Yeah, they never had a collector’s edition of Cars here in the US. (much to my ongoing, never ending chagrin) I wouldnt be surprised if they’re wasnt one for Ratatouille either. I’m thinkin maybe putting out sparce DVDs is so to intice people to buy thr Blu-Rays instead. I could be wrong, and i’m sure that’s not the only reason (if that is a reason) but that’s just my feeling.
I, personally, like both the “Ratatouille” and “At World’s End” covers…
The AWE cover remained loyal to the other two… And I think it looks cool.
“Ratatouille” could be improved, but I like the background of Paris.
Hopefully Bird won’t go so overboard with giving people props during the commentary. I realise making these films is a huge collaborative process, but there’s more than a few times where he said he’d use up the whole duration crediting people. 
I think that going overboard wth crediting people is a great idea! After all, the movie wouldn’t been nothing with out the people’s help. If he does do that in the Rataotuille commentary, I would be happy.
I agree with watkinzez, while we don’t want to detract from the importance of what all the contributors have done, the commentary isn’t the place to do that. While they all mean a lot to Brad when he’s saying them, let’s face it, to the vast majority of us, they’re just a list of names that have little personal meaning, and the whole reason we watch the commentaries is to gain behind-the-scenes insights into the film, not hear the credits as an audiobook. 
I admit that may have sounded a bit harsh and exaggerated, and I still love Brad and all his commentaries, but I do feel that watkinzez is correct in that he does have a slight tendency to go overboard with the mentioning of names. It’s a nice gesture, but all it does is take up time that we’d rather spend hearing something else.
I actually like the names because I like to know who worked on particular scenes or had a hand in creating something. Gives me a little insight to their specific talents and creates for me a portrait of each individual artist rather than just a whole team at large. For instance, I know Frank & Ollie’s work so well now that I can go back to all the old Disney classics and pick out a lot of the scenes they did because I recognize their style. Same thing with Milt Kahn. I like being able to do that with Pixar as well. And as Brad says… “To the Spaniards!”
Oh, I don’t have a problem with that at all. It’s just the instances where he gives a whole list of time-taking-up names that it gets a little frustrating… hence the “overboard.” Plus, I say that that’s what we’ve got behind-the-scenes featurettes for. 
I cannot disagee more - I think that making direct notion to people responsible for actual tasks makes viewer feel more involved more engaged. It’s much better to know who i who, whose hard work, effect of gallons of sweat and tears visible on screen, make us laugh or cry. I really appreciated that Bird wanted to share with us (his movies’ fans) all those personal details so we can actually imagine that those where a bunch of real people like us who made this magic work It wasn’t done by nameless persons but by individual people with varying personalities and style who dare to be in bad mood sometimes and not by robots That’s cool Watching live action film it’s easier to know who we owe the impresion after seeing wonderful (or bad) performance. In case of animation one particular character’s performance is much more a team effort and I think it’s good to know who pull the strings…
I must say that although I do appreciate all of the hard work that goes into making a Pixar film, I found myself getting a bit antsy, and quite bored with the list of names that Brad Bird reeled off on The Incredibles DVD commentary. I have no issue with giving credit here and there, or if there was a specific part of the film that really deserved credit, but I dedicating 1/3 of the film to names of people, was a bit much for me at least.
I would have preferred that they talked about the development of the film itself - all aspects, because that’s what the commentary is for, and the credits are for giving credit to every single person, not the commentary. And to be honest, I didn’t know who most of the people were. (Not that I don’t appreciate their work…)
Honestly, I don’t think I would have noticed if Bird hadn’t repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that he ‘can’t mention everybody’. A quick name drop or the strange occurrance that Spaniards understand physics much more than anyone else, I’m fine with- the following tangents where he only encourages people to read the credits, not so much.
But really, my lingering on these aspects of the commentary makes it seem much worse than it is- I enjoyed listening to Brad and John, and they discussed many interesting points about the film.
Speaking of the DVD extras, I’ve seen the short documentary made by Mr. Giacchino’s young son (where he interviews his dad, Brad Bird, and some of the musicians) and it’s good (and parts of it hilarious, especially the answers some of the musicians give). But I can’t seem to find any information on if this feature will be included in either the regular or BluRay DVDs. As one of the other posters said, I too had heard originally that this short would be included on the hidef DVD version (in Disney’s case, that means BluRay) – but it’s not mentioned anywhere, even in the official press release (for either version). It would be nice if it was included in the normal DVD as well, but even if you look at the official press release (let alone descriptions on Amazon and such) for the BluRay, it’s not mentioned. I sure hope it doesn’t get dropped, though at this point there’s not much to do but wait and see, as the DVD deadline has already passed.
For those that didn’t notice, I also want to draw you attention to the fact that Ratatouille finally crossed the $200 million mark domestically over the Labor Day weekend – and international grosses are catching up (it did especially well in France and Japan – and it has just been released in Australia, and it won’t even be released in the UK until October!)
Theres a slim chance it could be included in the DVD but is listed under the “And More!” blurb on the press release, or possibly as an easter egg. I sure hope so.
Where did you see the short? Is there any chance of it being online (like on YouTube)? I would love to see it.
As far as I know, it’s not online anywhere. I saw it at a private screening. I suppose there’s always a chance of it being uploaded somewhere, but I think it’s highly doubtful. At the time I saw it the intention was to put it on the hi-def DVD… I hope it’s included on at least one of the DVD versions. It was pretty well done, but I find it strange that there’s no mention of it in the promotional literature. Usually studios can’t wait to tout their additional features.
In a interview of Benoît Landot, DVD production manager of Disney France about the upcoming DVD of Ratatouille, he said :
“We’re working on a specific collector’s edition of Ratatouille and an amazing Blu-Ray. Coming on February 2008.”
So, as for Cars, Ratatouille will have a collector’s edition in France.
I just noticed that Ratatouille is listed on Amazon as single disc widescreen DVD.
Thumbs up for widescreen, but thumbs way down for going single-disc again.
I get the feeling they are going to reserve all the good extras for the BD release… 
Yeah, one disc. That really grinds my gears. D:
It’s… it’s Ratatouille!! Why, Pixar? Why deprive the people who praised you so?
It’s not Pixar’s fault. It’s the Walt Disney Company. They are evil. I won’t start talking about that, because I’ll go on forever , but I do know that the Ratatouille DVD has real bonus features, unlike the Cars DVD.
But it’s not Pixar’s fault. If it was up to them, they would have made it a 2-disc.
A113- Real bonus features!! YAY!!! Tell us about them or how you know. Oh and Disney just wnats to get people to buy Blu-Ray over HDDVD and DVD so that’s why they do it. Disneys a bussiness and a bussiness has got to do what a bussines has to do.
Well, I read it from Upcoming Pixar, but I can’t seem to find the article again. 
Yeah, because it costs two and a half times more. 
Rip people off? 
Disney’s just trying to take over the world, because that’s the only way the company won’t die.
I think some of the DVD bonus features are some Brad Bird interviews and deleted scenes.[/i]
I love Disney, but there’s something sinister about them. I maintain that the fact that Ratatouille is Pixar’s first film since its Disney acquisition and also happens to be the first Pixar movie featuring a human lead who is an orphan is no coincidence.
And I have only a very vague idea of what a “Blu-Ray” actually is, so they’re probably not getting more money out of me there.