The 1000 batting average of Disney’s Pixar studio seems destined to continue with its upcoming release of the single-syllable summer feature Up, opening May 29th. Last year, I found this marvelous New York Times article detailing Pixar’s unique creative ethos of collaboration that enables the many hands involved in a film’s production to speak up as to what could make it better. I was stunned after reading it, so different was the Pixar approach from the typical ego-driven Hollywood star system of overpaid stars and self-indulgent directors. The studio’s determination to render the best possible story onscreen has led to an unequaled string of hits with no misses.
The latest honor for Pixar was the privilege this week of being the opening film at the Cannes Film Festival. Never before had an animated film opened the festival rather than the work of some critically esteemed auteur director with a “serious” work of art. But the critics gave huzzahs of praise at the PG-rated Up, reminding me of the reaction of another critic to a surprising achievement. At the end of Pixar’s Ratatouille, Remi the rat, who longs to fufill his dream of becoming a world class chef, produces a plate of the titular French dish of stewed vegetables and sauce and has it served to the snobby critic Anton Ego, the scourge of Paris’ chefs. Anton tastes the dish and the wonderful flavors it evokes instantly transports him to memories of his childhood. He is undone that such a simple dish could be so wondrously rendered and resigns his powerful position to underwrite the little rodent’s culinary enterprise. From this report, it appears that the chefs of Maison de Pixar have cooked up another delicacy that will delight both the masses and the critics.
