Whiplash Cinema 3

Forgive my absence, but I've been literally out of the country for three weeks. I have returned just in time for another edition of Whiplash Cinema. This week's offerings are The Valet, a French comedy, and Ratatouille, a Pixar animated feature set in France.

The Valet (La Doublure), is a competent, pleasant farce about Francois Pignon(Gad Elmaleh), a valet who wants to marry Emilie (Virginie Ledoyen), the girl he has known forever. Meanwhile, Pierre Levasseur (Daniel Auteuil), big-shot CEO and husband of Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) is having an affair with Elena (the radiant Alice Taglioni), a supermodel who believes the cad Pierre will leave Christine, who is the majority shareholder in the company he runs (ain't it always the way?), and marry his mistress. Yeah, right. Pierre convinces Francois and Elena to pose as a couple. This will prevent his wife from leaving him and taking all that tasty, tasty money with her. Hijinks ensue.

The Valet is a movie that could be transported straight to Hollywood. You could plug in John Krasinki as Francois and cast Rob Schneider as his pal Richard and you wouldn't miss a beat. The only actor without a Hollywood analogue (that I can see) is Taglioni, who is beautiful and sweet and makes Elena the most sympathetic and empathetic character in the film. It has some amusing sequences and a few chuckles, but it's nothing special. It's the sort of movie that someone who "doesn't like foreign films" can view and enjoy.

Ratatouille is the third film by Brad Bird. His first was The Iron Giant, a criminally underviewed masterwork of 2D animation. His second film did better. You may have heard of it. It was called The Incredibles.

Ratatouille is the story of Remy, a rat voiced by Paton Oswalt, who wants to be a chef. When his rat clan is evicted from their home, he makes his way to Paris and the famous Gusteau's restaurant, buuuuuuttttt he's a rat, remember?

I won't go into any plot specifics of the movie. The story is fine, but you can see the beats coming miles away. What elevates Ratatouille is the animation, the voice casting, and Bird's huge, expansive heart. This movie looks incredible; sometimes it contains more than the eye can behold. The cast does yeoman work. Oswalt, a gifted stand-up comedian and in-demand writer, is perfect as Remy, Brad Garrett and Janeane Garofalo are almost unrecognizable (and I mean that in the good way) as the ghost of Gusteau and Colette, and Brian Dennehy is spot-on as Remy's dad, but the crown must be reserved for Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego. O'Toole gives a breathtaking performance using only his resonant, perfectly pitched and intonated phrasing. It's a tour-de-force from an actor whose physical beauty has always been one of his most bracing characteristics.

Bird seems to have found his perfect working environment at Pixar. Ratatouille isn't as all-around great as The Incredibles, but that seems like nit-picking. It's very, very good, and isn't that a nice criticism to level in this day of rampant mediocrity?