom is emboldened and mentioned before just now so I shant repeat.

Basically its an "idealistic" show that serves as a good motivator and philosophy food-for-thought. I thot of giving it just 4.5 stars for some of its shortcomings but in comparison again, I will give it a 5 anyway, but with room for improvement.