Good cartoon that breaks the rules

Rating: 10/10 (16 June 2007)

Just got back from seeing it, a few things first to note:
1. As mentioned, the visuals in this movie are amazing. But more than that, for me anyway, was the audio. It's very rare when the sound in a movie impresses me, but everything from the skitter of the rat's feet to thunder to sauces boiling, it sounded fantastic, more realistic than real life. The music was very nice as well.
2. I don't know if a lot of people are going to like this film. The story has several threads and layers that the average "Let's go to the movie and turn off our brain" person won't understand or care for. In many ways the depth of this film has more in common with a graphic novel where subtle details are used to give large hints to character development, setting, and the like.
3. The food looks amazing. It's interesting that we accept so much in animation, but that's because the characters and cars and many of the settings have a stylized, cartoony look, but the food looks like real food from the way cheese crumbles to the oil shimmering on the surface of a sauce. It made me so hungry. Now for the story:
Remy seems to be the typical "I have an impossible dream that I'll achieve through pluck and determination" that's been seen in tons of Disney Cartoons, but there is a emotional and moral depth to him that makes him stand apart. The ideas of family vs dream are brought up, including the ethics of abandoning either side in favor of the other. Neither side is seen as good or bad entirely as Remy's responsibility to family is tested against his love of cooking. His father's worry and distrust of the humans is completely justified, while his dream being a chef is also justified, and the two seem incompatible. Cooking makes a surprisingly appropriate analog for a story about following dreams. The conflict between Remy, who has the talent, and Linguini who has the face is, again, morally deep and the stuff of good stories. Also, the question of selling a talent out for the cheap buck is brought up. There were a few times I wondered how they would provide a happy ending, but they did. Many characters go through an appropriate change that has you rooting for them, though not all of them do. A realism that sometimes, when the chips are down, people you thought were your friends will leave you, which makes the undercurrents of the importance of family much more pertinent. Much like the subject of the movie, the movie itself seems to break a lot of rules: There is an abundance of internal dialog, which is suppose to be a no-no, the main character is not only a rat, but a rat that makes some questionable decisions. Linguini starts out as an apathetic wannabe who transforms into a power crazy jerk, (before learning the lesson), there are a lot of very drastic moments of suspension of belief (pulling hair being able to manipulate the body for one). But like the food Remy cooks, it works and it works well.
bottom line, I loved it. one to ten I'd give it a 9.5. Not only one of Pixar's best, but one of the best cartoons I've ever seen. I hope that future cartoons can break out of the "Shrek" rut of simple gags and stock characters to present a more complex and entertaining show like this, but, again, I doubt it will do very well. Too complex and leveled for the average cartoon lover, but it will be part of my movie collection for sure (and I don't buy many movies).