Deadpoet’s Cave

Yup, that picture is not definitely not one of a rat. That’s WALL•E (pronounced ‘Wally’). But more about him later.

Ratatouille (Rat-a-too-ee) puts Pixar back on track after the slightly disappointing Cars. You all know the premise of the Ratatouille. Human who can’t cook + rat who can: a whole load of laughter.

It’s not as simple as it seems, just like the dish from which this movie gets its name.

At the heart of the movie is the oft-explored sentiment that anyone can achieve what they set their heart and mind upon.

Or in this case, any rat.

And you will believe.

Pixar has also achieved something not often done in cinema. Movies are generally limited to the aural and the visual, but in Ratatouille, the audience was ‘oooh-ing’ and ‘aahh-ing’ at digital food. It’s been a long time since I watched a film with so much crowd reaction. Ratatouille did a terrific job of engaging the senses of taste and smell as well.

This is best encapsulated in a scene when Anton Ego, a hard-nosed food critic who is out to pan the restaurant where Remy the rat and his human sidekick Linguini work, suddenly gets transported to his childhood after he takes a bite of their Ratatouille. The audience gasped collectively, as though we too were brought back to a similar place in our youth. It was a brilliant moment that expressed what food is all about.

So, go watch Ratatouille.

Now, moving backwards: I enjoyed the animated short which was screened before the main feature - Lifted. Not as good as Boundin’, which preceded The Incredibles, but still very entertaining. I saw shades of Hitchikers’ Guide to the Galaxy and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in it.

Before Lifted, they screened two teasers. Both for digital animated films. One by Dreamworks, the other by Pixar. Let me talk about the one I didn’t like first: Bee Movie.

The teaser told me all that I needed to know: Dreamworks still has a long way to go in digital animation. You see, they somehow see digital animation as a vehicle for star names and a bit of song-and-dance. Their stories are middling at best. Often, there are too many contemporary references, such as most of the gags and spoofs in the Shrek series, which do not fare well on repeated viewing. Maybe that’s just me ‘cos they seem to make tons of money from this formula.

They’re getting desperate if they need to cast Steven Spielberg - one of Dreamworks’ founders - in the teaser. It seems gimmicky, and the only reason the teaser exists is to point out that Seinfeld voices the lead character. Star power once again. No idea what the movie is going to be about, except that bees are involved. That’s all that the teaser revealed! Like Shark Tale and Shrek 3, I’m not even going to bother.

This contrasts with the teaser for Pixar’s WALL•E, which will be released next year.

Consummate story-tellers that they are, even this teaser tells a story without giving too much away. Suffice to say, the little that I saw got me begging for more. Beyond telling good stories, Pixar specialise in telling good stories with heart. I see that in the WALL•E teaser, as short as the relevant part is.

After 700 years
of doing what he was built for

He’ll discover
What he was meant for

Earth is a big pile of junk. We trashed the place, escaped to a temporary home in the sky and left an army of robots to help clean Earth up before we return. At least, that was the plan.

Someone must have given the tender to the company with the lowest quote, without checking for quality, because WALL•E is the last remaining robot that is still functioning. So, he’s been going about his lonely task until one day…

That’s all I’ll say about the plot. If you want to find out more there are spoiler-filled links further down.

WALL•E reminds me of Johnny 5 from Short Circuit 1 & 2. His facial expressions, if you can call them that, are reminiscent of the fix-it extraterrestrial robots in *batteries not included. His ‘neck’ is somewhat similar to Luxo Jr. A lot of nods to previous films.

But if this blog article is to be believed (spoiler warning), WALL•E is really going to be out of this world.

You read that and want more? Then read this Ain’t It Cool News interview with director Andrew Stanton (who did also did Finding Nemo).

I’m looking forward to watching WALL•E more than I ever did most of the Pixar films.

It looks, sounds, tastes, smells and feels like a winner.

• Wong Kar Wai Retrospective at Pitch Black Cafe
• The weight of it all
• Hidden Treasures - Raffles Hotel Museum and The Cathay Gallery
• Lost and Found