RATATOUILLE

Continuing the Sneaky Cheetah's futile quest to see every Oscar nominated film!

Nominated for Best Animated Feature Film, Original Screenplay, Sound, Sound Editing, and Score

Pixar has carte blanche in my mind by now. All they make are fantastic films (8 for 8 with no stinkers!) Ratatouille keeps the streak alive. But it is a little different then traditional Pixar, as it's the baby of Brad Bird, who also did the Incredibles. Pixar's other features are the spawn of John Lasseter (Toy Story 1 & 2, A Bug's Life and Cars), Pete Doctor (Monsters inc.) and Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) all of whom have been at Pixar since day one, and have worked in various ways on each other's films. Consequently, they all tend to be more kid friendly then Bird's films. Bird visits more adult themes, less of the big laugh punch lines. He really makes great movies that just happen to be animated. This films is smart and tight, never pandering down to it's presumably young audience. It's part screwball comedy, part action, part romance, but mostly a drama that just happens to star a rat. It has great pacing that develops a rich supporting cast and you won't recognize it's non french vocal cast as they effortlessly pull off various french accents. Once again the bar is raised on quality animation, most evident on the trio of rats-eye-view chase scenes. Every shot is chock full of detail, really it's visual eye candy at it's best. The film is in my top five of the year so far and deserves serious consideration in every category it's nominated in.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A

As writer and director, this is Brad Bird's 3rd and 4th Oscar Nomination. He won Best Animated Feature and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in 2004 for The Incredibles.

Best Sound: This is Randy Thorn's 10th nom for Best Sound. He won in 1983 for The Right Stuff and was nominated for Return of the Jedi (1983), Never Cry Wolf (1983), Backdraft (1991), Forrest Gump (1994), Contact (1997), Cast Away (2000), The Polar Express (2004) and The Incredibles (2004). Michael Semanick has two Oscars for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and King Kong (2005). He was also nominated for The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) and The Two Towers (2002). This is Doc Kane's fourth nomination following Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and The Incredibles (2004).

Best Sound Editing: Randy Thorn is in on this one too, though his Sound Editing resume is not quite as impressive. He won for The Incredibles (2004) and was nominated for Forrest Gump (1994), and The Polar Express (2004). Michael Silvers shares that Oscar for The Incredibles and was also nominated for Monsters Inc. (2001), and Finding Nemo (2003).

Best Original Score: Written by Michael Giacchino, this is his first Academy Award nomination.