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RATATOUILLE triumphed at the domestic box office this weekend with $47.2 million, great news for those–like me– who think this is an instant classic and the best movie of the year thus far. In fact, days after seeing it, it’s my favorite movie since ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND in that I keep telling all my friends and family about to see it RIGHT AWAY.

Anyway, for those who loved it, here’s a peek into the making of one of the very best scenes: cartoonist/animator Michel Gagne (FLIGHT, ZED) explains how he created the images to visualize Remy’s taste buds.

Link via Flight Comics. The Pulse interviews Gagne here.

1 COMMENT

  1. I would love to know where you cried. Rat got me going three different times, but for the last 15, I was crying, and a sobbing heap at the end. (Which reminded me very much of Kiki’s Delivery Service.)

    Just. So. Gorgeous.

    It had one of the best film kisses ever. It’s so nice to have another animated film where the kiss and tension leading up to it have a definite and mature (as in handling, not sleaze) sexual spark, isn’t saved to the end (a relatively chaste consummation kiss), or even eschewed completely. What I mean is, characters who are attracted to each other act like it, instead of being cutesy or avoiding it.

    I have been carrying on about Rat the way I preached The Incredibles. (Even though I love them both madly for completely different reasons and ways.) I think everyone should see it Right. Now.

  2. Rotten Tomatoes gives Rat a 95%, Incredibles a 97%, and Finding Nemo a 98%. They also have a special index for comicbook movies.
    So the Mouse must now deal with a rat, and a naked one at that! I feel sorry for whomever has to be friends with Rat at DisneyWorld! That costume will be like wearing a fur coat!

  3. “Rotten Tomatoes gives Rat a 95%, Incredibles a 97%, and Finding Nemo a 98%.”
    You see, I didn’t like Finding Nemo (I mean come on, after Monsters Inc. and Toy Story, it just seemed like the lowest common denominator for a Pixar movie) and the Incredibles just made me mad, with all of it’s shameless rip offs of other comic writers gags. It played out like it was made by people who don’t even liked comics. I didn’t even bother with cars. That just felt like people saying, “What can we show the secret lives of next?” It’s the same guy writing this one as well, right? Still, a rat with a dream…
    How can you go wrong with that? Still, I’ll wait for the DVD.

  4. James and Lea, that’s where I cried as well. I’ve talked to several non-cartoonists who also cried at that.

  5. I haven’t seen this one yet, is it better than Pixar’s other movies?

    I’d rate it alongside my two favorites, Monsters Inc. and The Incredibles. It’s gorgeous and sublime. The reviewer’s revelation and his following review was a wonderful, wonderful scene…a lovely Peter O’Toole voice performance on top of beautiful animation design.

    They also showed a trailer for next year’s Pixar movie. Like the early trailers for Finding Nemo, Cars, and Ratatouille, I was unimpressed. Why can’t Pixar put together a knock-out trailer…is it because they do them so early? In the end, I’d rather have their wonderful movies than great trailers any day.

  6. SPOILER

    Yep, the critic. F*cking hell, that was absolutely one of the most amazing and true things I have ever seen in film
    As I said, that got me going for real, and I was gone.
    That damn song, Le Festin, which has such a lovely build-up, didn’t help, either. I sure want a translation for that.

    SPOILER

    SPOILER

    I related to how one goes gray with viciousness (sometimes justified) that poisons them, the re-discovers a love that heals them.

    The communication, in such a short sequence, how someone goes wrong and is redeemed, using no words, was just fantastic. His mama’s ratatouille. He missed his mom. He missed feeling good. Waaaaaaaaa.