Heebie Jeebies were worth it....

The new animated offering from Pixar, Ratatouille, has been notoriously hard to sell - it's about a rat and the title is a stew that most people have never heard of. You've heard me whine about movies that are poorly marketed because they pretend it's one thing and the real thing is just as good and would have been easier to sell. There are a hundred titles that would have made the movie easier to sell - "Underground in Paris", or "The Little Chef" (a phrase even used in the film). Basically, it's a terrific story about being true to yourself, but trying to realistically find yourself at the intersection of different worlds. It's everything the Disney/Pixar movies have always been about - with the addition of pretty exceptional animation. This is the first CGI-animated movie I've ever seen that creates people with realistic facial expressions and twitches. Unfortunately, that skill extends to creating too-realistic shots of a very nice family of rats swarming out of a man-hole, or across a floor. That's where the heebie jeebies come in - I actually had to look away twice. But the story is great, mixing the adult humor of a figment of your imagination arguing with you, with the child-like awe of watching a rat maneuver a man like a puppet. It doesn't cater too much to any one demographic, and is easy to enjoy by all - particually if rats don't give you the heebie jeebies.