dana, i hope you're right. expensive, clever movies deserve to make money.

that said . . . this might be one of those "perfect storm" situations where aspects conspire to obstruct success, and everyone afterwards says "i knew that would be a problem"

first of all . . . we have the intersection of 2 things which have never lit america's fire . . . . rats, and the french.

seriously. there has never been a successful rate movie. we have mice movies galore, and cartoons. remember that cute little white mouse adopted by gena davis - his fur was realistic too, and he had the additional safety net of playaing against real human characters.

but here we have a rat - in a french setting, no less

second problem . . . i'm planning to go to the local cineplex, as an experiment, and as people how they pronounce the rats name as written on the marqee . . . . already i'm hearing my neighbors - and american TV announcers - include the dreaded "L's", which should be silent.

or i might ask cineplex customers to spell the rats name, after pronouncing it correctly, and then incorrectly. bet they get it wrong both times.

and a good title can lift a decent move movie, a bad one sink it (as evidence, i give you: "ballistic eck vs. sever"; "step into liquid"; "bend it like beckham" . . . i could go on. you know i could. you could too)

as a parting thought (shot) let me remind you of the cartoon a couple of years ago which everybody was sure was going to be a big hit: "the triplets of bellevue". it was french too. remember this movie? you don't? it was a terrific movie, and there's a reason you don't remember it.

let's all hope we have a reason to remember the mispronounced and unspellable rat movie, eh?

The mistake of thinking I didn't care about a goofy movies about talking toys...or a silly movie about talking bugs...or a kids movie about monsters...or a juvenile movie about a comic book family of super-heroes...or a movie about cars with personalities.

Yet, I found every single one of those movies was brilliant when I finally got over myself and watched them. Maybe this is the one where Pixar falls flat on its face, but to date, they haven't made a bad movie. Until they do, I'm gonna give them the benefit of the doubt.

I'd never heard that Triplets of Belleville was going to be a hit. It only got an art house run here in Seattle. That's Seattle, where that which the rest of world calls "art-films" are simply called "movies" by a significant plurality of the populous. I don't think anyone kidded themselves into thinking that it was anything but a French film (the worst of which often--not always--still compare rather favorably with our own best . . . but I digress).

That said, I own the DVD, and I watch it at least every other month. It's as close to perfection as animated films get. I might argue that it should've been a hit. But we live among those who made Evan Almighty and Fantastic Four II hits, who gave an Oscar to Forrest Gump. Triplets of Belleville struck me almost instantly as too . . . well, cinematic for our audiences.

Ratatouille is pretty impressive (I saw an advance screening last week): smart, charming, and possessed of the same crypto-retro sensibilities as Brad Bird's other work. It's actually just as cinematic as Triplets--both have a certain amount of debt to Jacque Tati, and Bird's script definitely throws more than a few bones to food fetishists--but like the absolute best of our pop directors, Bird keeps things moving fast enough for people who only digest art between their thankless jobs and the frantic pace of all other forms of consumption. I hope it succeeds. There were a LOT of kids at the screening, and they were laughing, loudly and frequently. I think this film might have what it takes. 'Sides, many, many parents I know get dragged to EVERY animated film--bar none--that gets released. Smart parents who haven't already seen, say, Surf's Up might do well to make sure this is the one they get dragged to this cycle.

Ratatouille is the name of the movie, not the name of the rat. Attendance will grow because most everyone who sees it will insist that their friends and family see it. It's amazing, magical, funny, preposterous, deep, inspiring, and one of the best movies of this or any year. Furthermore, the film is so densely packed with wonders of design, character, animation, love, and knowledge that it will inspire and reward multiple viewings.