Movie Reviews – July 2007

This was a light month moviewise. We were on vacation the whole middle of the month. We saw one movie then, Ratatouille, but we also saw it before we left. Here is what we saw:

Here are my reviews:

Ratatouille

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

If you like to cook and if you like Pixar movies too, this is one NOT to miss. Remy is a country rat with a passion for good food. While trying to get some rare ingredients he gets the attention of the woman whose pantry he is raiding. She starts firing a shotgun at him which leads to his colony having to flee for their lives. He gets separated from them and ends up in Paris in the sewers directly below Gasteau’s Restaurant. The deceased Gasteau is Remy’s hero and inspiration. Through a series of accidents he helps save the day for an inept garbage boy. As a team they become one of the best chefs in Paris. Remy is reunited with his colony which starts to pay him regular visits at the restaurant. Rats in a restaurant just don’t cut it and this makes for all sorts of action. There are two or three other side plots and the big showdown when they have to prepare a meal for the toughest food critic in Paris. There is a happy ending however.

Pixar’s animation just keeps getting better and better. The plot of this movie was more adult than most of Pixar’s other movies but that was ok by me. Kids don’t get short changed a bit. Although there are scenes that can be quite frightening. One child in the row behind us screamed when they were shooting guns at the rats. In fact, when anything scary happened.

Theater – 5 stars

How To Eat Fried Worms

I rented this movie but only barely saw it. I was babysitting my granddaughter Rachel that day. She was watching it on the computer while I was sitting next to her doing something else on another computer. I was following along but only looked over now and then. The story revolves around a new kid in school who gets into it with the class bully and gets trapped when he brags that he can eat worms. A bet is fixed and our hero has to eat a dozen worms by sundown. Most of the movie is about the different ways they cook the worms for him to eat. By the end the bully is dethroned and everyone is friends.

Netflix – 3 stars

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Narrowly escaping expulsion from school, Harry is having problems because there is a new headmistress at Hogwarts who has it in for him. Dumbledore has been put out to pasture. Nobody thinks Voldemort is back and so their defence against dark arts training becomes a joke. Just when they need the skills the most. Harry takes matters into his own hands and teaches his friends the spells he knows but this gets him deeper in Dutch. They realize that Voldemort needs to know what a prophesy was so Voldemort tries to trick Harry into helping him get it. The Deatheaters show up and do battle with the kids and there is show stopping wizards’ duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort at the end. Not too much is revealed in the movie, just continued story development. Those who like the Potter series will be well satisfied.

Theater – 4 stars

Stay

This movie is a confusing jumble. A psychiatrist is subbing for a sick friend and sees one of her patients who is suicidal. The patient also seems to be able to predict the future. But can he? What is the future and what is the present. When the psychiatrist starts coming unglued in time he doesn’t know what to make of it. The whole concept is handled pretty poorly in the film and the viewer is left not knowing what to think and confused about what has happened. The movie was wierd and not to my taste.

Netflix – 2 stars