Anthomation Assesses Ratatouille

Howdy guys, Anthomaton here. Today, I shall review a movie that is too delicious to resist, Ratatouille (2007).

Ratatouille is a 2007 animated feature film from our good friends at Pixar, being the eighth film produced by the company and was written and directed by familiar face Brad Bird. The movie went on to make $620 million at the box office on a $150 million budget. More impressively, it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for four more, including Best Original Screenplay.

Remy dreams of becoming a great chef, despite being a rat in a definitely rodent-phobic profession. He moves to Paris to follow his dream, and with the help of hapless garbage boy Linguini he puts his culinary skills to the test in the kitchen but he has to stay in hiding at the same time, with hilarious consequences. Remy eventually gets the chance to prove his culinary abilities to a great food critic but is the food good?

The story is really well conceived with a great sense of humor and heart to go along for the ride. The mere idea of a rat controlling a human by pulling on his hair is really creative and works to the movie’s advantage. You get to see how this leads to our duo, Lemy and Linguini, making great food, Linguini getting credit and fame for creating good food even though it was Remy’s creation, but then the two experience relationship problems when the publicity starts to get prominent, and eventually they eventually have their resolution. It is able to capture the abs and flows of a rat running down a dream and man desperate for a dream to run down. There’s a scene in the beginning of the film where after scavenging for food, Remy and his friend Emile are entering into a Granny’s house for the “perfect ingredient” to go with their newly-found cheese. The attic is where all of the other rats are stationed, and after Remy finds out the hard truth about his idol (Chef Gusteau), the Granny wakes up and a whole bunch of humor ensues. The entire is set up incredibly well and really jumpstarts the entire tone of the rest of the film.

As expected with Pixar, the animation is gorgeous. The characters are really well designed and feature expressions that the audience can easily emote to. The film takes place in Paris, and the movie makes the most of it with beautiful and color landscapes and captures the true aesthetics of Paris. The character movements are well done. The film just looks fantastic. I know I should be going more in depth about it, but it is one of those movies where you have to check it out for yourself.

The characters here are thoughtful and easy to root for. You have Remy, voiced by Patton Oswald, the rodent protagonist who strives to be a cook and has a great sense of smell and taste to the job. As stating before, he has many doors shut in his face, but is not one to give up easily. There’s Linguini, voiced by Lou Romano who also voiced Dash’s teacher in The Incredibles, and a hapless garbage boy who befriends Remy. You will find out that he is the kin of someone very important later on in the movie. Chef Skinner, a diminutive chef and the owner of Auguste Gusteau’s restaurant. Since Gusteau’s death, Skinner has used the Gusteau name to market a line of cheap microwaveable meals. I lied, he is the one character you should not be rooting for. There’s Auguste Gusteau, France’s most famous chef and Remy’s idol. I told you earlier that a hard truth would be found out about him, wink wink. There’s Colette Tatou, a chef at Gusteau’s and Linguini’s eventual love-interest. I forgot to mention the chemistry that is built up between these earlier, but it is another bright spot for the film. You have Django and Emile, the father and brother of Remy respectively. Then there is Anton Ego, who is voiced by the great Peter O’Toole. He is a restaurant critic whose negative review led to Gusteau’s five-star restaurant being downgraded to four. He ends up crossing paths with Remy and Linguini at the height of Linguini’s popularity and he is the man that the duo have to prove themselves to. All of the characters work well at their specific roles and beyond.

Another gem in the Pixar treasure chest, Ratatouille is a beautiful and thoughtful film with great story, animation, and characters all around. If you haven’t already watched this film, this is a MUST-WATCH. Aside from Cars (2006), this would have to be the best movie I have reviewed to date. Props up to this film!

Score:

9/10