Pixar's Worst Yet

Rating: 2/10 (30 December 2007)

*********MINOR, MINOR SPOILERS*********** You can find out what this movie is about from the front page, so I'm just going to critique it here.
For starters, this movie got two stars from me instead of zero because the animation was quite unique and paid great attention to detail. Not anywhere near say, a Studio Ghibli level of technique of animation, but quite good, nonetheless.
On to the faults, of which there are MANY. Let me just list them, for easier reading: - The whole plot is RIDICULOUS. Leaving aside that this is animation (which does often take many more liberties than would be allowed with non-animated productions), rats running a kitchen (Gross!)? A chef being controlled by his hair? No one ever seeing said rat back lit under a white hat? A rat that just "somehow" knows how to make all these dishes, knows what the culinary equipment does, and knows exactly what spices to use, EVERY time? Really.

I almost never say this (usually I campaign for the other end of the spectrum), but this movie is WAAAY too long! It really begins to drag and blend together by about a third of the way in, and it was a real struggle to keep watching. I can think of so many more deserving movies that should have been gifted with such a time allotment! - Can you find a sympathetic character in this? Good, I couldn't either. Characterization was definitely lacking, as well as motivation - pretty much every character in this movie is flat, uninspired, and frankly, annoying and grating.

Humor that is "mostly adult-oriented"? PLEASE. I think I cracked a smile about five times during this one, and maybe a giggle. It's so overloaded with saccharine garbage you will be nauseated.

On a more personal note, if you don't like rats and find their little pestilence-ridden bodies distasteful, this is NOT the movie for you. Also, I'm not quite sure why so many animated flicks in the past few years have made the focus of their films detestable creatures (rats, bees, ants, other insects, mice, pigs, birds, and did I mention how many movies there are about bugs?) The last good movie I saw with anything that counted as a predator would be Lion King. What is it, some sort of vulnerability ploy? - I'm no expert on how European kitchens work, and there are many other flaws with this movie that many other excellent reviewers have pointed out. Don't let my review be the only one you read, and PLEASE don't take the number of stars given this one seriously! Every Pixar and Disney employee must have been told to give this a great review and number of stars, on ALL the major movie sites! Bottom line, looking for a better rat/mouse-type animated movie? How about The Rescuers, or one of the Fievel/American Tail movies, or best yet, The Rats of Nimh. Looking for a better movie by Pixar? Personally, I'd say Toy Story one or two, The Incredibles (fabulous, original work right there), Finding Nemo, or you know what, anything but this movie, and I think A Bug's Life isn't that great, either.

To me, Pixar was one of the top American animation companies not just for their above-par animation techniques, but because their movies had one foot in the real world, while the other spun off into the realm of the fantastic. The Incredibles was the best example of this - I mean, superheroes being sued for saving a suicidal person? FABULOUS idea! But then they came out with Cars. I watched it and was nearly as annoyed as I was with this feature. Why were the cars there? Who made them? Questions like that. This movie tried to go back to their original formula, but flopped, and honestly, I blame new input from Disney for this. Hopefully, they'll do better in making future films, and I'll continue to wonder how this film got so many positive rating (and how many studio people helped make this so).