00s Movie Review - Rataouille

Director: Brad Bird
Genre: Animation/ Family/ Comedy
Runtime: 110 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Julius Callahan, James Remar, John Ratzenberger, Teddy Newton, Tony Fucile, Jake Steinfeld

Description: A rat (Patton Oswalt) who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker (Lou Romano) at a famous restaurant.

Review: In 1995 Pixar brought us “Toy Story” and it started a revolution within the world of animations. Pixar has been very successful ever since.
The quality of the images is unprecedented. The fur of the rats looks realistic, great details, reflections, light and shadowing, the water, it’s all stunning. With the humans they choose a more cartoony style, which is a good choice. This movie isn’t one of those super sweet Disney movies and has hardly any clichés.
The story works and has enough tempo. Off course a rat can’t talk and cook, but in the world of Disney everything is possible. The characters are interesting and there aren’t any typical characters. Leading character Remy, the cooking rat, is so loveable. He is different from the other rats, but is brave enough to be different.
The do it every time, Pixar just knows what the audience wants and they are always very original. “Ratatouille is one of my favorite Pixar movies and in my eyes a masterpiece.

 Rating: 5/ 5

80s Movie Review - Kiki's Delivery Service

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Genre: Animation/ Adventure
Runtime: 103 minutes
Year: 1989
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Janeane Garofalo, Julia Fletcher, Barbara Goodson, Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds

Description: A young witch (Kirsten Dunst), on het mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

Review: The word witch has always evoked a very negative image in both fairy tales and film. The wizard, on the other hand, was often a good person. If witches need an advertisement to change their images, this film might be the perfect choice. The broomstick and black cat are present, but any other stereotypical images aren’t present. “Kiki’s Delivery Service” is a studio Ghibli film and therefore contains the magical animations you expect from the company.
The opening scene already shows why Studio Ghibli animations are so amazing. Kiki, a 13 -year-old witch, lies in the grass listening to the radio. Around her, all the grass blades are individually moving through the wind. Already you can see the amazing eye for detail and craftsmanship.
In this world, when witches are 13 years old, they have to move away from their parents and live on their own to find out what they are good at and gain life experience. That moment has come for Kiki and together with her talking cat Jiji she flies off to the coast, a place she always wanted to go. When she sees a big city, Kiki decides to stay there and help people. She soon finds out that things are different in a big city. Luckily she meets just the person, Osono, a woman who runs a bakery and offers Kiki a place to sleep and her first job: helping out in the bakery and delivering parcels.
There are many reasons to love this film. The animations is one thing. I always loved Hayao Miyazaki’s style, soft colors and creation of beautiful landscapes. Second is the story, which is a beautiful tale of a girl growing up and dealing with feelings of insecurity and who she really is.

Rating: 5/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 99: Wet Hot American Summer

Director: David Wain
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 97 minutes
Year: 2001
Starring: Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Amy Poehler, Bradley Cooper, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Meloni, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Marguerite Moreau

Description: Set on the last day of camp, in the hot summer of 1981, a group of counselors try to complete their unfinished business before the day ends.

Review: It’s August 1981. The campleaders at Camp Firewood are trying to make the best of the last day of summer camp.
The movies has some big names: Paul Rudd, Janeane Garofalo, Elizabeth Banks, Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler. And they all have done some really funny things. Well, this is not one one of those movies. I love a good satire and spoof when done well, but “Wet Hot American Summer” is just not funny and sometimes it goes a little too far into the absurdism that it’s just not funny anymore.
I did like Paul Rudd and Christopher Meloni though, but overall the movie is not that interesting and there is some really bad acting in it. “Wet Hot American Summer” is not a good comedy, because it isn’t funny enough.

Rating: 2/ 5