Cute (So-oh-oh Disney) versus WOW

Rating: 7/10 (21 July 2007)

I recently saw "Paprika" and "Ratatouille" in close succession, in that order. I can only say that "Ratatouille" was an intense disappointment, especially when measured against a film like "Paprika," which demonstrates the adult potential of animation. The Rat story was a kid story with a good moral but was unexceptional and banal in its execution on the screen. Unlike "Spirited Away" & "My Neighbor Totoro," which are both moral stories appropriate for children (as opposed to, say, "Grave of the Fireflies"), "Ratatouille" was not at all sophisticated or imaginative in its presentation. Big noses and crooked teeth are a limited device for conveying the Gallic character and the villain's pencil-thin moustache made him look as if he'd been recycled from a WW II animated piece on the Pacific theatre.
I am not an unmitigated fan of Japanese popular culture which is often kitschy and misogynistic, but its clear that if animation is the measure, American productions are the mega-losers.