Ratatouille

Saw Ratatouille for free last night. MySpace did a promotion in Denver, Philadelphia, and Boston. The movie was showing at Riverview at 7:30, just one showing at one theater. We added Ratatouille and Black Curtain Screenings to our top friends and printed out our profiles. We waited in a long line and got wristbands in exchange for the profiles. These were small hoops to jump through. I can't imagine that a Pixar movie needs much promotion, but I'm happy to do my part and say that this is a great movie and everyone should go see it as soon as it comes out (in two weeks, I think).

I've loved all the other Pixar movies (Cars is the only one I haven't seen) but I think this is my favorite. I could probably nitpick, but during the movie I didn't think of anything I would change. Pixar's humans used to be weird-looking, but they've managed to fix that. The Paris setting was beautiful. I liked the short film at the beginning and animation during the end credits. The voices were great, the story was great, and the movie explored a bunch of themes dear to my heart:
1) the value of living life versus simply surviving it
2) the idea that moving away or pursuing a career your family doesn't understand doesn't mean you're choosing what you love over your family. Seemingly contradictory desires can co-exist in all of us.
3) the struggle to stay true to art instead of "selling out" for commerce (handmade meals versus mass-marketed frozen foods)
4) everyone has the ability to make art (Gusteau's book Everyone Can Cook)
5) the critic's parasitic role (a review is read toward the end of the movie, and it's an amazing encapsulation of a lot of ideas I've thought about lately. Should we really trust critics, whose main purpose is to discuss [and sometimes savage] art that they may not be able to make themselves? "Even junk is worth more than a review proclaiming it junk." I wish I had a copy of the review -- maybe it went on a little too long, but it was a great piece of writing.)

I felt all these themes really were explored, not just glossed over. It also reminded me of the Frankenstein story (the novel, not the other incarnations). Like Frankenstein's monster, Remy the rat has the best intentions but is frequently misunderstood and abhorred. Also like Frankenstein's monster, he wants to believe in the good of humans, and like him he reacts in anger when that belief is challenged.

There's a lot for kids to latch onto, but I think the best lesson is Remy's dogged pursuit of his dream -- developing his gifts and doing what he loves most, against overwhelming odds. There were quite a few kids in the theater, and we could hear them laughing at various times.

I hope MySpace does this more often. I could get used to seeing great movies for free.