We’re truly honored that producer Greg Nobile and Seaview will be bringing that love and collaborative spirit to this creative project, which is sure to bring joy to arts lovers far and wide this holiday season, while at the same time will help raise much-needed funds for those in need in our entertainment and performing arts community.”Lizzy Hale, Senior Manager of Content, Tik Tok US, added, “It has been magical to watch the TikTok community create and embrace the #RatatouilleMusical. From original ode to Remy to set designs, seeing the endless creativity of the platform and the wider community rallying around it has inspired and driven a new forum for theater lovers to express themselves, participate, and enjoy the show. Sample lyrics: “Remy the ratatouille/the rat of all my dreams/I praise you, my ratatouille/May the world remember your name.”When the song was picked up by TikTok influencers, thousands of musically-minded creators, from theater students to professionals, all with time on their hands due to the Covid lockdown, contributed their own offerings (hear a sampling below), some with elaborate, software-enhanced orchestrations. Even Broadway’s Dear Evan Hansen actor Andrew Barth Feldman joined the fun.
Ratatouille Soundtrack Movie And ReplacedIt doesn’t quite work, but it has the usual gorgeous animation as well as some exciting and violent action sequences to pass the time.Brenda Chapman was infamously kicked out of her own movie and replaced by Mark Andrews, which was terrible PR for Pixar’s first female-led and female-directed offering and put a severe asterisk on the film’s Oscar win for Best Animated Feature. Fair or not, he loves the franchise and he was very much attempting to make an ode to the 1960’s spy movies of his youth. Universally derided as Pixar’s worst film, this loose riff on the 1990 cult flop If Looks Could Kill is an oddity in that it is a clear cash-in project (a sequel to their least respected film, set in a global car race in 3D to boost overseas prospects, with a prior film’s supporting character boosted to the leading role) and a less-clear passion project for John Lasseter. “We can’t wait to share what these remarkable creators have dreamt up which will now allow them to benefit other artists through the vital work of The Actors Fund.”(Nobile, in keeping with the anything goes spirit of the phenomenon, also released a statement he said was written with Google Translate: “Le producteur légendaire David Merrick a annulé une fois une représentation de la 42e rue en affirmant qu’il y avait un rat dans le théâtre. Eh bien, notre spectacle ne peut pas continuer à moins qu’il n’y ait un rat très spécial dans le théâtre!”)Said Actors Fund President & CEO Joseph P.Moreover, its “great cooking can come from anywhere” thesis is a slightly more nuanced play on Pixar’s periodic deconstruction of the conventional “anybody can do anything” moral found in too many kid flicks.Another Pixar movie that was tagged as a financial risk before it made a crapload of money (that’s been a common theme over Pixar’s run), this Andrew Stanton-directed sci-fi fable is a mournful, somber and reflective look at the end of the world and what value life has if there is nothing left to strive for. It’s a terrific comedy that plays around with the Pixar formula (the big chase happens in the second act) and offers one of the more thoughtful takes on criticism and art and how they can co-exist and thrive together. Still, it made just as much ($238m domestic/$540m worldwide) as the boy-centric Pixar movies of the era.This Brad Bird gem was tagged as Pixar’s least commercial offering yet in the run up to release, only to watch the merchandise-unfriendly cooking comedy crush it overseas to the tune of $660 million worldwide (at 66% overseas, it has the biggest domestic/overseas split in Pixar history). Like too many female-led melodramas of this nature, this one (like the Bad Moms series) offers victims of the patriarchy fighting with each other while letting the men off the hook.![]() ![]() Kevin Spacey is ridiculously good as the heavy, delivering an R-rated villain in an otherwise G-rated picture. As such, this is one of their slighter efforts, even if the whole “exploited underclass stands up to a corrupt ruling class” thing is now all-too topical. That ending makes the movie.This was Pixar’s second feature, one before everyone expected the studio’s movies to craft emotionally punishing melodramas that wrecked adults while entertaining children. But then, in the last reel, it becomes a blistering rebuttal of the standard kiddie movie plot, whereby sometimes hard work and determination aren’t enough to get what you want, or conversely the path to success may be old-school professionalism and putting in the time as opposed to being granted lifelong goals. Yes, it’s interesting seeing a college comedy without most of the trademarks (booze, sex, drugs, etc.) of said sub-genre and you can read the film as a metaphor for the next batch of Pixar animators standing in the shadows of the founders. Coming out weeks after DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda, this was the point where DWA and Pixar were at their respective peaks and pushing each other to be better via arbitrary competition.For the first 90% of the movie, this prequel is fun but relatively disposable. But this remains one of Pixar’s most openly moving and unapologetically weird fantasy adventures. Fair or not, the output after this one was more sequel-heavy (five sequels and four originals from 2010 to 2017) and some of those originals ( The Good Dinosaur and Brave) weren’t exactly heralded as classics. The merchandise pays for any number of more experimental features.There are those who would argue that Pete Docter’s Up, about a recent widower who attempts to take the dream vacation that he and his late wife never got around to, marked the end of Pixar’s golden period. Once he slows down, the movie gets better, and it contains one of the better sports movie climaxes this side of Tin Cup, Akeelah and the Bee or Rocky II. The first act of this Doc Hollywood riff is tough, as Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is such an obnoxious jerk. This won’t make anyone’s “best of Pixar” lists, but it’s a fine and enjoyable movie.You can argue that Cars would have had an easier time of it if the John Lasseter ode to small-town Americana had A) come out earlier in Pixar’s run (its position as the follow-up to Finding Nemo and The Incredibles did it no favors) or B) not opened during a time when lionizing small town America was akin to lionizing Republicans and/or allegedly Red State values. Free driving games for kidsIt earned rave reviews, won another Oscar for Best Animated Feature and became Pixar’s biggest-grossing original release (not counting reissues or inflation) both in North America and worldwide. If anything, Syndrome was an ahead-his-time riff on toxic fandom and male entitlement and it still works as a ripping action-adventure movie that feels like the ultimate cocktail of 007 and Superman.Amid the deluge of “Has Pixar lost its mojo?” think pieces that have flooded the Internet since 2011, Inside Out did a gender-flip on the standard Pixar buddy movie formula while placing said journey inside the brain of a young girl. Brad Bird’s superhero family drama, a kind of Watchmen meets Unbreakable meets Fantastic Four stew has aged well, even as the superhero movie has become the defining form of live-action blockbuster and the film’s portrayal of generic middle-class existence now feels like an impossible dream (see also: Fight Club). It’s a third-act reveal concerning a book, and if you know what I’m referring to than you’re already crying.It’s weird to think back on how unusual, all due respect to Atlantis, it still was back in 2004 to see a PG-rated action cartoon where people multiple died onscreen. Refresh data in excelThis was also among the last times that tossing a big teaser ( Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones) onto prints of a new movie would successfully goose the opening weekend to any plausible degree.This one infamously almost went straight to DVD before Pixar and Disney spent no little amount of time and money fixing what didn’t work and improving what did for theatrical release. The climactic magic door chase scene is still one of Pixar’s better action finales, while the film’s subtext is sadly as topical today as it was 16 years ago. The light and jolly comedy, about the inherent power of fear (and eventually the superior power of laughter) was a case of “the right movie at the right time” as the first big movie to launch after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The film does have some blood on its hands (along with Shrek) in terms of killing 2D animation and displacing the female-driven animated melodrama, but Pixar’s first still stands as a fine storytelling achievement and a shining example of what you can create if you bother to create original characters rather than copying what came before.This crowd-pleasing and chase-filled release was an oddly timely offering. Tim Allen is great as Buzz Lightyear, but Tom Hanks’s starring turn as Woody cemented him (along with that summer’s Apollo 13) as essentially the most beloved actor in Hollywood for a while. If we can get an Inside Out or a Coco every few years out of the deal, then Pixar can make as many Cars sequels or Toy Story continuations as they desire.The one that started it all, this delightful buddy comedy about a childhood toy threatened by the appearance of a newer, cooler toy, remains a potent and emotionally-charged little caper.
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