By Robert W. Welkos, Times Staff Writer
July 16, 2007
They are films that won over critics and captured the Oscar for best picture in the process. Movies like "The Departed," "Crash," "Million Dollar Baby" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."
But the animated Disney/Pixar film "Ratatouille" has fared better with the nation's critics than these recent best picture winners did, according to statistics compiled by the website
rottentomatoes.com. It found that of all the major studio releases through the first half of this year, "Ratatouille" has the highest number (96%) of positive reviews. By comparison, "The Departed" had 93%, "Crash" 75%, "Million Dollar Baby" 91% and "The Return of the King" 94%.
To be sure, there are films that have garnered higher percentages of positive reviews this year, but those are smaller, indie films such as "12:08 East of Bucharest," "Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox" and "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" that have all garnered 100% praise by critics, according to tabulations by the film website. The studio film that ranks closest to "Ratatouille" is the Universal comedy "Knocked Up" at 91%.
All that said, the rat probably won't be in the running for best picture.
Academy Awards voters have largely shunned animated movies in this category. Only "Beauty and the Beast" (1991) has been nominated for best picture — and it lost to "The Silence of the Lambs."
"There is an innate bias against animated films [by Oscar voters]," said Paul Dergarabedian, who runs the box office tracking firm Media by Numbers. "They are perceived as being for kids. They are not taken seriously. I think that is going to change. I think films like 'Ratatouille' transcend the ingrained bias against these kinds of films."
The film opened June 29 at No. 1 with $47 million in box office and had grossed nearly $125 million through Thursday. Disney would not release any figures, but a spokeswoman for the studio said that the film had to draw large numbers of adults to achieve those numbers. She said adults are usually more influenced by reviews than younger audiences.
"Ratatouille" has a good shot at being nominated in the best animated film category, although moviegoers have yet to see other animated films in the pipeline this year like "The Simpsons Movie," "Bee Movie" and "Beowulf."
robert.welkos@latimes.com
