Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Rats in the kitchen

I finally went to see Ratatouille last night. I had been waiting to take my "Little Sister," JaiAnna, with me to see this movie because she loves going to the movies. I thought we should see this movie because we do a lot of cooking together. We stationed ourselves in the very last row of the movie theater (Jai's favorite viewing location) and settled in to view the movie.
I know that every adult foodie out there is raving about this movie and I have to agree with them. It really is as entertaining as they say. The animation is out of this world. It is so realistic. At lot of what has been said about this movie is that is geared more for adults, than for children. Watching this movie with a 10 year-old got me thinking about the positive messages embedded throughout the movie.
  • Anyone Can Cook!
  • Dare to be creative.
  • Even your toughest critics can be won over.
  • Food is meant to be enjoyed, not shoveled into your mouth as fast as you can.
  • Be tolerate toward things that are different (like rats).
  • Teamwork can lead to great things.
  • Stealing from others is wrong.
  • Families and friends should help each other out.
  • Wash your hands before handling food.
All these themes and more are found in this movie. Not just good lessons for children, but great reminders for adults too.
On our way to drop Jai off at her house, she entertained me by recapping all the scenes in the movie and commenting on the characters. She also kept repeating the title of the movie. Apparently the word, "ratatouille" is fun to say again and again and again. It sort of is, I guess, but I control myself.
Having nearly finished the book, Heat, by Bill Buford, I can't help but think that some of the script in Ratatouille was influenced by that book.

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