Michael Giltz: DVDs: Tasty Ratatouille http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-tasty-ratatouille_b_71412.html [4/5/2009 8:23:10 PM] APRIL 5, 2009 HOME POLITICS MEDIA BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT LIVING STYLE GREEN WORLD CHICAGO COMEDY 23/6 VIDEO BLOGGER INDEX ARCHIVE Make HuffPost Your HomePage Get Email Alerts Twitter: Follow Us BIG NEWS : Angelina Jolie | Madonna | Chris Brown & Rihanna | Paul McCartney | More...</p><p> LOG IN | SIGN UP Michael Giltz | BIO | I'M A FAN OF THIS BLOGGER Email Print Be the First to Submit This Story to DiggDVDs: Tasty Ratatouille Posted November 6, 2007 | 03:09 PM (EST) Read More: Animated Movies, Chinatown , Disney, Dvds, Michael Moore , Movies, Pixar, Ratatouille, Rock And Roll , Stephen Colbert, The Who , Warner Bros, Breaking Entertainment News Pixar is in the midst of the greatest streak of hits in Hollywood history.</p><p> Every film in the company's history - from 1995's Toy Story to 2007's delightful Ratatouille ($29.99; Disney)- has been a critical and commercial success.</p><p> Every single one.</p><p> Not even Uncle Walt could make that claim - though Disney's catalog was so carefully mined that even "flops" like Fantasia eventually turned a profit.</p><p> It's the cinematic equivalent of Joe DiMaggio's hitting streak for the Yankees.</p><p> We may neversee its like again.</p><p> Pixar has released eight feature films in 12 years.</p><p> Since Toy Story 2, every single one has grossed at least $200 million in the US and at least $460 million worldwide. (That doesn't include DVD salesand a host of other revenue streams - just total box office.) And they've done it in a world ofmassively increased competition for animated films with everything from the Shrek franchise to Japan's Spirited Away to Ice Age achieving huge success as well.</p><p> And except for Toy Story 2 (not even another Incredibles , which begs for a new adventure), they've done it without a sequel.</p><p> And they haven't played it safe.</p><p> Pixar knew 2006'sCars wasn't going to be a slam dunk overseas - it's a film that plays off NASCAR, after all.</p><p> And when the film debuted and its first weekend was "only" $60 million, analysts screamed that the film was a flop, a disaster, that Disney had overpaid for Pixar and the honeymoon was over.</p><p> Then it quietly went on to gross $244 million in the US (right in line with most of their movies), an unexpectedly healthy $217 million overseas and enjoyed a bonanza of mechandising.</p><p> When Ratatouille opened to an even lower $47 million, the analysts apparently had learned their lesson and didn't say a peep.</p><p> They got smart. (Maybe it was the fact that Ratatouille has been one of the best reviewed movies of the year and could be a long shot to become the second animated film in history to be nominated for Best Picture.) Ratatouille - about a rat who yearns to be a master chef in Paris - seemed even less likely to have universal appeal.</p><p> Clearly, Pixar wasn't trying to top itself with even bigger grosses every time out.</p><p> But it grossed $200 million in the US and $400 million overseas for a whopping $600 million Popular Stories on HuffPost Fashion Face-Off! Michelle Obama And Carla Bruni-Sarkozy Finally Meet In France (VIDEO, PHOTOS, POLL) *Video, poll and slideshow (to...</p><p> Levi Johnston TalksSafe Sex With Tyra Banks (VIDEO) ***UPDATE*** 8:30pm: People.com is reporting that Sarah Palin hasissued...</p><p> Oscar de la RentaSlams Michelle Obama's Buckingham Outfit As MajorDesigners Feel Ignored While Michelle Obamahas made lesser...</p><p> Verena von Pfetten 7 Lessons To BeLearned From Carla Bruni So here's the thing.There's no shortage ofarticles dedicated to that certain je ne...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Discusses MichelleObama's "Fantastic" Madonna Jets Out Of Malawi More in Entertainment: 'Fast' Rakes In $72.5M...</p><p> Madonna Tot's Dad Found...</p><p> Farrah's Son Arrested...</p><p> Farrah Fawcett Is Hospitalized Michael Giltz: DVDs: Tasty Ratatouille http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-tasty-ratatouille_b_71412.html [4/5/2009 8:23:10 PM] Michelle Obama's Clothing Has Sean Hannity All Out OfSorts Cenk Uygur: Have WeReached the Tipping Pointon Guns? RICHARD POPLAWSKI,Pittsburgh Gunman, Kills 3 Dr.</p><p> Rachel Ehrenfeld: DoesIran Harbor Osama bin Best Late Night Jokes Of The Week:...</p><p> Michael Moore: Detroit Looks Like "The Landscape...</p><p> SNL: Madonna And Angelina In Weekend Update...</p><p> Reality Star Jade Goody Buried In Lavish...worldwide, ranking it third on Pixar's all-time list, just behind The Incredibles and Finding Nemo on worldwide grosses.</p><p> Do these box office figures matter? Yes, because they reflect success for artists that don't try and repeat themselves, for a studio that greenlights picture they assume won't have as wide an appeal as previous hits but knows they're worth making, for a company that funds envelope-pushing, delightful shorts (buy Pixar Short Films Collection for $29.99 from Disney to get 13 great examples) that work as a farm system for the directors of the future even though those shorts have almost no commercial upside.</p><p> The rest of Hollywood could learn a lot from Pixar.</p><p> Also out this week: Sicko ($29.95; Weinstein) - Michael Moore's most entertaining film since Roger & Me - has one simple message: the US healthcare system is broken, we can do better and a lot of other countries do in fact do better and let's see what they're doing and steal their best ideas; Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who ($29.98; Universal) reminds us what a great band they were thanks to terrific archival footage and present-day interviews; Professor Richard Brown isjust as painfully effusive in his praise as James Lipton (Brown calls Cuba Gooding Jr. a personalhero), but he generally stays out of the way in these 16 interviews on Movies 101 ($39.98; City Lights), so the smarter the subject (Martin Scorsese, for example) the more rewarding it is;bewilderingly out of touch and clueless, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry ($29.98; Universal) is at least balanced our karmically this week by the release of the indie gay flick Long-TermRelationship ($24.95; Here); I suppose there's no real damage done by constantly re-releasing new editions of classic films, but why bother putting out Chinatown ($14.99; Paramount) with only a collection of documentary shorts less than an hour long (and mis-identified on the box) or thesequel The Two Jakes ($14.99; Paramount) with only one short less than 20 minutes long; Stephen Colbert may have fallen short in his bid for the Presidency but at least he's overstuffed theballot box when it comes to The Best Of The Colbert Report ($19.99; Paramount) with nearly three hours of footage from his show; Barry Manilow: The First Television Specials ($39.99; Rhino) collects five TV specials of the unlikely pop star and is the perfect holiday gift if you're friends withsuper-fan Craig Ferguson; Tom Hanks narrates Magnificent Desolation: Walking On The Moon($19.98; HBO), a very kid-oriented look at space travel; Election ($19.95; Tartan) is the best movie by the over-praised director Johnnie To; you can't overpraise Looney Tunes Golden CollectionVolume Five ($64.98; Warner Bros.) even though it follows four previous sets bursting with gemsas well; documentary filmmaker Michael Apted hopes to replicate his Up series by followingmarried couples over the years in Married in America 2 ($26.95; Docurama); and Mystery ScienceTheatre 3000 fanatics can rejoice over a new collection Volume 12 ($59.95; Rhino) that somehow avoided getting released on DVD before now.</p><p> Pixar has released eight movies: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars and Ratatouille .</p><p> Which is your favorite? Your least favorite? And why are they so tremendously successful? Me, I love Toy Story 2 for being such a great sequel, followed closely by The Incredibles.</p><p> Comments for this post are now closed Email Print More in Entertainment...</p><p> HuffPost Stories Surging Right Now Style On CBS' "Washington Unplugged" Arianna was on CBS' "Washington...</p><p> Huff TV Arianna Appears on ABC's "This Week" Roundtable With George Stephanopoulos(VIDEO) Arianna was a guest this morning on... "BRUNO" TRAILER!Calamity, African Babies, Chase Scenes And More (NSFW VIDEO) IT'S HERE! The trailer forthis July's Sacha Baron Cohen...</p><p> NATO Leaders Focus On Afghanistan, ButMost Reject Obama's Plea For Troops (SLIDESHOW) STRASBOURG, France— On the eve of the NATO...</p><p> First Lady Fashion At Friday's NATO Concert (PHOTOS) Another night, another fashion opportunity for NATO leaders and their spouses! 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Comments 3 Pending Comments 0 Comments are closed for this entry Buy a link here Sponsored Links "My Teeth Are so White" Read the trick, discovered by a mom, to turn yellow teeth white.</p><p> CathysTeeth.com Spine Surgery Advancement NO Hospital, NO Gen Anesthesia.</p><p> Get Your Life Back NOW! www.LaserSpineInstitute.com I'm Happy I Lost My Job After I got laid off, I found a easy way to make $7k a month online... http://coreyhasmoney.com/ca Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to View Comments: Newest First Expand All mellene See Profile I'm a Fan of mellene permalink I really loved Ratatouille as well as Sicko.</p><p> I found Ratatouille to be about the best animated film that I've ever seen.</p><p> I hope the DVDs are a huge success.</p><p> NyPrincess See Profile I'm a Fan of NyPrincess permalink Yeah, Pixar is definitely on a roll! I haven't seen Ratatouille yet, but out of the movies you mentioned,I"d have to say The Incredibles is my favorite followed closely by Finding Nemo.</p><p> My nephew told me togo see The Incredibles and I'm glad I did! It"s a fun movie that appeals to all age groups.</p><p> I"d have tosay my least favorite is Toy Story, not because it isn"t good, but because my nephew begged me formonths on end to buy him another Buzz Lightyear after the first one I bought mysteriously broke :-) blueraven See Profile I'm a Fan of blueraven permalink I'd have to go with Ratatouille and The Incredibles as my favorite Pixar films, not the least of myreasons being both movies managed to feature a strong female character.</p><p> My only complaint with Pixaris they have never had a movie with a woman/female character as the protagonist.</p><p> The Incrediblescame closest, especially if you count screen time, but her plotline was so intrinsically woven into herhusband's that you could easily argue she'd have done nothing without his actions.</p><p> All of their femalecharacters have depended on the male lead for the bulk of their screen time and conduct.</p><p> Ratatouillepushed that envelope slightly, but the true lead of the movie was the very male rat.</p><p> Even Finding Nemohad the female supporting character wind up attached to the family, though you'd be hard-pressed to claim a romance had bloomed under the water.</p><p> That second part elevated it for me, though.</p><p> It's not often you have a male and female character pull together in a movie and not wind up in love.</p><p> I freely admit this is a hobby horse of mine, but I feel strongly enough about it that I wanted to make note of it.</p><p> Least favorite? I haven't seen Cars, so I will withhold comment.Setting aside the gender issue I just noticed, I think Pixar films are successful because they are well- written and respect the viewer's intelligence.</p><p> Visually, they are highly consistent.</p><p> The humor never sinksto the morning radio show level.</p><p> And the characters are compelling whatever form they take.</p><p> Computers India Barack Obama Michelle Obama Sports Olympics Housing Crisis Fox News Cars MORE BIG NEWS PAGES » Books by this author A cabin of one's own: New England's MacDowellColony celebrates 100years of artistic utopia.And the gay and lesbianartists who prosperedthere celebrate ... (Thenational gay & lesbiannewsmagazine) by Michael Giltz Affairs to remember:Farley Granger beddedAva Gardner, ShelleyWinters, and LeonardBernstein.</p><p> In hisautobiography, IncludeMe Out, Hitchcock's muse... 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