Brad Bird the American Miyazaki

perigrin on 2007-07-05T03:08:06

Brad Bird (Ratatouille, The Incredibles) seems perhaps to be one of the best animation writer/directors in America. He is part of the new generation of Animators involved with Pixar, who seem to be viewing Cartoons as a new form of storytelling rather than just as something to pander to children. This view of animation is the ideal Walt Disney had, and the concept found in the Japanese Anime of Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away)

I just finished watching Ratatouille, a story about family, food, france and rats. It tells the tale of Remy, a rat who has a taste for fine cuisine. He ends up moving to paris and finding work (after a fashion) as a Chef in a fine French restaurant. While the movie is appropriate for children it doesn’t treat it’s audience as anything less than intelligent mature people. This is the same feeling I got from watching The Incredibles which felt more like a Graphic Novel than a Super Hero Cartoon.

While I understand this isn't a Perl related post (something I try to maintain here), I felt it deserved a wider audience than my personal blog.

I like him...

sigzero on 2007-07-05T11:49:31

I have watched a few interviews with him and I like his humor and his style. He seems to really get animation and both "The Incredibles" and "Ratawhatee" (didn't want to look it up) are very good.

Re:I like him...

jdavidb on 2007-07-05T14:52:22

didn't want to look it up

Or cut and paste it from the entry you're replying to? :) :P

We liked it, although we didn't feel it was up to the same quality of story as previous Pixar movies. I probably liked it more than the average person would because I like cooking shows.

And my pregnant wife now desperately wants to try ratatouille. (Wrote it from memory then confirmed by Googling and making sure Google didn't suggest spelling corrections. :P :) )

Re:I like him...

perigrin on 2007-07-05T16:26:19

We liked it, although we didn't feel it was up to the same quality of story as previous Pixar movies.
Bird's style seems to be more restrained in story telling. The Incredibles the first time I saw it seemed very dry but as I go back and watch it I realized it's rich in it's simplicity (gah that sounds snooty, but it's true)... a stylistic choice that I think will elude most children but as a former English Major I can appreciate somewhat.. Ratatouille isn't that involved story wise but still has a very simple plot, but I quite enjoyed Peter O'Toole's soliloquy at the end about the nature of criticism and the nature of the charecters.

Re:I like him...

sigzero on 2007-07-05T18:48:09
Yes, I was being lazy there. : )

Re:I like him...

jdavidb on 2007-07-05T19:56:08

Good save. :)