(Source: www.aintitcool.com)
I've heard many people talk about "the Golden Age of animation," when guys like Walt Disney, Chuck Jones and Tex Avery were unleashing magic on the silver screen. I've also heard talk about "Disney's animation renaissance" of the early 1990's, when the Mouse House brought out movies like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. However, I think we're in a true animation renaissance right now, and it's largely due to John Lasseter and the incredible brain trust he's assembled at Pixar.
Read any interview with the guy (Joblo has a good one over here), and you'll realize that this guy loves animation. Whether it's obsessing over the tiniest details in his movies, or giggling like a schoolgirl when meeting Hayao Miyazaki, you know that Lasseter's all about taking the state-of-the-art in animation, and pushing it to the next level.
Disney's early 90's "renaissance" left a bad taste in my mouth: I had the feeling that the bean counters were more important in the creation of those movies than the animators. Even though there have been thousands of commercial tie-ins with Pixar films, I never got the feeling that the movie was there merely to make me buy stuff, and that's important for me.
Also, in a year when virtually every other animation studio was obsessed with wisecracking animals dealing with humanity (The Ant Bully, Open Season, Over the Hedge . . . you know the list), Lasseter and Pixar gave us a love note to Route 66 and auto culture called Cars. And, wouldn't you know it? It was the most successful animated movie of the summer. There's a lesson in that for the other studios. Cars wasn't the best Pixar flick I've ever seen (for me, that award goes to The Incredibles), but even a lousy Pixar film stands head-and-shoulders above most animated movies out there.
Which brings us to Pixar's next movie, Ratatouille. The story of a Parisian rat who wants to become a top chef, this film got a major cred boost when Brad Bird (who wrote and directed The Incredibles) jumped on board as director. Pixar has resisted the urge to pack big names on the cast list (*cough*The Ant Bully*cough*), once again going with talented C-listers like Brian Dennehy, Janeane Garofalo, Brad Garret, Patton Oswalt and Ian Holm. Oh yeah, and Bird himself, who rocked The Incredibles as Edna Mode and is voicing the French chef in Ratatouille.
Ain't It Cool News has scored an image of the new one-sheet, and I'm digging this like an old soul record. Okay, so the image is a bit violent but the look on that rat's face totally sells it. Besides, cartoons and violence go together like chocolate and peanut butter: just ask the guys at Looney Tunes or The Simpsons.
Anyways, you can see a larger image over here. Ratatouille scampers into theatres on June 29.
