Ratatouille / 1408

Ratatouille


Pixar has set the bar so high with each of their films that a film of theirs that isn't significantly better than its predecessor automatically ends up being a disappointment. Ratatouille isn't just 'not better' than its predecessors, its worse. So its no wonder that it is my least favorite Pixar film among all their releases. The animation is dazzling as always but when it comes to an engaging story and interesting characters, the film falls short of other Pixar films like Cars, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles.

Ratatouille doesn't have any problems with its lead character. The rat is very cute with its big eyes and red nose and its agility is made full use in many sequences. Its ambition to be a chef is a pretty neat idea for a film and leads to many clever segments. The scenes where he 'guides' the janitor are some of the cleverest and funniest in the film and his conversations with the other rats in his group are usually funny too. The problem is that it has to share the screen with many humans and they are not half as interesting(I can't think of any other Pixar releases with such important roles for humans). So scenes that involve humans invariably drag and since they play an important part in the proceedings, there are quite a few such scenes.

What eventually keeps us parked in our seats is the animation. The design and animation are ofcourse responsible for making these usually repulsive rodents seem cute. Its amazing the way the silky fur of the rats has been brought out and their movements are incredibly realistic. Some segments, like the rat's dash through Paris, the view of Paris at night and the final scene with all the rats in the kitchen, are visual wonders that almost make us forget that we are watching something that was created on a computer.

----------------------------
1408


Recent Hollywood horror flicks have tended to fall into two categories - the watered-down PG-13 movies like The Ring and The Grudge that rely on "Boo!" moments and cheap scares and the violence-filled, gore-heavy movies like Hostel and The Hills have Eyes. Given a choice I prefer the former but most movies I have seen in that category have been dumb and disappointing(the latest one I saw was The Messengers). 1408 is a more mature horror flick that tries to make us think too in addition to scaring us.

The title refers to the room number of a hotel in New York with a rather horrific history. John Cusack plays a professional debunker of ghost stories and against all warnings from the hotel manager(Samuel L. Jackson), he elects to spend a night in Room 1408. But the happenings there quickly change his mind.

1408 is rarely scary. It has a few "Boo!" moments, a couple of legitimate scares and some frightening images but overall, it isn't really scary. Its mission is to make us understand how scared John Cusack is and in that it succeeds. It creates a growing sense of dread as he goes from a cynic to a believer and makes us feel for him as he desperately tries to escape from the room. There is also a nice misdirection that creates what seems like a predictable twist before turning it around.

The movie turns more emotional as we learn about John's past and the happenings in the room get connected to his need to get closure. Things get a bit confusing as we are left guessing how much is real and how much is in John's mind but that does help keep us involved. The ending is thankfully not too open-ended but it doesn't answer all our questions either.