Ratatouille

Mixed emotions were very prominent in 2007 when the first trailers for the latest Pixar film, Ratatouille, were shown off to audiences. With the premise of a rat that loves to cook feeling like a one-note idea that even then, didn’t seem like a narrative that people would want to see, the advertising didn’t do much to prop the film up (which is sadly a common factor in most of Pixar’s movies). Even though Pixar had at this point proven their star pedigree with massive hits like Toy Story, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles under their belt, something that looked this awkward wasn’t grabbing audiences. However, when the movie was released, the film proved to be a truly delicious feast for the eyes with its beautiful visuals, wonderfully drawn and acted characters, and a story fresh with mindful dialogue and plenty to chew on, not to mention enough beautiful looking food to make all the audience dream as much as this small rat to become a chef. Set in the city of France, the movie focuses on a rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) who has a fascination or even obsession with food and craves new flavours and the idea of being able to create new flavours, but his dreams are constantly destroyed by his father, Django (voiced by Brian Dennehy) who views a rat’s purpose is to only eat junk and to stay away from kitchen’s and especially humans. After Remy discovers that his favorite chef, Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett) tragically died after his once five-star restaurant was given a low critic score, he gets separated from his rat family and coincidentally comes across the very restaurant, which has lost a lot of its credibility now that it’s being run by former sous chef, Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm). Once inside, he sees that a new workers named Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano) has accidentally wrecked a dish that Remy decides to mend. Once caught by Linguini, the kitchen discovers that the soup is surprisingly good and believes Linguini is responsible, forcing him to continue working there, despite having no cooking talent himself. Both stuck in bad places, the two decide to work together after Remy find a unique way of controlling Linguini through puppeteering his hair, acting as a second pair of hands that keeps up the illusion that Linguini is a great chef. Remy’s natural cooking talent seems to breathe life back into the failing restaurant, even getting the attention of the feared critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole) who plans to return to re-review the establishment which will force the two to face their hardest test yet. Ratatouille was another smash hit for Pixar, becoming the sixth grossing film of 2007 with $623.7 million against its $150 million budget, took home the award for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards (while also receiving five nominations), and was given strong critical praise from both critics and audiences alike. The film, while containing some little blemishes here and there regarding some of the choices regarding its story and characters, is chock full of memorable moments, beautiful imagery, likeable actors, and amazing atmosphere.

This was the second Pixar film to be directed by famous animator, Brad Bird, who had directed, The Incredibles in 2004. He was brought in to replace the original director for the film, Jan Pinkava, who came up with the idea in the year 2000 and left the project in 2005 after lacking confidence in the story development, which led to Bird being brought in to revise the story along with Jim Capobianco (with help with additional story material from Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg, and Bob Peterson). This number of writers may bring to light that does become an issue in the film, as its story is both the film’s biggest strength and weakness. On the one hand, the film is packed with a ton of sup-plots that take up a good chunk of the film’s length, with conspiracies over who owns the restaurant, Skinner trying to expose Remy and Linguini and use Gusteau’s name as a means of selling frozen food, there’s a moral about stealing mixed in with the film’s overall message, a whole other section involving Remy’s rat family and their involvement with the story, there’s a romance that blooms between Linguini and a female chef named Colette (voiced by Janeane Garofalo), the critic coming back to the restaurant to destroy its reputation for good, it feels like so much to work with and it feels like it keeps building and building throughout the entire film. To its credit, the writing is strong enough to cram a majority of these plots into a cohesive narrative that do tie into each other, and at no point does the film get boring, confusing, or lose its core purpose and enchanting atmosphere. The entire movie has a very nice tone and stable nature, never going too fantastical to the point of feeling abnormal, but also having that mystical element with the talking rats and the simplistic magic of a place like Paris to engross both kinds of audience’s in. However, due to how many components are addressed in this story, some are not as intriguing as other, which becomes a problem when the ones that feel like they suffer the most, are the most crucial ones. The heart of the story is pretty strong thanks to Bird’s direction whose always been good at these kind of emotion-driven narratives, and the theme behind it about anyone being capable of achieving greatness regardless of who or what they are, does stand out quite effectively by having the literal antithesis of a profession (a rat in a kitchen) being talented at it, but the inner workings surrounding it can be a little much too absorb, even if it’s still written well. With that said, the ending to this movie is simply perfect and could still stand as one of the best endings to any animated movie. Its properly built, its touching and ties into the message and heart of the film, its clever and comes across as remarkably adult, the words being spoken are not only beautifully worded but also very insightful to anyone who wants to critique something, and it delivers that warm cozy feeling that only Disney is able to accomplish.

The characters, which came from the mind of Pinkava, feel like they have Brad Bird’s signature visual look to them, feeling like traditional hand-drawn creations placed into computers which has allowed for a lot more personality and distinctive designs in the CG space. Because of this, most of the characters have very solid designs that make them look unique in regard to their unique components like enlarged facial features but are still given extremely fast expressions and movements. Some of the roles are also pretty memorable in their own right. Remy is a likeable main character, with his passion for cooking making for a solid hook to get people on his side, and Patton Oswald’s earnest yet still entertaining voice works well with his design, Collette as the cutthroat but still sympathetic chef has some really good funny scenes, the ghost of Gusteau appearing as a figment of Remy’s imagination works really well and manages to be funny, heartfelt and is even kind of an interesting dive into Remy’s psyche, and the critic is also a highlight of this film, having a brilliant design with his precise unimaginably tall and thin posture and coffin-like skull structure, along with Peter O’Toole menacing and cold delivery making him a lot of fun to watch during the film’s climax. While these past examples are pretty great, some of the remaining characters aren’t as interesting. The other chefs in the kitchen have great designs and pretty funny backstories, but they are unfortunately never brought up again because there just isn’t time to flesh them out as individual characters. A lot of these elements kind of take a backseat to characters like the rat family and the villain chef (who re quite boring to sit through) and Linguini, who despite getting more attention than these previous example, still isn’t that engaging. He’s not awful, but the voice, personality and even his writing just kind of makes him a stereotypical doofus and even the relationship between him and Remy is decent but could have used a bit more development.

One of the best elements of this film that is truly nails throughout is its ability at capturing a perfect atmosphere for this kind of environment and story. A story all about the creation of food and the unique ways it can impact people on an almost spiritual level already opens the window up for some fun visuals that go on a more feeling kind of level (which are sometimes shown like whenever Remy imagines the test of something in his head which is shown through like some splashes of colors and textures), but even just from a base level, this is a gorgeous-looking movie that really knew how to present itself. Setting the film in France is already perfect given their love of food and their culture in general, but the teams dedication to capturing the essence of Paris right down to going on a trip to Paris and experiencing some of their five-star restaurants really paid off. The warmness of the colors in every location, the beautiful contrast that comes from the purple skies against the golden lighting, the amazing presentation and cinematography handled by Sharon Calahan and Robert Anderson, it just glows in every sense of the world and really brings this feeling of elegance and beauty to the whole film. It perfectly illustrates the culture and imagery of France to a tea, in how the people act, to how they speak, the attitude and passion they possess and with how they handle food, showing the frantic and aggressive nature of a kitchen, but also the personality and passion that comes with the work. The already mentioned character designs mixed with the gorgeous scenery leaves the movie with a very distinct look, with semi-realistic people living in a semi-realistic Paris, it’s a true marvel for the eyes and the gorgeously animated food doesn’t hurt that either (the dish presented at the end of the film was even specifically created for this movie by renowned chef, Thomas Keller, which he called “confit byaldi”). The music is also very good, with Michael Giacchino masterfully using the strings as well as the percussion instruments to create an enriching piece that sounds phenomenal, works in the soft and the frantic moments, and feels culturally appropriate, along with a nicely sung melody handled by French artist, Camille.

For what people may have been expecting, Ratatouille was a surprise treat that everybody was happy to have tasted. While it may have some legitimate problems that hold it back from perfection, the stuff that is good is some of the best stuff done by Pixar period and more than makes up for it. It took what should have been a one-joke idea and morphed it into a truly charming light-hearted movie filled with beautiful animation, memorable designs, and a perfect ending. One of Pixar’s most beloved movies in a time of nothing but praised products, Ratatouille manages to feed the audience a warm homely helping of comfort food as well as a sophisticated and top-notch high-class meal all in one dish, with every audience member young and old, begging for seconds.