![\"bloganimated04\"](\"https:\/\/chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/bloganimated041.jpg\" "\\"bloganimated04\\"")
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I really enjoyed the recent Ratatouille<\/em> too, which we watched with our small group at GV in Plaza Singapura. Like Monsters Inc.<\/em>, I especially liked this also Pixar film largely because of its refreshing story of a mouse who dreams of being a chef. The story is a pseudo-fantasy. But once you get past the notion that rats can cook, it doesn\u2019t subsequently break away from physical reality \u2013 i.e. the mice still can\u2019t talk to humans, and there\u2019s a hilarious sequence near the film\u2019s start where the dialog between two mice are heard as squeaks by a human LOL.<\/p>\n There\u2019re also lots of little nice touches: like how Remy declines to walk on all fours, how he and his owner Linguini establish their mode of communication, and how Linguini\u2019s love interest blossoms with Collette.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n I thought the documentary-styled and hand-held perspectives worked very well, and as I understand was really intended as a parody of surfing documentaries.<\/p>\n The characters were genuinely likable too and felt very human: Cody the penguin is brash and a little obsessed with surfing, his worshipped hero is washed-out Big Z but returns to mentor and guide him, Lani a life-guard penguin who is Cody\u2019s potential love interest, the three baby penguins who keep getting interviewed by the documentary crew, and a hilariously-played bully current surfing champ Tank “The Shredder” Evans.<\/p>\n Of worthy mention also is the first two Shrek<\/a><\/em> films, Kung Fu Panda<\/a><\/em> (which is my #4 favorite), Ice Age<\/a> <\/em>(largely because of Scrat!) and The Incredibles<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I really enjoyed the recent Ratatouille too, which we watched with our small group at GV in Plaza Singapura. Like Monsters Inc., I especially liked this also Pixar film largely because of its refreshing story of a mouse who dreams<\/p>\n![\"bloganimated00\"](\"https:\/\/chekyang.com\/musings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/bloganimated001.jpg\" "\\"bloganimated00\\"")
The last one in the list isn\u2019t generally acknowledged to be a \u2018great\u2019 animated picture. It\u2019s Surf\u2019s Up<\/em>; a film about a penguin who dreams of surfing. This was one of two Penguin animated pictures to get released \u2013 I haven\u2019t seen Happy Feet<\/em> yet \u2013 at about the same time-period.<\/p>\n