LogFAQs > #969852070

Ratatouille (2007)
Directed by: Brad Bird
Written by: Jan Pinkava, Brad Bird, Jim Capobianco
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O'Toole, Brian Dennehy
Previous status: Saw ages ago

"A great artist can come from anywhere."

When the quote is something like that, you know I really enjoyed it. Because this was art, plain and simple. I'm sure you'll like that, @MetalmindStats (I've moved this nomination of yours to Wall-E per your earlier request).

First, let's talk about the animation. Some of the settings looked so realistic that it was hard to tell that they were CGI (the models, of course, looked nothing close to realistic, but that's an artistic choice). This is particularly evident in the cottage interior when the old lady is shooting at Remy and Emile with her gunbrella, and the ceiling cracks, as well as the Paris skyline. It's pretty remarkable since just six years earlier, with Monsters Inc. having settings that looked good, but still computer-generated.

Next, the characters are pretty standard fare, but that works for what this is. Remy, the rat protagonist, is a mad scientist chef as indicated by the scene where he utilizes lightning to cook. This is furthered by how he treats his stew as an experiment, but I don't understand how that produced such a good taste since so many ingredients (including everything that was already in there) makes the taste more convoluted. The more complicated the recipe, the harder it is to discern what you're tasting. I think the goal was chaotic animation, for whatever reason. This was unneeded due to the chaos that happened right before it just getting to the pot, and made it hard to believe that nobody noticed.

Linguini is a believable nerdy character who gets roped into something and has no idea how to act when under pressure, on account of tensing up in those situations (likely from being treated poorly or ignored). He also does amusing things like put Remy in his jewel case (here I thought hidden immunity idols in there were gross enough), followed by punching himself in the head a la Jack from Fight Club. Colette exists as a love interest, but a talented cook nonetheless and someone who quickly establishes that you do NOT make her angry. She also was put in here due to the sincere lack of female characters, since she's really the ONLY who has actual lines that aren't idle background chatter - namely to call out the misogyny in fancy restaurants, and I think she helped push the envelope in making things more inclusive. It's like Gusteau's motto: "Anyone can cook." And also like he said, "Your only limit is your soul." You can do what you put your mind to. I need to cook more - I'm not bad at it, and can get better.

One thing I particularly liked was that there was a hell of a lot of conflict here, even before Skinner was established as the villain. There was the Remy/Django conflict, with Remy wanting to be a chef, to push the envelope for rats, to be accepted while Django just wanted to steal to adjust his expectations to what the rest of the worlds sees. This is really the only commentary in the movie, which otherwise focuses on enjoyment. There's the Linguini/Skinner conflict, which is shades of Bob Parr's awful manager in The Incredibles with a boss man with a serious Napoleon Complex and a stubborn streak. There's the Anton Ego/restaurant conflict, just knowing that he'll be back. There's Linguini/Colette's budding romance, which isn't exactly stable at first (and the first kiss is hilarious). Then Skinner tries to use truth serum to pump Linguini for info but all he gets is "Rat Patooty." And that's pretty much how it ends up for him the entire story. Deservedly so, for illegally trying to hide the will so Linguini can't get the restaurant that he was supposed to inherit from his father Gusteau (seeing as the mitochondrial DNA matched). It's particularly nice when Remy takes that will to Linguini to claim his birthright and Skinner ends up swimming in the Seine after crashing his moped.

Linguini passes out drunk but this gets him laid, since Remy's basically using a video game controller for rats: Linguini's hair, and he's disguised by the toque. This produces most of the movie's funny moments, such as the ragdolling - this is far less hilarious than Monsters Inc. but it's still every bit as much of lighthearted fun since it's such a positive movie, meant to tell people that yes, you can do it, no matter what you were born as. Even in a snobby city like Paris, you can (Paris is the only part of France I've been to, and I didn't particularly like it - but the rest of France has a different reputation - I'm hoping to go to Monaco [yes that's an independent city-state], Lyon, Nice, and Strasbourg someday).

The climax is chaos again. After Linguini reveals Remy as the true chef, the staff all quits save for Colette, who comes back upon realizing that she's defiling her teacher's motto (helmetless on her moped, mind you). I didn't realize she didn't know who "Little Chef" was by that point, seeing as she and Linguini had been bangin' and she indicated that knowledge at the press conference (possibly a veiled penis joke). The rats taking over the kitchen is hilarious, but they tie the health inspector up so they don't get shut down immediately. Skinner comes in and gets tied up too (hilariously) as Remy prepares the titular Ratatouille for Anton Ego, whose dark exterior just shatters when he takes one bite and feels like a kid again, eating his mother's cooking after a bad day. This reminiscence gets me to recall watching this very movie on this very DVD with my own mother 12 years ago - this allegory was not lost on me. Though Gusteau's is closed down for the rat infestation, Linguini, Colette, and Remy open up a new restaurant where the rats can live upstairs, and Anton Ego can happily retire from being a pompous food critic and relax. A rat made him a better person, and he's the only one aware of what the "unexpected source" was.

This was a really good movie, all things considered. It's the right mix of funny, drama, conflict, artistry (the song is nice too), messaging, and heart. It's a clear 5/5 for me. This is why Pixar had a monstrous reputation back in the day (Cars aside, practically everything they made was phenomenal for 15 years or so!). I don't feel bad giving this a gold, because it's the heartwarming kind of thing I needed, just like Fight Club was the kick in the ass to go alongside it.

Next one will probably be tomorrow, but I gotta play some Zesty first to finish that.