FYC, or How Ratatouille est tres bon!

Now, it is that time of year when website banners, Variety ads and other movie-industry related press materials cannot escape three letters: FYC = for your consideration. Yes, every year they start earlier and this year is no exception. Being the small and probably under-the-radar blog this is, it is probably too much to think that my campaigning for a particular movie will matter, but I figured I could at least throw in my two cents when it comes to movies this awards season. My support will of course be biased, based solely on my opinion and have no influence whatsoever on anyone's opinions, but hey it's my blog and I can FYC if I want to, FYC if I want to...

For Your Consideration (A Blog Next Door Style) - Ratatouille

And so A Blog Next Door's FYC posts begin today with one of my favourite movies of the year: Pixar's Ratatouille, being released on Disney DVD today! I have high hopes for this little critical darling to do well in the Animated Feature Film category, but I also want it to do well over at other categories - and I'm not the only one! I am particularly interested in showing some support for Brad Bird in the 'Best Director' category: how cool would it be for Bird to be the nominated for an animated feature film?
In any case, for those of you who haven't been enlightened and have not yet watched the newest Pixar installment (and the first one to be released after the Disney-Pixar 'merge') Ratatouille tells the tale of Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) a rat who longs to be a chef and has great talent for it too. Stranded away from his father and brother (who think he should be less picky about his food and just enjoy garbage), Remy finds himself at Gusteau's - a French cuisine restaurant in Paris where he teams up with the lovable but incompetent Linguini, creating delicious meals and so reinvigorating the falling reputation of the restaurant once made famous by his eponymous chef who believed that "Anyone can Cook!"
A quirky premise worthy of Pixar: these are the same guys that gave us a story about toys who came to life, a fable about ants and grasshoppers, a comedy about monsters who are afraid of children, an epic about a clown fish in search of his son, and a superhero movie about a costumed family. And as per custom, Pixar offers us in Ratatouille lavish visuals, attentive and awe-inspiring animation that succeeds in not only (re)creating Paris in all its splendour, but also in imagining a world of divine culinary treats. I won't go into more detail because I think watching the film is a delight in itself, but I will single out Giacchino's score in adding to the Parisian mood of the film which neatly compliments Bird's 1950s retro style in both mood and visuals. Ratatouille is a perfect animated movie, and a very refreshing and smart one at that - especially compared to the overly self-referential, pop-culture-d and sketch-like animated movies that have littered the silver screen this year alone (Shrek 3 I am talking to you!): you should watch it, if only for that one scene where Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O'Toole, giving his audience a master class in voice-acting) tastes the eponymous dish and... well, I'll just say it is a one-in-a-million shot and you should patiently wait for it and relish it once it arrives.
Bon appetit!

Check out A Blog Next Door's other FYC campaigns:
Once
Superbad & Knocked Up
Hairspray
Atonement
Juno