This movie sucks. Really I should leave it there because I feel as though I've wasted too much time on this unholy abomination of animation already, but I'm compelled to go into detail why this pile of rat feces isn't even worthy of an MST3K riff session.
Animation: Remember the Money for Nothing music video from the mid 80's? It was blocky, sure, but that was leaps and bounds better than anything you'll find in this movie. I could spend all day ragging on the animation, but that is only one cardinal sin this cinematic abortion has done. I'll be frank, the animation is so terrible, it would have looked dated in the 80's. For some odd reason the mice's snouts move with their mouths when they talk and the designs have sort of an uncanny valley look to them. I'd say there's some Aardman influence here, but I feel it's a disservice to the fine folks at Aardman animation to compare their works to this pile of garbage.
Voice acting: If memory serves me right, most if not all of the voice actors were employed under 4Kids, the same people who dubbed Pokemon, One Piece, Sonic X, and a slew of other anime, but even their worst roles under 4Kids doesn't compare to Ratatoing. Mind you, the film was originally in Portuguese and dubbed in English (Which also explains the film's setting in Brazil, where Video Brinquedo resides). That said, they did a terrible job, but it's not all their fault. Sure the acting was corny and too over the top in a lot of cases, but they simply did what they were told and read the god awful dialogue that was handed to them.
Writing/Story: This is the biggest problem by far. One would assume the film is a blatant copy of the far superior Ratatouille, and that assumption is partially correct. You see both movies have a rat who aspires to be a chef, even if it means stealing food from humans. However, Ratatouille goes further and has a much better story and overall plot than Ratatoing, which is extremely shallow by comparison. That bit I said about the rats stealing food to make the dishes? That's the extent of the plot. Mind you, this film is 44 minutes long, roughly the time of two episodes of a standard cartoon, and it has filler. They reuse the same suiting up montage 3 times throughout the film. It's sad when a 22 minute cartoon can do a more complex story and give it a beginning middle and end while a 44 minute DVD can't even do that.
Do I recommend this? Well, maybe the question "Are you a masochist?" would be more appropriate. If your answer is yes, then by all means give this abortion a watch, and if you're a sadist who likes inflicting psychological torture on children, this film is perfect. Otherwise, stay away from this garbage.
Animation: Remember the Money for Nothing music video from the mid 80's? It was blocky, sure, but that was leaps and bounds better than anything you'll find in this movie. I could spend all day ragging on the animation, but that is only one cardinal sin this cinematic abortion has done. I'll be frank, the animation is so terrible, it would have looked dated in the 80's. For some odd reason the mice's snouts move with their mouths when they talk and the designs have sort of an uncanny valley look to them. I'd say there's some Aardman influence here, but I feel it's a disservice to the fine folks at Aardman animation to compare their works to this pile of garbage.
Voice acting: If memory serves me right, most if not all of the voice actors were employed under 4Kids, the same people who dubbed Pokemon, One Piece, Sonic X, and a slew of other anime, but even their worst roles under 4Kids doesn't compare to Ratatoing. Mind you, the film was originally in Portuguese and dubbed in English (Which also explains the film's setting in Brazil, where Video Brinquedo resides). That said, they did a terrible job, but it's not all their fault. Sure the acting was corny and too over the top in a lot of cases, but they simply did what they were told and read the god awful dialogue that was handed to them.
Writing/Story: This is the biggest problem by far. One would assume the film is a blatant copy of the far superior Ratatouille, and that assumption is partially correct. You see both movies have a rat who aspires to be a chef, even if it means stealing food from humans. However, Ratatouille goes further and has a much better story and overall plot than Ratatoing, which is extremely shallow by comparison. That bit I said about the rats stealing food to make the dishes? That's the extent of the plot. Mind you, this film is 44 minutes long, roughly the time of two episodes of a standard cartoon, and it has filler. They reuse the same suiting up montage 3 times throughout the film. It's sad when a 22 minute cartoon can do a more complex story and give it a beginning middle and end while a 44 minute DVD can't even do that.
Do I recommend this? Well, maybe the question "Are you a masochist?" would be more appropriate. If your answer is yes, then by all means give this abortion a watch, and if you're a sadist who likes inflicting psychological torture on children, this film is perfect. Otherwise, stay away from this garbage.