Ratatouille en français- magnifique!

I posted a few months ago about what a great experience I had seeing Ratatouille, and I’m now a happy owner of the DVD. Not only does this mean that I can watch the film ad nauseum, but it also means that I can, and did, watch it with a French language track. No, I don’t speak French, although I’ve picked up a fair amount through mere exposure living in Canada (yes, even in Alberta). But this is a French movie- it takes place in France with French rats and French food and mostly French people preparing, eating and critiquing it, and other French people trying to either kill or sometimes befriend the French rats. It’s an homage to Paris to boot. Now, I love Patton Oswalt and have ever since I saw him in those short films he did with Blaine Capatch on Comedy Central in the mid-90s… SOMEBODY HELP ME FIND THESE! YouTube and Google are not being my friend here. But as much as I love Patton’s voicework in the English soundtrack, I really loved this opportunity.

This film really holds up to repeat viewings- well, for me, since I love it so much.

Why’s that?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I love the themes of the underdog (well, under-rat) who is so committed to his passion that he will literally risk his life to pursue it. I love the tension between his going after his dreams and having to maintain social conventions, which, for a rat, means NEVER leaving home. I love how loyal and loving his brother is even though he can’t understand Remy at all. I love the dad’s redemption, when he comes around to helping and supporting Remy in the end. I’d love to say that I see a lot of myself in this little blue rat, but the fact is that I have never had such an all-consuming need to be creative as Remy does. Some of the themes, about leaving home and leaving family behind to take a path that no one else in the “colony” follow is part of my story, to be sure, but I think I really am just drawn to it because it is a damn beautiful story.

I’m off to Miami for work (more of the same project that took me to NYC in August) from the 14th through the 19th; since I haven’t figured out how to do WordPress entries with the Palm browser, I’ll probably have to make this my last post until I return home. Stay warm, everybody.