Ratatouille (2007)

Overall rating from 1 to 100: 75

O Masterpiece (95-100)
X Excellent (75-94)
O Good video rental (60-74)
O Merely OK (50-59)
O Pure mediocrity (30-49)
O Medusa: don't watch (1-29)

Review by Jason Pyles / July 7, 2007

There’s a climactic moment in “Ratatouille” that defines its excellence when the most important, most brutal food critic in Paris, Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), samples an aspiring chef’s dish. This taste test is the “Rocky vs. Apollo Creed moment” of the movie.

I dare not describe the sequence further, because you should really experience it for yourself. It is meant to be funny — and it is — but I was the only one in the theater who laughed (perhaps because I’m older than seven). Watch for it, savor the gourmet humor and consider this: How original could you be when depicting a person’s reaction to tasting something?

Because of little moments like the one I’ve mentioned, Disney Pixar’s “Ratatouille” could very well win the Academy Award for this year’s Animated Feature Film. Even though it isn’t as funny as “Surf’s Up,” which is another contender, “Ratatouille” is filled with joys and wonder.

Remy (Patton Oswalt) is an unknown chef in France. Remy is also a rat. His family of rats does not understand his gifts. They are content to eat anything, even inedible garbage. But Remy’s keen sense of smell and appreciation for delectable food combinations lead him out of the trash cans to a gourmet restaurant in Paris.

Through misfortune or good fortune, Remy meets Linguini (Lou Romano), the restaurant’s newly hired garbage boy who cannot cook but quickly needs to be able to. The rat can cook like Dom DeLuise but is not welcomed in the kitchen. (But then, neither is Dom DeLuise.) So the misfits use each other’s resources (in a most unlikely way) to improve their respective, disrespectable predicaments.

As I’ve suggested, this film isn’t as humorous as other Pixar creations, but it’s just as entertaining and beautifully made. Oh, and the cloaked innuendo is minimal (virtually nonexistent) and will be unperceivable to even the most observant little person.

“Ratatouille” is one of those movies that to describe its pleasures is to deflate them for your initial viewing. So, without spoiling anything, I’ll merely point out some nice touches.

As animated animals do, the rats speak English to one another. The humans speak English (with a French accent) to one another and also to the rats. But when humans hear the rats speaking amongst themselves, the humans only hear squeaks.

“Ratatouille” has a couple themes: “do what you love” (which is my personal motto), and some might perceive a theme that’s also found in a subplot from “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964): Remember Hermey, the misfit elf who’d rather be a dentist? That has been interpreted (by many) to be a metaphor for homosexuality. Whether it is or not, one cannot argue that the names “Remy” and “Hermey” are similar. In any case, the issue of acceptance is a prominent theme in “Ratatouille.”

As is the true Pixar fashion, this feature film is preceded by a Pixar short film called “Lifted” (2006), which is a five-minute gem that shows us how alien abductions can be difficult. (“Lifted” was a nominee for the best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards for 2006.)

In short, “Ratatouille” is wonderful, and I recommend it. I thoroughly enjoyed it; your kids will enjoy it, and I bet you will, too.

Directed by Brad Bird
Patton Oswalt / Lou Romano / Peter O’Toole
110 min. Animation / Comedy
MPAA: G

Copyright 2007.
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