Every year the same old expressions get pulled out by the press to describe the magical product that Pixar creates. This year Time Magazine explains why Pixar is better and how Brad Bird and John Lasseter turned a rat into someone whose story the audience will care about. (Hint: it has something to do with Story, as does everything at Pixar.)
Charlie Chaplin and the other great silent-movie clowns knew how to
express the deepest, subtlest emotions through gesture. Remy, too, in
the hands of director Brad Bird and his gifted animators, is a
veritable Shakespeare of shrugs. The suppleness with which Remy scoots
through both human and rodent worlds lends Ratatouille the
believability at the center of Pixar classics like John Lasseter’s Toy
Story, Andrew Stanton’s Finding Nemo and Bird’s own The Incredibles.
Ratatouille steps into theaters on June 29th and I do believe I’m beginning to get excited about it.