We review Ratatouille with more fire & analysis than we ever thought possible. This is a loaded episode. There’s a History of the Pixar Company segment, a breakdown of Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling, and some debate surrounding the Heartbreaks & Happiness segment. How This Show Works - 2:38 NON-SPOILER SECTION Cast and Crew - 4:42 How Pixar Got Here - 8:26 Production Nuggets - 15:18 Movie Specs - 16:30 Plot Premises/Expectations - 19:42; 24:00 Production Values: Animation/DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS FOOD- 22:47; 25:09 Sound - 29:38 Performances - 30:10 Spoiler Warning - 34:35 SPOILER-FILLED SECTION Pixar’s 22 Rules of Screenwriting No. 9 - 35:55 Failing on a Tightrope of Realism vs Absurdity - 39:31 (Lacking a Moral - 42:36) Scenes of Heartbreak - 45:00 Happy Pills + Highlights - 47:34 Disney and Grossness - 51:45 Ending on More Happiness/Final Thoughts - 55:16 Your Homework/Coming Next for MMO - 58:17 Words of Wisdom/Social Media - 1:00:11 Yes, Also Mike promised an unsolicited Bruce Springsteen impersonation, and he gives it atop the show. He’s sorry. But we have an animated intro & a highly charged episode. Who knew this Pixar film would be the one to divide us?! This is our review of Ratatouille, part 6 of our Pixar Re-Watch. The History of the Pixar Company segment is basically the great summit at the dragon pits from last season of Game of Thrones. There’s a major stand-off between Pixar and Disney, and the strife carried over into the Pixar production team as well. It’s an interesting backstory, and we do think it had some effect on the finished film. The non-spoiler section also dove into many of the animation innovations in what might be the best looking visuals to date in a Pixar film. We also have some debate throughout the script thoughts before we dive into spoilers. So this review is much more mixed than we thought it would be. We can’t help it. Our hearts are hardened by (now) years of Oscar films studied, and we wonder why that might be, but also, there’s good reason for it. When in doubt, rely upon the 22 Rules of Pixar Storytelling to spark a good conversation on the script, and we certainly breakdown the many ups and downs of the plot. But of course, we love to love these movies, and this one is no exception. Coming soon to MMO, we’ll have our usual variety show on Tuesday’s MMO Weekly. Yes, we’ll review the new trailers for It: Chapter 2 & Judy. Yes, we’ll review episode 5 of Game of Thrones. And YES, we’ll have tons of awesome audience interaction after another tremendous week of chatting with you all on twitter & via SixDegreesOfMMO. We’ll also have reviews of Detective Pikachu and Wall-E. Plus, we’re very happy to join the Epic Film Guys on Saturday 5/18 6pm for Livestream for the Cure. So do join us then if you can. As always, let us know what you thought of Ratatouille. We’re at MMandOscar on Twitter, and we are on Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, and Gmail. You can subscribe / rate / review / like / share / & listen to us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Google Play, Tune In, Spotify, and just about wherever you listen to podcasts. When reality sucks, keep watching movies with us. We’re Mike, Mike, & Oscar!