Lightning: Okay. Focus. Speed. I am speed. One winner. 42 losers. I eat losers for breakfast. Breakfast, maybe I should have had breakfast. Breaky could be good for me. No, no, stay focused. Faster than fast. Quicker than quick, I am lightning. Mac (OS): Hey Lightning, you ready? Lightning: Oh yeah, Lightning's ready (beat) Ka-chow! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrqLec24cYM Cars (2006) Writing by: John Lasseter, Joe Rant & others Trivia: This was Paul Newman's last feature film before his death in 2008. It also turned out to be the highest-grossing movie of his career. Dialogue on Dialogue: Lightning McQueen's disunity state set up in his opening words. Arrogant, dreamy, distracted and incapable of getting breakfast. Definitely a film for boys aged 2-8.

The Incredibles (2004) Writer: Brad Bird https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvElQvrx7ns [Reproduced from the script, pp. 22-27, so it varies slightly from what appears in the film.] INT. PARR DINING ROOM - NIGHT Helen spoons baby food into the mouth of JACK-JACK (with all the facial "English" known to parents), most of which Jack-Jack squeezes back out onto his chin...where it is adeptly caught on Helen's spoon and reintroduced into the baby's mouth. DASH Mom, you're making weird faces again. HELEN (spoons, makes a weird face) No, I'm not... BOB You make weird faces, honey. HELEN (notices Bob's newspaper) Do you have to read at the table? BOB Uh-huh. Yeah. Helen SIGHS. She turns her attention to Dash, who is wrestling with an uncut slab of steak. HELEN Smaller bites, Dash! Bob, could you help the carnivore cut his meat? Bob SIGHS, puts down the paper, grabs a knife and fork, reaches over to Dash's plate, and begins to cut his meat. HELEN (CONT'D) Dash? You have something you want to tell your father about school? DASH Uh...well, we dissected a frog...? HELEN Dash got sent to the office again. BOB (cutting, not listening) Good...good. HELEN No, Bob, that's bad. BOB What? HELEN Dash got sent to the office again. BOB What for? DASH Nothing. HELEN He put a tack on the teacher's chair. During class. DASH Nobody saw me. You could barely see it on the tape. BOB They caught you on tape and you still got away with it? Whoa...you must've been booking! How fast do you think were-- HELEN Bob, we are not encouraging this-- BOB I'm not encouraging, I'm just asking how fast he was-- HELEN Honey!! A loud CRACK is heard. Bob stops cutting; realizing that he's sawed right through the table with his dinner knife. BOB Oh, great. First the car and now I gotta pay to fix the table-- HELEN The car? What happened to the car? Bob rises, gives Dash his plate of food and EXITS into the kitchen. BOB I'm getting a new plate. HELEN (to Vi, forced cheerful) What about you, Vi? How was school? VIOLET (shrugs) Nothing to report. HELEN You've hardly touched your food. VIOLET I'm not hungry for meatloaf. HELEN Well, it is leftover night. We have steak, pasta-- what are you hungry for? DASH Tony Rydinger... VIOLET Shut up! DASH Well, you are! VIOLET I said SHUT UP, you little insect! DASH Well, she is. HELEN Do not shout at the table. (to Bob) Honey--? BOB (O.S., DISINTERESTED) Kids, listen to your mother. Dash and Violet swap GLARES. All resume eating. Then-- DASH She'd eat if we were having Tonyloaf. VIOLET THAT'S IT--!! Violet LUNGES across the table, VANISHING (save for her clothes). They wrestle. Dash escapes, racing around the table in a BLUR, SLAPPING at the back of Vi's head before crashing into a FORCE FIELD she throws in his path. DASH OW!! No force fields!! VIOLET You started it!! HELEN Stop it! Dash! Violet! Helen's arms STRETCH across the table as she struggles to keep the KIDS apart. Jack-Jack LAUGHS, loving the chaos. INSIDE THE KITCHEN Oblivious to the melee, Bob gets a new plate from the cupboard, still perusing the newspaper. The headline reads: "PALADINO MISSING". With it is a photo of a lean, striking man, early fourties, sporting wraparound sunglasses and a full head of blonde hair. BOB (V.O., READING) Simon J. Paladino, long an outspoken advocate of Superhero rights, is missing. (mutters to himself) Gazerbeam...? HELEN (O.S.) Bob?? It's time to engage!! Do something! Bob snaps out of it, turns toward the dining room. RESUME DINING ROOM Bob ENTERS-- startled to see the CHAOS. HELEN Don't just stand there! I need you to intervene! BOB Okay-- I'm intervening. I'm INTERVENING! Bob hoists the dinner table and everyone with it over his head. Dash and Vi dangle from Helen's tangled arms and continue to scrap. Jack-Jack shrieks happily. The DOORBELL rings. Everyone FREEZES, then quickly resume their original "quiet dining" positions. Dash answers the door. LUCIUS BEST (aka FROZONE) stands in the doorway, looking sharp in a leather jacket. Like Helen, he too has weathered the post-Superhero years well. DASH Hey, Lucius! FROZONE Hey, Speedo... hey, Helen-- BOB Ice of you to drop by. FROZONE (sarcastic) Hah. Never heard that one before-- DASH (mouth full of water) Hey, Lucius! Lucius turns to see Dash spurt a mouthful of water into the air. Best's hand flashes out; the air CRACKS with a sudden chill and the water FREEZES SOLID. Lucious LEAPS, catches the ice before it hits the ground. Dash sinks back, disappointed. DASH Aww. I like it when it shatters. BOB (grabs his coat, bowling bag) I'll be back later. HELEN Where are you two going? BOB It's Wednesday. HELEN (remembering) Bowling night. (resigned) Say hello to Honey for me, Lucius. FROZONE Will do. Good night, Helen. Night, kids! Bob and Lucius EXIT, closing the front door behind them. Helen turns to Dash. HELEN Don't think that you've avoided talking about your trip to the Principal's office, young man. Your father and I are still going to discuss it. DASH I'm not the only kid who's been sent to the office, y'know. HELEN Other kids don't have Superpowers. Now, it's perfectly normal for you to feel-- VIOLET Normal? What do you know about normal? What does anyone in our family know about normal? The only normal one is Jack-Jack. HELEN Now, wait a minute, young lady-- VIOLET We ACT normal! I wanna BE normal! The only normal one is Jack-Jack, and he's not even toilet trained! Buoyed by hearing his name, Jack-Jack gleefully spits a mouthful of baby food onto his bib and cracks up. DASH Lucky. (off Vi's and Helen's looks) Uh, I meant about being normal. DIALOGUE ON DIALOGUE: All of the family members were introduced in sepaprate scenes earlier, but this is the first time we see our heroes as a unit, and it's certainly a dysfunctional team. Bob lives in another world, Helen is frustrated by his lack of attention to the present while trying to keep the family intact. Dash and Vi are constantly on each other's nerves. The dining scene wonderfully sets up the situation and the relationships that will play important roles throughout the story as they transform into a cohesive whole by the end.

Ratatouille (2007) Screenplay by Brad Bird; original story by Jan Pinkava; Jim Capobianco and Brad Bird [Reproduced from the script, pp. 113-115.] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih6jcKd7VwU EGO’S OFFICE - NIGHT In a SERIES OF SHOTS Ego is seen pacing, brooding, staring out one of the enormous picture windows flanking his portrait into the night, visibly unsettled... REMY (V.O.) The following day his review appears... EGO (V.O.) In many ways the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. -until finally, he sits down at his desk and begins to write. EGO (V.O.) But, the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things... the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something... and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. MONTAGE: AFTER CLOSING - NIGHT (TO DAWN) Linguini and Colette emerge from Gusteau’s kitchen into the brisk night air, Remy with them, walking upright. No one knows what to think. Colette and Linguini HUG anyway. EGO (V.O.) The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends. In the alley behind the kitchen, the strange human/rat alliance amicably part ways and head to their respective homes above and below the streets of Paris. Only Remy stays behind, electing to take in the night and think. EGO (V.O.) Last night I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from an singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking, is a gross understatement-- they have rocked me to my core. EGO’S V.O. CONTINUES as we DISSOLVE between LINGUINI, COLETTE, EMILE and DJANGO, and see that no one, rat or human- is able to sleep this night. EGO (V.O., CONT’D) In the past I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: “Anyone Can Cook”. But I realize only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. MONTAGE CONCLUDES with REMY staring at the Eiffel Tower as the sky creeps into dawn. EGO (V.O.,CONT’D) It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest Chef in France. KITCHEN - GUSTEAU’S - MORNING V.O. CONTINUES as a Colette & Linguini read EGO’S REVIEW-- EGO (V.O.,CONT’D) I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more. Colette and Linguini HUG. Gathered with them in Gusteau’s kitchen, Remy & the rat clan CHEER. DIALOGUE ON DIALOGUE: During most of the story, Linguini and Remy struggle with their primary antagonist Skinner. But once Skinner is vanquished, Anton Ego emerges as the more formidable opponent (as both his name and his portrayal by Peter O'Toole attest). Skinner can be bested by the fortuitous discovery of Linguini's parentage, but Ego understands only one measure: the quality of a meal. When his worldview is completely overturned by both the meal he eats and the revelation of who prepared it, it is the antagonist who undergoes a change arc. Rather than have that happen throughout the story, we listen in on Ego's soliloquy as he contemplates writing his critique. If one listens only to the soundtrack, Ego's speech is a simple, straight recitation, but Bird's script interweaves all of the montage elements throughout. I wanted to reproduce the script so it was possible to see how this entire sequence was composed by Brad Bird.