What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Disney has spared no expense to market its latest Pixar film to kids. Even preschoolers who can't pronounce the title will know about the movie with the cooking rat. Like all of Pixar's other films, this movie includes nuanced humor (about the French, haute cuisine, food critics, etc.) and references aimed directly at adults. Not surprisingly for an animated kids' movie, the main protagonist, Linguini, is an orphan -- although at least he's a young adult and not a child. There's some light peril involving the rats and weapon-wielding humans, but it's harmless and comical.
- Families can talk about what made kids want to see this movie -- the story or all of the advertising? Does it matter that the title is hard to spell/pronounce or that the main characters are rats?
- Do kids know the Pixar brand name? Does that make them more likely to want to see something?
- Families can also discuss the film's theme -- pretending to be something you're not. Linguini takes credit for Remy's cooking ideas in order to look like a chef, and Remy turns away from his rat family to be with his human friends and eat good food. How does pretending catch up to each of them?