The Continuing Adventures of Jud

Ratatouille opened today and I went t the first showing at noon at the Crystal River Theater. Given the sneak preview of a week or so ago and the reports and reviews coming off of that, I had little doubt that it was good- every one of them said so. What I didn't know was that parts of it are great! Absolutely magnificent came to mind during certain scenes. But in the end, good is correct.

As with all Pixar movies, it opens with a short, and by all means this one is the best by far! Heck- I would have been happy with just that! And it was a precursor to what was to come- a new unique experience, different from anything before, and a level of animation that takes us to a new height, a new standard in- beyond- computer animation.

The opening sequence in Ratatouille is simply magnificent. The drawing is scrumptious! The characters are deeply developed and realized, starting as terrifying apparitions and quickly becoming fully realized and likable individuals. The movement is impeccable as is the motion through the scenery. It isn't until the first humans appear that once again, the failings of computer animation become obvious. Why is it that humans seem such an impossible obstacle to overcome? The degree of detail and life given to the rats, and you simply will not believe it until you see it, surely a bit of that quality of movement could be given to the humans? It is as if an entirely different program, studio, crew of animators did the humans- and their backgrounds. Maybe they did. That is a shame, for it does bring one down from the exalted heights of what is manifest in the first minutes of this movie, where it is so excellently done that one no longer even considers that it as computer or any other form of animation: one is simply too involved being amazed!

But after the shock wears off, it carries on as a good movie, often surprising in its uniqueness and even offensive at times- there are scenes with the rats that are guaranteed to offend the stomachs of even the most jaded viewer! And it is beautiful at all times- especially the scenes of Paris which are the realization of all the fantasy images anyone has ever held in their head and heart for that mythical local.

The pacing is good, never a dull spot, and the story is good, solid, and well realized. The only weak point is at the end, which uses a rather overly long narration to wrap things up- a inexplicable and cheap device to be avoided in all story telling, especially the visual kind. This was extreme enough that some children were being led out of the theater as it played; and they didn't miss much, for at that point, it was pretty much over. I stayed and there is a bit more, but it is pretty much afterthought, like those rolling blurbs at the end of American Graffiti that tell the future of each of the main characters.

All in all, Pixar has another winner, a surprising achievement to have such a string; and it is worthy, it is a good movie, but parts of it are so magnificent that I mourn what could have been! I was thinking during that first scene that Walt himself would have been blown away by this! Would have been nice to have that carry on through to the end.

But in the end, visually and in movement , this is by far the best Pixar ever. This moves the field to a whole new level.

And it is a very different movie. I think Monday, I will see it again!

Especially the first scene! Simply magnificent!

Jud

NEW PLAY AT THE CITRUS COUNTY ART CENTER THEATER

Tonight I attended the dress rehearsal of the newest production of the Art Center Theater, Meredith Wilson's, The Music Man. Regular readers will recall it was about a year ago I played a small part in a play there, but this time, I was strictly audience, and that was a shame, for this looked like fun from start to finish!

The show opens tomorrow, June 29, and plays Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays for the next four weeks. The box office is (352) 746-7606 and tickets are a bargain at $18.00

Went to the Homosassa River today. A friend of a friend of a friend lives on it, and let me launch my kayak at his dock, the first house next to the Wildlife Park, so I was able to put in right where I wanted to be as opposed to paddling three miles from the public ramp.

Began by paddling under the road I had just come in on, and emerging on the other side of that, right outside the Homosassa Springs State Wildlife Park.

I have been having one heck of a time with this little gator, and recently realized one big problem that was subtly driving me crazy was that at the distance I was carving it, my eyes were totally out of agreement focus-wise. I have always been weak in one eye or the other due to strabismus (cross-eyed) and never learning to use both eyes together, something babies actually have to learn to do; but now that the eyes are older and less variable in their focus, with one good for near and one good for far, the "off" eye was sufficiently interfering with a clear view at whittling distance to make work near impossible.

And of course, my reading glasses were prescribed with matching lenses which are fine at reading distance, about arms length, but at whittling distance, about 8-10 inches, the right eye was so out of focus... so I took one of my pair of reading glasses over to the local optometrist's office and basically, it was just going to cost too much to get one lens changed to what I needed and the whole exam and prescription thing.

So I went to Wal-Mart and checked out their cheap reading glasses using one eye at a time and at the distance I needed. Turned out the left eye needed 1.25 mag, while the right eye at that distance needed 3.0 mag! So I bought a pair of each, figuring to swap out the needed lens and make my own mismatched pair. Well, the only problem was that instead of the lens frame being screwed on these, it is welded. Tonight I worked it over, and in end, I broke the right hand weak lens getting it out, and cut the frame to get the strong lens out of the other pair, then at a bit of a risk, forced the strong lens into the weaker frame. Well, I made a few nicks with the pliers around the perimeter, but managed to get it done so now have a pair of mismatched mag glasses that work at the distance I need for whittling and I tried them on and what a relief! I can see!!!

Went to the Homosassa Springs Wild Life State Park again this morning... It is interesting to note that the manatee, along with the hippo and the alligator, has an up-turned or top-mounted set of nostrils and can and does often expose only that above the water level to grab a lung full of air. In this picture, it is further refined to the use of a single nostril. Note the other one is closed.