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Ratatouille/Chicken Little [2005]
![Ratatouille/Chicken Little [2005]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aiF79PQQL._SL160_.jpg)
Ratatouille As good a film as Pixar has ever put out, Ratatouille is a frantic, innovative movie, boasting some of the finest quality animation ever put on the screen. Ratatouille tells the story of wannabe-chef Remy The Rat, who becomes drawn into the mantra of legendary cook Gusteau, that anyone can cook. The deceased Gusteau’s ghostly image appears to Remy, and guides him to his restaurant, whose standards have been slipping since his death. Remy, through the manipulation of a lowly restaurant worker called Linguini, soon starts secretly cooking the food, and this unusual set up proves to be a trove of treasures that Pixar carefully picks through. Ratatouille’s trick is to tie its cutting edge animation techniques to old-school essentials. At times harking back to the frenetic style you’d expect of Chuck Jones, it threads an original narrative through its story, which itself is packed with memorable characters (none more so than Peter O’Toole’s superbly-voiced restaurant critic). It perhaps runs a little too long, but it’s so well-written and so lavishly entertaining that it’s a churlish complaint to have. For in an era of cynically-produced family movies, Ratatouille is really something special. With an appeal that spreads across generations, and a quality that puts it right up there with Pixar’s finest, it’s an outstanding piece of cinema, and one set to be enjoyed for many, many years. Unmissable. --Simon Brew Chicken Little A classic fable gets fused with War of the Worlds in Disney's Chicken Little. In the small town of Oakey Oaks, young Chicken Little (voiced by Zach Braff, Garden State) struggles to live down the embarrassment of having once thought the sky was falling. But when he gets struck again by a hexagonal, sky-camouflaged, hi-tech doohickey, he and his friends Ugly Duckling (Joan Cusack, School of Rock), Runt of the Litter (Steve Zahn, Sahara), and Fish Out of Water discover that aliens are preparing to invade Earth--but since no one believed Chicken Little the first time, why would they believe him now? Though kids will enjoy the bright whizz-bang action sequences of Chicken Little, discerning parents will find the movie tedious. Technically, it has the computer animation quality of Pixar--but with none of their intelligence, heart, or simple storytelling skill. The basic idea of connecting the fable to aliens is amusing, but the script routinely bogs down in clumsy father-son issues that seem like material edited out of Finding Nemo. The jokes rarely have anything to do with the characters, but are mostly pop-culture references that are sadly out of date. The action sequences were obviously created with the inevitable video game in mind, for which the movie is little more than an advertisement. Chicken Little falls flat. --Bret Fetzer
RRP: £15.99
Our Price: £10.90 (subject to change)
Editorial
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Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Patton Oswalt
Peter O'Toole
Patrick Stewart
Brad Garrett
Zach Braff
Creators:
Peter O'Toole (Primary Contributor)
Patton Oswalt (Primary Contributor)
Recording label: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainm
EAN: 8717418168414
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2008-06-23
Audience rating: Universal, suitable for all
Region code: 2
Running time: 184 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2005