Ratatouille

B---, S---- and I went to see a special sneak preview of Ratatouille last night. They also ran the short Lifted, which actually disappointed me just a little. With the amount of hype that was generated for Lifted, I was expecting something a little bit... more. Don't get me wrong, it was funny, but it just didn't seem to hold up to the usual Pixar standards, I guess.

Ratatouille itself was a fun movie, but I don't think that it will be by far my favorite Pixar film (I still think that's a tie between Monsters, Inc. and the Incredibles). Ratatouille was directed by Brad Bird (who also directed the Incredibles and the Iron Giant), and like the Iron Giant, I think he was telling a smaller, more heart felt story here. It wasn't as action packed as the Incredibles, it didn't have such strong emotional moments like Monsters, Inc., but you left the theater with a positive feeling, knowing that you'd just had a good laugh and had enjoyed a quietly told movie, and were not overwhelmed by the entire experience. The message of the movie is that you can do anything you want, so long as it's what you want out of life. A good message told by a well-crafted film. Go see it. And you don't need to take the kids.