Yesterday, we decided that my wife and son would go to see Harry Potter, while I would take our daughter Katya, too young for Potter, to see Shrek the third. That we were unaware of Shrek no longer playing in theaters signifies the inordinate infrequency with which we have been to cinemas lately, the last one being the rather unremarkable "Charlotte's Web". This time we were spurred into action by pressure from a long-standing promise we had made to the kids. Since Shrek was out, we decided that Mathangi and Panini (wife and son) would watch Potter and then snack, while Katya and I would snack and watch Ratatouille (in that order to fit slight mismatches in the movie schedules). Unfortunately, Katya was too young for Ratatouille also, for she said there was too much "talking" in the film; but fortunately, I was aged just right for it, or at any rate I enjoyed it so much that this is certainly one for my DVD collection.
Quite by chance, I had been reading Apple Macintosh Folklores on the Web just a few days earlier. I'm grateful for this serendipitous coincidence because it allowed me to appreciate Ratatouille even more. Of course, I doubt if anyone watches Pixar movies for the computer graphics! These, we take for granted from the company ultimately behind the Macintosh, iPod and iPhone. What amazed me was how Pixar has consistently been able to come up with good stories and mix each with a harmonious blend of the right character development, music, screenplay and dialogue. Almost like making the perfect Ratatouille!
One particularly memorable scene happens towards the end, when Anton Ego is all set to taste his dish at Chef Gusteau's. I kept thinking how the writers could possibly pull it off. What would be the best way to handle this situation? How could they portray the "conversion" of a strong personality such as Anton's without some some predictable line or a cliched device? The flash-back, the perfect cut-scene, was a surprise for me. It resonated with my fresh memory of folklore.org words on the happenings at early Apple. I bet a zillion different approaches were tried here (as is obvious in many other parts of the film too), and they were each vetoed for not being a perfect match for what the moment demanded. Having now seen it, I cannot imagine how the situation could have been handled better. All I can say is that the film was consistent with my preconceptions about the "quest for the best" by visionary Jobs. If he was not directly behind the binary switch that okayed or vetoed every minor feature of Ratatouille, I'll bet that someone very much like him was.
Thanks Pixar, for another masterpiece. And as it says at the very end of the movie, a special Ratatouille thank you to Steve Jobs, of course!