Whose Paris is it anyway?

Rating: 4/10 (24 August 2007)

I recently saw this movie because I thought it would be cute movie, rats, mice, pigs, fish...monsters...they all can be so cute. I thought the movie was far from magical. This movie had problems because it tried too hard to combine things that are hard to combine such as: Rats, cooking, Paris, the English language and in the same time humor. Biggest overall disappointment was how Paris was introduced, unfortunately in a very American manner as the so called city of lights and high cuisine. I don't think the essence of Paris was captured in a nice way, and since the setting was in Paris, this influenced the whole movie in a negative manner. Also, speaking French-English doesn't help much with creating a french atmosphere at all. I liked the rat, because as always, humans look a bit creepy when animated in this manner. At one point, I was a bit grossed out by the rats because although it's just a cartoon, and it's supposed to be cute, I think I find mice sort of cute, but rats can be very big, and as cute as you try to make them it may still gross some people (like myself) out. The humor was poorly done: it borrowed a lot from other movies, and I found the jokes forced and not so funny. So, Pixar ran into a little bit of trouble in this movie because they tried to go in unfamiliar waters so to say. They tried to find an original story, and I guess with all the popularity of cooking shows they thought it would be a good idea. However, they could've tried harder if they wanted to capture Paris in a good, romantic manner rather than an American cheesy manner (no pun intended cheese-rats :)) Make it funny in a more subtle way make the characters less boring and more dynamic. Paris could be a great setting for a cartoon if done properly. Unfortunately, this was not accomplished and the result is thus mediocre at best. If you want to see a beautiful animation in a very Frech spirit then I recommend the Triplets of Belleville.