ratatouille movie review

Waiter, there’s a rat in my soup

Gently persuasive, Remy (left) finds a way to communicate with Linguini, and together they electrify Paris with their cooking in Ratatouille.

A lot of animated movies have inspired sequels, notably “ Shrek ,” but Brad Bird ‘s “Ratatouille” is the first one that made me positively desire one. Remy, the earnest little rat who is its hero, is such a lovable, determined, gifted rodent that I want to know happens to him next, now that he has conquered the summit of French cuisine. I think running for office might not be beyond his reach, and there’s certainly something de Gaullean about his snout.

Remy is a member of a large family of rats (a horde, I think, is the word) who ply the trash cans and sewers of a Parisian suburb, just like good rats should. “Eat your garbage!” commands Remy’s father, Django, obviously a loving parent. The rats are evicted from their cozy home in a cottage-kitchen ceiling in a scene that will have rat-haters in the audience cringing (and who among us will claim they don’t hate rats more than a little?), and they are swept through the sewers in a torrential flood. Students of Victor Hugo will know that the hero Jean Valjean of Les Miserables found the Seine because he knew that every sewer must necessarily run downhill toward it, and indeed Remy washes up near the river, in view of the most famous restaurant in tout le France. This is the establishment of Auguste Gusteau, author of the best-seller Anyone Can Cook, a title that might not go over very well in France, which is why the book appears to be in English, and might well be titled, Anyone Can Cook Better Than the English. (Famous British recipe: “Cook until gray.”)

Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt ) has always been blessed, or cursed, with a refined palate and a sensitive nose, and now he starts skulking around the kitchen of Gusteau, his culinary hero (voice of Brad Garrett ). Alas, when the monstrous food critic Anton Ego ( Peter O'Toole ) issues a scathing indictment of Gusteau’s recent cooking, the chef dies in a paroxysm of grief or perhaps it is not a paroxysm, but I like the word, and the kitchen is taken over by the sniveling little snipe Skinner ( Ian Holm ). Lowest of the low is Gusteau’s “nephew” Linguini ( Lou Romano ), who must be hired, but is assigned to the wretched job of plongeur — literally, one who washes the dishes by plunging them into soapy water.

Linguini and Remy meet, somehow establish trust and communication, and when Linguini gets credit for a soup that the rat has saved with strategic seasonings, they team up. Remy burrows into Linguini’s hair, is concealed by his toque, can see through its transparent sides and controls Linguini by pulling on his hair as if each tuft were a joystick. Together, they astonish Paris with their genius.

All of this begins as a dubious premise and ends as a triumph of animation, comedy, imagination and, yes, humanity. What is most lovable about Remy is his modesty and shyness, even for a rat. He has body language so expressive than many humans would trade for it. Many animated characters seem to communicate with semaphores, but Remy has a repertory of tiny French hand gestures, shrugs and physical expressiveness. Does any other nationality have more ways of moving a finger and an eyebrow less than an inch while signaling something as complex as, “I would do anything for you, monsieur, but as you see, I have only two hands, and these times we live in do not permit me the luxury of fulfilling such requests.”

Brad Bird and his executive producer, John Lasseter , clearly have taken over the leadership in the animation field right now. Yes, Bird made “ The Incredibles ,” but the one that got away was his wonderful “ The Iron Giant ,” in which a towering robot was as subtle, gentle and touching as Remy. His eye for detail is remarkable. Every prop and utensil and spice and ingredient in the kitchen is almost tangible, and I for one would never turn off the Food Channel if Remy hosted a program named “Any Rat Can Cook.”

This is clearly one of the best of the year’s films. Every time an animated film is successful, you have to read all over again about how animation isn’t “just for children” but “for the whole family,” and “even for adults going on their own.” No kidding!

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Patton Oswalt as Remy
Brad Garrett as Gusteau
Brian Dennehy as Django
Peter Sohn as Emile
Peter O’Toole as Anton Ego
Ian Holm as Skinner
Janeane Garofalo as Colette
Lou Romano as Linguini
Will Arnett as Horst

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‘ratatouille’: film review.

Brad Bird and Pixar Animation Studios are proving to be an unbeatable combination.

By Kirk Honeycutt

Kirk Honeycutt

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Brad Bird and Pixar Animation Studios are proving to be an unbeatable combination. Bird, the cartoon writer-director with delightfully off-kilter sensibilities, and Pixar, the cutting-edge computer-animation company that places so very much emphasis on character, have their second hit together in Ratatouille , a follow-up to the universally popular The Incredibles . Who would think a rat in a restaurant’s kitchen would induce anything other than comic slapstick involving knives and cleavers flying in all directions? Yet Bird builds a comic world in which a rat can become a chef and food can take on an almost unbearable sensuality.

Yes, there’s something in the kitchen for everyone in Ratatouille , so the Mouse House should clear a wing in its hall of fame for Cousin Rat. Ratatouille might not reach the international boxoffice heights of The Incredibles — then again, maybe it will — but the film does rep another huge leap in CGI technique and imagination by the Pixar folks.

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Ratatouille Reviews

Ratatouille puts the "anyone can cook" motto to the test and while it's an absurd premise, this film is absolutely beautiful in every way.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jun 29, 2022

It doesn’t have a flaw; it’s perfect storytelling and its emotional payoff is a landmark.

Full Review | Jun 15, 2022

Despite the unexplained language barriers or farfetched plot, this delightfully delicious foray into the unimaginable never becomes preachy or immature.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 27, 2020

This is a film about a rat who becomes a chef in Paris. But it's so much more than that. It's about what a great artist can be, where a great artist can come from, it's about food and how to savour it.

Full Review | May 18, 2020

A love letter to Paris, a valentine to the fine art of cooking, and a gift to film fans of all ages.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 20, 2019

A delectable treat that represents the finest qualities in animation and American cinema.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 6, 2019

Has great vocal performances throughout and is about a character figuring out where they belong and finally being accepted there. I love it!

Full Review | Original Score: A+ | Apr 26, 2019

That is the (...) imperative message of Ratatouille. Everyone is not an artist, but anyone could be an artist. Because, as living creatures, it is simply what we do.

Full Review | Jan 14, 2019

The studio's latest effort offers beautiful and strikingly realistic animation, but the flawed concept should have been scrapped...

Full Review | Aug 8, 2018

I won't spoil the broth, but suffice to say Ratatouille is a bursting with bright flavors, some spice, and deep warmth that settles in your belly and satisfies body and soul.

Full Review | Aug 23, 2017

There is so much to enjoy and celebrate here, Ratatouille deserves more than a review: it could (and probably will) inspire books about creativity and good taste.

Full Review | Original Score: A | Dec 8, 2015

Ratatouille was written and directed by Brad Bird, the guy behind The Incredibles, and while his new movie isn't as brainy as that one, it has lots of lovely touches to appeal to parents as well as kids.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2015

Ratatouille is a triumph that not only pays tribute to the spirit of discovery, but revels in the fun of making a few of its own.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.5/10 | Aug 3, 2015

And there's Remy himself, voiced by irreverent comic Patton Oswalt. Yes, he's a rat, and a pantless one at that, but he's a charming rat.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 3, 2015

The latest from Pixar and Oscar winning writer-director Brad Bird is a fabulously enjoyable parable about the pursuit of excellence and rising above the preconceptions of others.

It's not just the best animated film this year, it's the best animated film to come out of the U.S. since Bird's last effort, The Incredibles.

Full Review | Aug 3, 2015

Like the snooty restaurant critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O'Toole), we enter Ratatouille thinking we've tasted it all, and we leave hoping for seconds.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Aug 3, 2015

It's a great programme for all the family.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 29, 2015

It's not my favourite Pixar film.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 29, 2015

No restaurant has ever benefited from placing rats in a recipe, but the digital wizards in Pixar's kitchen have cooked up a winning peasant dish in Ratatouille.

Full Review | Aug 24, 2014

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Movie Review: Ratatouille (2007)

General Disdain
Movie Reviews
11 responses
--> June 25, 2007

Pixar and Disney are back. This time instead of talking dolls (“Toy Story”), talking fish (“Finding Nemo”) or talking cars (“ Cars ”), we’ve got talking rats. That’s right, those cute and cuddly carriers of the Bubonic Plague are the main characters in Ratatouille ! Can Pixar transform rats into an animal that’s sweet and caring? Read on, and I’ll tell you if the animation studio that can do no wrong has lost their magic touch.

Ratatouille is the story of Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt, “ Reno 911!: Miami ”), a rat from a humble family living in the suburbs of Paris. He realizes, however, that he is different than his trash eating brethren — he can actually smell the ingredients in food. This leads him to believe, after watching shows and reading the books (yes he can read and understand English) of master chef Auguste Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett, “ The Pacifier ”) that his true calling is in creating fabulous foods, not in dumpster diving. And what luck he has too, as he soon finds himself in Paris, in none other than Gusteau’s very own restaurant, after being separated from his clan. More luck befalls our furry friend, as the restaurant hires Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano), a pathetic excuse for a man with aspirations of becoming a chef, as the floor scrubber. Of course he cooks as well as he cleans (terribly) and with the help of Remy, he swiftly rises up the culinary ladder. Trying to tear him down are famed food critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole, “ Stardust ”) and current head chef of Gusteau’s, Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm).

The first aspect of Ratatouille that struck me is, of course, the graphics (it is an animated feature after all). A side effect of all the advances in computer generated imagery (CGI), is that all animated movies are now graded on their realism and Ratatouille is no different. As you know, Pixar has set the bar time and again with the aforementioned movies, so I believe their pictures should be graded with a tad more scrutiny. And based on that, I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed with the presentation. That’s not to say that the overall work is shoddy or uninspired (there are some very impressive scenes), I simply got the feeling that there really weren’t any artistic advances made.

On the other hand, the movie is quite funny. While there are a few amusing moments early on in the movie, the laughs really start when we’re introduced to Linguini; lets just say he isn’t the brightest bulb in the package. What’s especially clever is how Remy figures out how to get Linguini to do his bidding. There are a few obstacles that need to be overcome for Linguini and Remy work together — Linguini is an idiot; Remy can’t speak human English and rats in restaurants don’t mix. The solution (think marionette) is quite ingenious and comical at the same time.

Yet most importantly for me, is the movie, as with 90% of all Disney productions, is woven around a strong theme. I’m a big proponent of movies that provide to the children watching them a strong moral compass (hence the reason I’m a fan of Disney). The point of Ratatouille is the simple and true premise that “Anyone can do something if they put their heart and minds into it.” Remy is your basic woods rat plodding along with his everyday life smelling the food of his colony so they don’t get poisoned. He’s aware of the bigger picture and even against the wishes of his father he makes his dreams come true (of course some luck is involved). It’s a great theme to watch unfold.

Overall, Ratatouille is another Pixar/Disney hit. The story is enlightening, funny and well directed. The voice casting is good too (I’ve always thought Patton Oswalt would make a terrific rat or pig). And even though the animation isn’t groundbreaking it provides enough visual “oomph” to engross the viewer. It’s certainly not the best offering from the powerhouse duo but it is nonetheless a well polished product. Ultimately, all that matters is your children will love it and it’ll more than adequately feed the inner child in you.

Tagged: chef , food , love , relationship , restaurant

I'm an old, miserable fart set in his ways. Some of the things that bring a smile to my face are (in no particular order): Teenage back acne, the rain on my face, long walks on the beach and redneck women named Francis. Oh yeah, I like to watch and criticize movies.

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'Movie Review: Ratatouille (2007)' have 11 comments

July 4, 2007 @ 1:45 pm Greg P

This is a great movie. My whole family loved it.

I disagree with the notion that the graphics aren’t superb. Pixar has once again taken the proverbial bar and raised it. There isn’t another animation house in the world that can touch a Pixar product.

Otherwise, I think you’ve hit the “nail on the head”.

July 23, 2007 @ 5:34 am Rosie

I have yet to see the movie, but I’ve heard lots of good reviews about it. Your reviews are excellent; just read over a few other interesting movies here. Looking forward to watch it soon :)

July 30, 2007 @ 12:30 am Kristen

I agree with your review that the graphics didn’t seem groundbreaking as a rule, but I thought that all the shenanigans arising from Remy and Linguini’s attempts at communication was a fun, visually creative way of exploring what computer animation can do at the moment. Great review; I’d be curious to know your thoughts on how the theme fit in or conflicted with Colette’s feminist outlook. :)

July 31, 2007 @ 1:22 pm General Disdain

I’d be curious to know your thoughts on how the theme fit in or conflicted with Colette’s feminist outlook.

I don’t claim to know much about the feminist outlook on things, but I’ll give it a whirl. First, the theme is clearly man-centric. Of all the occupations available to Colette, she certainly picked the one that is 98% male dominated. She is clearly conflicted by this — she has strong sense of self, but sells herself in hopes that Skinner will recognize her prowess (something I suspect most working women have to do). Instead of trying to prop up Linguini, she should have made something more for herself.

I suppose the moral is: no matter how independent a woman thinks she is, she’ll always need a man to lean on . . . :)

November 6, 2007 @ 3:05 am Pauline

My kids have seen this movie – they really enjoyed it.

November 18, 2007 @ 3:38 am Sirius Lee

The film was created in the timeless tradition of Disney wholesome family entertainment and was hugely successful, but, IMHO, it would have been an even bigger hit if they gave Remy the personality of a Gordon Ramsey. :)

November 21, 2007 @ 6:12 pm General Disdain

… it would have been an even bigger hit if they gave Remy the personality of a Gordon Ramsey …

Not sure if it would have been a bigger hit, but it would have been interesting to see nonetheless!

December 6, 2007 @ 6:25 pm Gearhead

Another Pixar great. Where would Disney be without Pixar? Few of their non-Pixar movies in the past decade live up to their lofty reputation. When I was younger, and a new Disney movie came out, it was a huge event. The only movies that are like that now are Pixar made.

May 15, 2008 @ 2:58 pm Ojay

A very cute Pixar movie. The only thing that kinda grossed me out was the thought of rats in the kitchen. The kids loved it, however, and other than the whole rodent thing, it was a great cartoon!

January 5, 2009 @ 1:32 pm Zach Brown

THIS MOVIE SUCKED. I CAN’T DESCRIB HOW BAD THIS MOVIE WAS.

February 21, 2010 @ 6:46 pm Novice Cook

I too always thought Patten Oswalt would make a great pig or rat in animation! Actually, all kidding aside he’s done really well acting as Big Fan can proof.

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Film Review: Ratatouille

"Ratatouille" is delicious. In this satisfying, souffle-light tale of a plucky French rodent with a passion for cooking, the master chefs at Pixar have blended all the right ingredients to produce a warm and irresistible concoction that's sure to appeal to everyone's inner Julia Child.

By Justin Chang

Justin Chang

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Editorial use only. No book cover usage.Mandatory Credit: Photo by Moviestore/Shutterstock (1622528a)RatatouilleFilm and Television

“ Ratatouille ” is delicious. In this satisfying, souffle-light tale of a plucky French rodent with a passion for cooking, the master chefs at Pixar have blended all the right ingredients — abundant verbal and visual wit, genius slapstick timing, a soupcon of Gallic sophistication — to produce a warm and irresistible concoction that’s sure to appeal to everyone’s inner Julia Child. Though the latest crowd-pleaser from “ The Incredibles ” writer-director Brad Bird arguably reps a harder sell than earlier Disney/Pixar toon outings, the combo of critical excitement, energetic word of mouth and shrewd marketing should make this family-friendly feast a gastronomical success worldwide.

After the less than universally admired “Cars,” Pixar’s eighth feature sees the Disney-owned toon studio in very fine form, and confirms Bird’s reputation as one of the medium’s most engaging storytellers. Compared to his woefully underseen “The Iron Giant” and Oscar-winning “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille” may be smaller in scope, but in telling the story of a very smart rat striving to enter the very human world of French haute cuisine , it shares with its predecessors an affinity for gifted outsiders seeking personal fulfillment.

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Pic also extends two of the great themes of “The Incredibles”: the pursuit of excellence over mediocrity (a standard that has long distinguished Pixar from rivals and imitators) and the importance — or rather, the unavoidability — of family ties. Remy, a thin blue rat who lives with his unruly rodent clan in the French countryside, finds himself torn between these two commitments as the film opens.

Blessed with unusually sharp senses, Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt) is educated, cultured and mad about creating his own culinary master-pieces — the complete opposite of his tubby, good-natured brother Emile (Peter Sohn) and gruff dad Django (Brian Dennehy), who are content to wallow in trash and disapprove of Remy’s all-too-human higher ambitions.

After an unfortunate cooking mishap, the rats are evicted from their rural nest and forced to escape through the sewers — where, in the first of many nim-bly orchestrated action sequences, Remy is separated from his family. He winds up in Paris, near a restaurant once presided over by the legendary chef Auguste Gusteau, whose populist motto (“Anyone can cook!”) rings in Remy’s ears as he spies longingly on the bustling kitchen activity.

One busy evening, Remy can’t resist sneaking in and spicing up a vat of soup; credit for the delicious dish goes to the poor garbage boy, Linguini (Lou Romano), a clumsy, stammering type with no talent for cooking, who is immediately ordered by conniving head chef Skinner (Ian Holm) to reproduce his success.

While man and mouse experience difficulty communicating at first, they ultimately agree to team up, a la “Cyrano de Bergerac”: Linguini can keep his job, and Remy can slice and dice to his heart’s content. The result is a classic odd-couple comedy in which Linguini and his “little chef” must learn to work together, avoid discovery and, inevitably, deal with the internal and external pressures that threaten their unlikely partnership.

Among those threats are the kitchen’s lone female, Colette (a tough-talking but tender Janeane Garofalo), whom Linguini inevitably falls for; the up-to-no-good Skinner, who’s both suspicious and jealous of Linguini’s success; and an uber-acerbic restaurant critic, aptly named Anton Ego (a sneering Peter O’Toole), who once ruined Gusteau’s reputation.

Premise was originally conceived by Jan Pinkava (who left Pixar before the project’s completion but is credited here as a co-director) before Bird took over the reins — a transition that may explain why some of the secondary characters and subplots feel a tad rote, particular in the more manic later stretches, though the overall execution is never less than involving.

But “Ratatouille” is at its finest in the kitchen, as Remy learns to whip up sauces and sweetbreads while directing Linguini’s movements from beneath the latter’s cap. The joy of artistic creation is both palpable and infectious, and Bird and his supremely inventive team of animators and designers respond in kind — giving viewers a glimpse of mouth-wateringly realistic cuisine one moment, dazzling them with some delightfully Keaton-esque slapstick the next.

After the superhero spoof of “The Incredibles” and the auto anthropomorphism of “Cars,” the idea of yet another talking-critter toon might strike some auds as overly quaint and familiar. But the last thing “Ratatouille” wants to serve up is yet another shrill, jabbering, pop-culture-referencing menagerie. Under Bird’s careful direction, Remy, with his persuasively rat-like movements and meek nods and shrugs, delivers one of the more endearing and soulful animal “performances” in recent memory. Oswalt’s dialogue delivery, though consistent with the generally superb voicework, never dominates the charac-ter’s expressive range.

As ever with Pixar, there’s the sense that a complex world has been beautifully and minutely imagined from the inside out, one where it’s clear the film-makers have done their homework (what other family movie would bother to explain the meaning of a demie chef de partie ?). The entire produc-tion is a captivating visual delight, as the fluid shifts between human and rodent perspective, and the camera’s sensitivity to different gradations of light and color, are nothing short of stunning. As an impossibly romantic valentine to the City of Lights, pic could give both the recent “Paris, je t’aime” and the forthcoming “2 Days in Paris” a run for their money.

Wide-ranging score by Michael Giacchino (“The Incredibles”) stays perfectly in sync with the action, encompassing string- and accordion-based Gallic overtones as well as a light percussion that suggests the scampering of rat paws.

Pic is preceded by an amusing Gary Rydstrom-directed short, “Lifted,” which cheekily imagines a driver’s ed lesson aboard a UFO.

Production: A Buena Vista release of a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios film. Produced by Brad Lewis. Executive producers, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton. Directed, written by Brad Bird. Co-director, Jan Pinkava.
Crew: Camera (Technicolor, widescreen), Sharon Calahan, Robert Anderson; editor, Darren Holmes; music, Michael Giacchino; story supervisor, Mark Andrews; supervising technical director, Michael Fong; production designer, Harley Jessup; art director, Dominique Louis; sets art director, Robert Kondo; shading art director, Belinda van Valkenburg; character designers, Jason Deamer, Greg Dykstra, Carter Goodrich, Dan Lee; supervising animators, Dylan Brown, Mark Walsh; sound (Dolby Digital/DTS Digital/SDDS), Randy Thom; supervising sound editor, Michael Silvers; re-recording mixers, Thom, Michael Semanick; casting, Kevin Reher, Natalie Lyon. Reviewed at Walt Disney Studios, Burbank, June 15, 2007. MPAA Rating: G. Running time: 110 MIN. Voices:
With: Remy - Patton Oswalt Skinner - Ian Holm Linguini - Lou Romano Django - Brian Dennehy Emile - Peter Sohn Anton Ego - Peter O'Toole Gusteau - Brad Garrett Colette - Janeane Garofalo Horst - Will Arnett Lalo & Francois - Julius Callahan Larousse - James Remar Mustafa - John Ratzenberger Lawyer (Talon Labarthe) - Teddy Newton Pompidou & Health Inspector - Tony Fucile Git (Lab Rat) - Jake Steinfeld Ambrister Minion - Brad Bird Narrator - Stephane Roux

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'Ratatouille': A portrait of an artist as a culinary rat

Reviewed by A.O. Scott

June 29, 2007

Ratatouille Directed by Brad Bird (U.S.)

The moral of "Ratatouille" is delivered by a critic: a gaunt, unsmiling fellow named Anton Ego who composes his acidic notices in a coffin-shaped room and who speaks in the parched baritone of Peter O'Toole. "Not everyone can be a great artist," Ego muses. "But a great artist can come from anywhere."

Quite so. Written and directed by Brad Bird and displaying the usual meticulousness associated with the Pixar brand, "Ratatouille," which is to be released around the world over the next four months, is a nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive portraits of an artist ever committed to film. It provides the kind of deep, transporting pleasure, at once simple and sophisticated, that movies at their best have always promised.

Its sensibility, implicit in Ego's aphorism, is both exuberantly democratic and unabashedly elitist, defending good taste and aesthetic accomplishment not as snobbish entitlements but as universal ideals. Like "The Incredibles," Bird's earlier film for Pixar, "Ratatouille" celebrates the passionate, sometimes aggressive pursuit of excellence, an impulse it also exemplifies.

The hero (and perhaps Bird's alter ego) is Remy (Patton Oswalt), a young rat who lives somewhere in the French countryside and conceives a passion for fine cooking. Raised by garbage-eaters, he is drawn toward a more exalted notion of food by the sensitivity of his own palate and by the example of Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), a famous chef who insists — more in the manner of Julia Child than of his real-life haute cuisine counterparts — that "anyone can cook."

What Remy discovers is that anyone, including his uncultured brother, can be taught to appreciate intense and unusual flavors. (How to translate the reactions of the nose and tongue by means of sound and image is a more daunting challenge, one that the filmmakers, including Michael Giacchino, author of the marvelous musical score, meet with effortless ingenuity.) Remy's budding culinary vocation sets him on a lonely course, separating him from his clannish, philistine family and sending him off, like so many young men from the provinces before him, to seek his fortune in Paris. That city, from cobblestones to rooftops, is brilliantly imagined by the animators.

And, as usual in a Pixar movie, a whole new realm of physical texture and sensory detail has been conquered for animation. "Finding Nemo" found warmth in the cold-blooded, scaly creatures of the deep; "Cars" brought inert metal to life. At first glance, "Ratatouille" may look less groundbreaking, since talking furry rodents are hardly a novelty in cartoons. But the innovations are nonetheless there, in the fine grain of every image: in the matted look of wet rat fur and the bright scratches in the patina of well-used copper pots, in the beads of moisture on the surface of cut vegetables and the sauce-stained fabric of cooks' aprons. Video More Video » var m_appUrl = 'http://graphics8.nytimes.com/feedroom/nytc3/shell.html'; var m_skinType = 'oneclip'; // or sectionfront or oneclip var m_storyId = '5644da17f714b5fe2989350e60ec2a1b1505871c'; // must be set to empty string if not used var m_channelId = "; // must be set to empty string if not used // NYTC - Begin generic embed code for the three skins try { switch (m_skinType) { case "oneclip": m_width = 336; m_height = 376; break; case "front": m_width = 337; m_height = 446; break; case "sectionfront": m_width = 395; m_height = 355; break; default: // default to oneclip m_width = 336; m_height = 376; } m_appUrl = m_appUrl + "?" + "skin=" + m_skinType + (m_channelId.length > 0 ? "&fr_chl=" + m_channelId:"") + (m_storyId.length > 0 ? "&fr_story=" + m_storyId :""); var ifrPlayer = ""; document.write(ifrPlayer); } catch (jsErr) { document.write("); }

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Ratatouille.

Common Sense Says
Parents Say 75 Reviews
Kids Say 160 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Cute rat tale has some peril and potentially scary moments.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 6+?

Remy is hunted by an angry, gun-toting grandma and knife-throwing chefs. A gun i

It's France, and no French meal is served without a good bottle of wine.

A few mild insults: "stupid," "loser." One "hell."

Linguini and Colette flirt, embrace, and kiss.

Any Positive Content?

Linguini learns to give credit to his rat pal, and Remy realizes that his family

Remy doesn't let the fact that he's an unconventional chef prevent him from foll

Kids can't help but pick up a few pointers on cooking and food, but the movie's

Violence & Scariness

Remy is hunted by an angry, gun-toting grandma and knife-throwing chefs. A gun is fired. One chef is rumored to be an ex-con and looks menacingly at the rest of the kitchen staff. Characters crash through windows, are struck by lightning, are hit, and are trapped. The sewer sequence early in the movie is somewhat scary. Remy is put in the sealed jar and nearly thrown in a river to drown.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Linguini learns to give credit to his rat pal, and Remy realizes that his family connections are more important than his human ones; together, they work as a team to succeed. On the downside, two chefs in the kitchen are very hostile to Linguini, which could make some kids uncomfortable. Themes include perseverance and integrity.

Positive Role Models

Remy doesn't let the fact that he's an unconventional chef prevent him from following his dreams, and Linguini learns to stand up for what he believes in. They both make mistakes, but they learn from them. There are several jokes at the expense of the French ("Sorry to be rude, but we're French" and so on).

Educational Value

Kids can't help but pick up a few pointers on cooking and food, but the movie's primary intent is to entertain, not educate.

Parents need to know that, like all of Pixar's other films, Ratatouille includes nuanced humor (about the French, haute cuisine, food critics, and so on) and references aimed directly at adults. Kids will miss most of these references but most likely will still enjoy the plot and animal characters. Not surprisingly for an animated kids' movie, the protagonist, Linguini, is an orphan -- although at least he's a young adult and not a child. There's some moderate peril involving the rats and weapon-wielding humans that may frighten sensitive and younger viewers; the sewer sequence is particularly tense and potentially scary, as is the gun-toting grandma. Two characters kiss, and there are a few mild insults, such as "stupid" and "loser," and one "hell." To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

Parents say (75)
Kids say (160)

Based on 75 parent reviews

Starts with a bang, but not in a good way.

What's the story.

RATATOUILLE follows the culinary adventures of Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt ), a unique rat who can't stomach eating garbage. He wants the good stuff -- truffle oil and fine artisan cheeses -- which brands him the snobby black sheep of his crew. After Remy's family is driven from their habitat by a gun-toting grandma, he emerges onto the streets of Paris, where he's visited by the ghost of renowned, recently deceased uber-chef Gusteau ( Brad Garrett ), who was famous for the populist saying "Anyone can cook." Remy is drawn to Gusteau's now three-star restaurant (it lost a star after Gusteau died), where he feels right at home ... before being sighted and nearly killed by flying knives. Remy, quick with the spices, saves young kitchen helper Linguini (Lou Romano) from ruining the soup of the day, and the two form an odd-couple bond. From then on, Remy becomes part Mister Miyagi, part puppeteer as he helps Linguini cook up delicious specials that put Gusteau's back on the culinary map. But as Linguini soaks in his new fame as the chef du jour, Remy grows increasingly bitter that someone else is taking credit for his recipes. The film's nemeses are Gusteau's new head chef -- an angry little dictator ( Ian Holm ) who wants to make millions selling a line of prepackaged frozen foods -- and Anton Ego ( Peter O'Toole ), a food critic who loves writing negative reviews.

Is It Any Good?

The story doesn't have the emotional depth of The Incredibles or Finding Nemo , but the animation is every bit as dazzling. Every scene of the chefs shredding, peeling, dicing, and stirring is vibrant and layered. And the moment Ego tastes the titular dish is so delicious a visual reference that it deserves to be a surprise. Kids may ultimately favor the child-centric appeal of Toy Story or the vroom-vroom adventure of Cars , but grown-ups will find a reason to ask for seconds of Ratatouille .

At this point, it's pretty much a given that families and young children will line up to see anything made by Pixar, which seems incapable of producing a dud. But Ratatouille , like director Brad Bird 's family adventure The Incredibles , is the rare animated film that could just as easily captivate an audience full of childless adults. Granted, the world of haute French cuisine is an unlikely setting for a kid-friendly flick, but Bird makes it irresistible.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about what made kids want to see Ratatouille . Does it matter that the title is hard to spell/pronounce or that the main characters are rats?

Do kids know the Pixar brand name? Does that make them more likely to want to see a movie?

Families also can discuss the film's theme: pretending to be something you're not. Linguini takes credit for Remy's cooking ideas to look like a chef, and Remy turns away from his rat family to be with his human friends and eat good food. How does pretending catch up to each of them?

How do the characters in Ratatouille demonstrate perseverance and integrity ? Why are these important character strengths ?

Movie Details

In theaters : June 28, 2007
On DVD or streaming : November 6, 2007
Cast : Brad Garrett , Lou Romano , Patton Oswalt
Director : Brad Bird
Studio : Pixar Animation Studios
Genre : Family and Kids
Topics : Cooking and Baking
Character Strengths : Integrity , Perseverance , Teamwork
Run time : 110 minutes
MPAA rating : G
Award : Kids' Choice Award
Last updated : August 23, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

What to watch next.

A Monster in Paris

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Ratatouille Review

12 Oct 2007

111 minutes

Ratatouille

Describe the plot of Ratatouille to most and they’ll likely turn up their nose as if assaulted by a bad smell. It’s about a rat who yearns to be a chef. That’s not cute, that’s not flip and postmodern. Couldn’t we make it a giraffe who wants to play golf, or a hippo who dreams of being a stunt-hippo, or a gerbil who aspires to play lead guitar in a heavy-metal band (please note, second-tier animation studios - these concepts are copyright Empire)? What’s cool about a rat in a kitchen? Isn’t it, like, kinda gross?

Au contraire, mes amis. After five minutes of Ratatouille you start getting excited about the time when you can buy it on DVD to use as life therapy, like a soothing bath or a dose of Librium. It may be Pixar’s masterpiece, but why quibble over niceties when they keep delivering stories this rich?

Even amongst the Hawaiian-shirted big brains of the Pixar think-tank, Brad Bird is taking on an auteurish hue for the fabulousness of his creations (The Incredibles being the last).

He remains intent on interpreting the foibles and grace notes of the species to which he belongs, even if it is through the medium of a rat. His latest quest is to decipher the soul of an artist who rises from the lowliest place: quite literally the sewer. Remy, not content to eat garbage like his brothers, has the very un-rat-like urge to soothe his palate with extraordinary tastes. He is a gourmand and, having spied the cooking programmes of famed but recently deceased Parisian chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), is now entranced with the idea of creating transcendent meals that mix flavours like the giddy riffs of jazz. Gusteau is of the opinion

that “anyone can cook”. And a rat is listening.

To Remy, humans are an inspiration (“They taste ...” he marvels. “They discover ...”). To humans, Remy is vermin. A complicated state of affairs, especially when fate washes the talented rat into Paris, right next door to the late Gusteau’s classy eatery, currently suffering a downturn in fortune. Vulpine food critic Anton Ego (a character designed with Peter O’Toole’s Gothic tonsils fully in mind)

has been less than favourable, but Remy is drawn to the bustling kitchen like a pilgrim to the Holy Land.

Impeding his nascent greatness, apart from being a rat, are Gallicly tempered and vertically restricted head chef Skinner (Sir Ian Holm), and Remy’s sceptical rat-father (Brian Dennehy), who is determined he pursue more rat-like endeavours (like eating garbage). But as Brad Bird has it, art will out. Remy is slave to his own genius.

Scampering fretfully among the whirling ladles, carving knives and angry spurts from the gas burners, his delicate nose sniffs out the insulting scent of compromised soup and he can’t help but risk life and paw to remedy the dish. To leave it would be a sin against his soul.

The answer to his troubles is to go undercover, or under-toque, in cahoots with the supremely untalented new garbage boy Linguini (Lou Romano). This presents Bird and his animators with an awkward challenge - how does their world actually work? Their answer is anthropomorphic sleight-of-hand. Remy doesn’t talk: well, he does, but only in rattish, and it just so happens that we’re fluent. Linguini, his partner, doesn’t. All this bumbling fool can make out are the tinny squeaks of rat-kind. To confer the rat-chef’s talents to his goofy human sidekick, Bird goes one fictional step further, making Remy capable of operating a human being by tugging his hair follicles like puppet strings. The animated are now doing the animating.

It’s an inspired concept, transforming the cooking sequences into astonishingly animated slapstick homages to Mack Sennett, Buster Keaton and, in keeping with the French setting, herky-jerky French farceur Jacques Tati (a kind of proto-Bean), as Linguini is manipulated to concoct paradise in dish form.

Appropriately, this is also a riff on Cyrano De Bergerac, replacing one large-conked poet’s adoration of his cousin Roxanne with a large-conked foodie’s adoration of haute cuisine; both being forced to use an imbecilic intermediary. In one further really-shouldn’t-work device that Bird slips without a care into the spinning narrative,

we have the portly Gusteau as a floating figment of Remy’s overactive imagination to chivvy the little fella along. Remy, like many European artistes, is a whisker away from madness.

It’s farce and poetry both, able to make thrilling gearshifts from poignant characterisation into madcap as the film spills onto the streets to create chase sequences worthy of Chuck Jones or Fred Quimby. Visually, nothing is beyond these guys. From the fineness of Remy’s fur to the rain-slicked cobbles of the City Of Lights, they somehow grant synthesised surfaces the textures of life. Yet, the animation is at once extraordinary and hardly the point. So deft is the hand of Pixar that you are allowed to take their raptures of detail for granted - the incidental art is slave to the story. Pixar are not really animators at all, but storytellers par excellence whose carving knife happens to be a computer mouse.

By the third act, the standard recipe would be for Linguini to be de-toqued, the diminutive hero exposed and the villainous Skinner to be felled. That, though, is just one of the plot strands Bird has woven. Amid the flurry of impeccably timed disaster, Anton Ego will emerge from his coffin-shaped parlour to test this unforeseen turn-around at Gusteau’s and prove a salutary lesson for any critic as to their own worth. “Surprise me,” he sneers to the waiter, with the kind of disdain normally associated with Lady Bracknell or Daily Mail readers. So fully have you sunk into this animated world, so blurred are its joins with real life, that the resulting dish (designed with the help of hip chef Thomas Keller) lifts the film to rank alongside Babette’s Feast, Big Night or Ang Lee’s Taiwanese trilogy as literally mouth-watering. Although it rather takes the Happy Meal

tie-in off the agenda.

It is impossible not to read Remy as a straight metaphor for Bird or Pixar as a whole. They are unable to let the soup sour when the perfect mix of flavours can be reached. But the message may be more democratic - not everyone can be a great artist, but true art can come from anywhere. Bird is an artist who looks deep into humans (even in rat form) and sees something magic. His films feel like gifts.

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DVD & Streaming

Ratatouille

Animation , Comedy , Kids

Content Caution

In Theaters

Voices of Patton Oswalt as Remy; Ian Holm as Skinner; Lou Romano as Linguini; Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego; Janeane Garofalo as Colette; Brad Garrett as Gusteau

Home Release Date

Distributor.

Walt Disney

Movie Review

Young Remy wants to cook. He’s enthralled, consumed, obsessed with the idea of someday becoming a great chef. Remy has a problem, though: He’s a rat. A Parisian rat with a heightened sense of smell, a discerning palate and a natural skill in the culinary arts … but, still a rat.

His family members are content to scavenge and steal any tidbit of garbage they can find, but when Remy is accidentally separated from them he realizes that he needs to seek a higher path. So he crawls out of the sewer and into the restaurant of the famous chef August Gusteau (the author of Remy’s favorite book, Anyone Can Cook ).

In the restaurant, Remy narrowly avoids destruction and, by happenstance, ends up befriending Linguini, a clumsy kitchen boy. The young man desperately wants to keep his job. But, like Remy, Linguini also has a problem. He can’t cook. Together, the unlikely duo make a fine team. And the food world goes wild. Linguini even catches the eye of the kitchen’s only female chef, Colette.

But their splendid soufflé begins to fall when the restaurant’s head chef smells, well, a rat. And Remy’s multitudinous clan shows up wanting an all-you-can-eat buffet. And a famous food critic decides to separate the mice from the men.

Positive Elements

Remy imagines a miniature chef Gusteau who pops up whenever the little rat needs a nudge from his conscience. Gusteau encourages the fricasseeing rodent to work for his dream: “Why not here? Why not now?” Gusteau admonishes Remy to do the right thing instead of stealing food like his rat brethren: “A cook makes. A thief takes. You are not a thief.” In fact, the message that stealing is wrong is repeated several times. And when Remy finds himself betrayed by a friend and decides to get even by allowing his rat friends to steal from the restaurant, his choice is met with harsh consequences.

Good also eventually comes of Remy’s father chiding his son for pursuing un-rat-like dreams. “You can’t change nature,” Dad argues. Remy retorts, “Nature is change, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it starts when we decide.” Indeed. The two go their separate ways with the issue unresolved, but later Remy’s father admits he was wrong when he sees his son’s achievements and watches him receive the respect he deserves. Dad then decides to call in all the rats to help his son, saying, “We are family.” By the end of the movie, all the central characters agree to make upright choices, even though they recognize that it will mean losing something they value greatly.

A man enjoying a good meal has a flashback to the days of his childhood; he recalls how his mother prepared a special dish for him that was simple but filled with love.

Spiritual Elements

When asked, Linguini reports that his mother has died, but goes on to say, “It’s OK. She believed in heaven. So she’s covered.” Remy states that cleanliness is next to godliness. Remy’s father says, “Thank God.” One of the cooks, with a Haitian background, says (during a stressful moment), “This is bad juju.”

Sexual & Romantic Content

Linguini and Colette share a long kiss. In his travels through an air shaft, Remy passes a room in which a French couple is arguing. After she brandishes a gun and fires it into the ceiling, the two end up in a brief-but-passionate embrace. It’s also mentioned that Linguini may be Gusteau’s out-of-wedlock son (an important plot point that’s handled fairly discreetly and not overemphasized) and that a colleague was once fired from the circus for “messing around” with his boss’s daughters.

Violent Content

Remy and his brother are struck by lightning while standing on the roof of a house. An old woman finds Remy in her house and starts firing her shotgun at him (destroying her home in the process). Rats and kitchens don’t mix, so when Remy is spotted in the restaurant, everything from mops to pots and pans to knives get hurled in his direction. Remy is almost fried by a flame erupting from the bottom of an oven, and later he’s accidentally put in the oven with a roast. Colette pins Linguini’s sleeve to the table with large kitchen knives. And she slaps his face several times.

Remy is separated from his family and pulled down into a drainage ditch by fiercely rushing water. Linguini hits Remy as the rat runs around on the boy’s body underneath his shirt. With each blow, Remy nips at Linguini’s chest, and we see red bite marks. Dead rats are seen hanging from traps.

Crude or Profane Language

The English vulgarity “bloody” is used once. “Shut up” and a smattering of mild insults (“idiot,” “garbage boy”) are all that are left to report here.

Drug & Alcohol Content

As might be expected, wine is served with every meal in the restaurant. The head chef keeps pouring glasses of wine for Linguini (who says he’s not a drinker), getting him tipsy in order to find out about his rat friend. The kitchen crew drinks wine and champagne in celebration.

Other Noteworthy Elements

Colette teaches Linguini the ropes of running a kitchen and clearly states that bribing the grower is the best way to get the first pick of vegetables. Other chefs are said to have been gamblers, gun-runners and convicts. The head chef mockingly “welcomes” Linguini to “hell.”

Moviegoers feast each summer on a banquet of blockbusters. So far, the summer of 2007 has served up mostly second and third helpings of big-name franchise sequels (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End) . Will a first-round animated flick about a French rat in Paris be worth anyone’s notice, then? Especially given the fact that it wasn’t long ago this particular Pixar picture was in such trouble that they had to bring in director Brad Bird to try to patch things up? Bird’s past creations have been both unique and popular (The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) , but there was still some doubt in my mind walking into an early screening of Ratatouille whether he could bring that same, shall we say, savoir faire to a movie that wasn’t his own brainchild.

The answer, in a word, is oui .

Ratatouille probably won’t be placed atop the menu with some of Pixar’s other savory classics, such as Toy Story or Finding Nemo . It has one too many shotgun-wielding grannies and that distasteful bit concerning Linguini’s questionable parentage (a character who tended to grate on me like a lemon zester, anyway). But its animated presentation is appealing and its furry epicurean delightful. On top of that is the positive story garnish of giving respect (and credit) to others, working hard and not giving up on your dreams, sticking together as a family, admitting when you’re wrong and making right choices even in the face of possible negative ramifications.

Once the pot is fully stirred and seasoned, then, the end result is a simple dish, but one that may well deserve to be considered as a first course, leaving all the seconds and thirds for another day.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Ratatouille (2007)

If you were taking your kids out for pizza, would you rather take them to Pizza Hut, or to some out-of-the-way brick-oven restaurant where you can watch the staff hand-toss the dough and they use their own homemade sauce? Would you rather go for burgers at McDonald’s, which boasts “billions and billions served,” or some family-owned grill long known to locals for the best burgers in the area?

Artistic/Entertainment Value

Moral/spiritual value, age appropriateness, mpaa rating, caveat spectator.

Too many of us, alas, willingly settle for the generic, homogenized fast-food experience over the fresh, the distinctive, the well-prepared. At the cinemaplex, family audiences regularly power mediocre efforts like Madagascar and The Santa Clause 2 to bloated nine-figure grosses, while superior family films — say, Holes or Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit — do far less business, and worthy movies like Duma and Lassie go almost entirely unseen.

There are gratifying exceptions. Ever since Toy Story kicked off Pixar’s extraordinary body of work a dozen years ago, the studio’s seemingly magical touch, combining consistent quality and heart on the one hand with popular and critical success on the other, has served as a tacit rebuke to what passes for family entertainment in Hollywood.

Ratatouille , Pixar’s latest triumph from The Incredibles director Brad Bird, covers some familiar ground for family films: overcoming prejudices, following your heart, believing in yourself. But it’s also a family film about pursuing excellence rather than settling for mediocrity, not compromising principles for a quick buck, and putting your heart and soul into something you believe in, even if it’s a risk.

These are themes not many Hollywood studio heads could sign off on with a clear conscience. Then again, hypocrisy is rampant in feel-good Hollywood films. Beautiful people addicted to life in the fast lane crank out generic flicks about characters discovering the joys of the simple, quiet life. Filmmakers pulling down millions per picture make movies about characters who turn their backs on fame and fortune to find true happiness. Stars on second or third marriages make comedies in which the protagonists learn that nothing is more important than family. Call it the tribute that vice pays to virtue, but it’s insincere either way.

Ratatouille , by contrast, is a film of winning sincerity and conviction, from filmmakers unafraid to practice what they preach. The film exemplifies its own message: A small-scale story about a sensitive, talented rat longing to be a world-class chef in a five-star Parisian restaurant isn’t the most obvious pitch for a sure-fire family hit. Cloning Finding Nemo or The Incredibles would probably be a safer bet; even Cars probably looks better on paper.

But Ratatouille is a revelation — a delightfully surprising discovery in a genre that seldom surprises even savvy youngsters, a warm and winsome confection that will be treasured by viewers young and old long after the mediocrities of summer 2007 have been justly forgotten. (For historical purposes, these include — to speak only of family films — Shrek the Third , Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and Evan Almighty .)

In his family, Remy (comic Patton Oswalt) stands out. A rat with an unusually refined palate and acute sense of smell, he longs to indulge on more than the garbage that sustains his large, undemanding clan. More, Remy is unhappy with his species’ legacy of living by stealing; inspired by human creativity with food, he longs to be a giver, not just a taker.

“I know I’m supposed to hate humans,” he says sheepishly to his baffled father (Brian Dennehy), “but there’s something about them — they create, they discover. Just look what they do with food!”

On television, while the owner of the house they live in snores away, Remy is captivated by the celebrated chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett of “Everybody Loves Raymond”), whose popular cooking show and best-selling cookbook celebrate his populist philosophy, “Anyone Can Cook!”

But then Remy and his family lose their home, while Gusteau’s prestige is tarnished after an unfavorable review of his bistro from legendary food critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole in a hilariously haughty performance), followed by the sudden death of the great chef himself. Now Gusteau’s shaky legacy is in the hands of his diminutive, parsimonious sous chef Skinner (excellent Ian Holm), who’s primarily interested in cashing in on the master’s name value with licensing deals for frozen food and the like.

That’s when fate takes a hand. Remy’s path crosses that of an awkward, shy young garbage boy named Linguini (Lou Romano, The Incredibles ), and the two forge an unlikely partnership in the kitchen, while Skinner looks on suspiciously and Colette (Janeane Garafalo), the kitchen’s lone woman, tries to figure out what’s going on.

Can a rat walk away from a legacy of stealing? Can a garbage boy hope for something more out of life? What happens if their secret is discovered? Can a woman really make it in the man’s world of haute cuisine? What will happen to Gusteau’s legacy?

Without spoiling the nature of Linguini’s and Remy’s collaboration, I can say that Linguini gives the best physical “performance” from a CGI character to date, virtually (so to speak) rivaling the likes of Steve Martin in All of Me and Vincent D’Onofrio in Men in Black . Bird and his collaborators fill the movie with lovingly observed touches, such as Linguini struggling to get his bicycle into his cramped apartment. All of this builds to a third-act climax that is not only thrilling and hilarious, but ultimately unexpectedly powerful and moving.

Gusteau’s motto “Everyone can cook!” contrasts intriguingly with the unabashed elitism of The Incredibles , which suggested that while everyone may be special, not everyone is super. In the end, when Ratatouille clarifies that while not everyone can be a great chef, a great chef can come from anywhere, I found myself wishing that it has also been noted that cooking isn’t the sole provence of great chefs. (I’m grateful to a reader for pointing out that one of the film’s most memorable moments, a climactic moment in the third act, dramatically suggests that a humble home-cooked meal may rank among the most indelible gastronomic experiences in life — but then, Mom may be a great chef in her own right. Cooking, though, like sports and art, can quite properly be enjoyed even by those who aren’t necessarily very good at them, and that is another important sense in which Gusteau’s motto is worth remembering.)

Like most of Pixar’s oeuvre, Ratatouille is aimed at kids’ funnybones but their parents’ hearts and minds. It’s a little more sophisticated than the average Pixar film, perhaps, and kids under five might find the middle act slow going. Parents should also note that a plot point involves one character’s out-of-wedlock parentage (neither parent is a real character in the story, but it’s clear that they weren’t married).

Ironically, much like Skinner cashing in on Gusteau’s legacy with merchandising deals, Disney has for years been ransacking its classic canon with second-rate sequels like Return to Never Land and Jungle Book 2 .

Ever since coming on board at Disney, Pixar honcho John Lasseter (director of the Toy Story films) has been working to pull the plug on such projects, and a couple of weeks ago he reportedly got the whole line scrapped. Though a cash cow for the creatively foundering Disney, these junior-grade sequels were responsible, in Lasseter’s view, for undercutting the prestige of the Disney brand and diminishing the value of major studio releases.

I can’t say I blame the bean counters at Disney for being a little nervous about Ratatouille . The last murine (i.e., rat-related) computer-animated family film, Flushed Away , was a genial but middling effort, and flopped at the box office. Ratatouille is a vastly superior film, but artistry and excellence aren’t always rewarded at the box office. Still, in the long run, integrity and excellence are probably a better business model than always going for the easy dollar.

RE: Enchanted, Ratatouille

Thanks for the review of Enchanted — that’s exactly what I was afraid it would be like. I remain uneasy about Ratatouille . I thought the end was great, and the beginning was dull (although my 10-year-old son loved it). But mostly I got angry at there being an illegitimate main character. Yes, these people were French, but couldn’t they have had a short marriage, or a wife who sacrificed her husband to fame, or something ? I really resent that a Disney film has a paternity test as a major plot point. And I have not seen this mentioned anywhere else.

RE: Ratatouille

I went and saw Ratatouille yet again, as a treat to myself on my birthday. Afterwards, I came across a newly-opened resturant, named… Linguini’s! Well, that was just too good to pass up! You’ll be happy to know they make their own sauce, and you can watch the pizza dough being tossed… My pizza was excellent, and the service was incredible. When I mentioned to the server that it was my birthday, they gave me a discount, and the owner came over to my table to give me his personal good wishes. A great follow-up to a great movie!

Thank you for this fine review of this wonderful movie. (I’ve already seen it twice — at the sneak preview and this weekend as well.) However, I must dissent from one line: “I found myself wishing that it has also been noted that cooking isn’t the sole provenance of great chefs.” [ Spoiler warning! ] While it is a subtle point, I believe that this very message is conveyed by Ego’s experience of Remy’s ratatouille. It doesn’t take him back to other dishes he’s had at fine restaurants — it takes him back to being a little boy, for whom Mama’s simple vegetable stew was the most wonderful thing in the world, because it was made for him with love.

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Horrific Star Wars Theory Makes Return Of The Jedi's Ending So Much Darker

Jason statham's new action thriller adds female lead with peaky blinders star, kevin costner emotionally addresses horizon's future after part 1's disappointing $36m box office, pixar knocks another one out of the park with this extremely smart, touching and funny movie..

For some reason the commercials and trailers for Pixar's latest animated release Ratatouille just didn't do much for me. I was concerned that Brad Bird and company might have finally lost their magical touch. However I started to hear that the movie was very, very good some time last week and started to look forward to checking it out.

Well I'm happy to report that it's not just very good, but Ratatouille is in fact great .

Ratatouille starts out as your basic fish out of water story, the same concept that has been used over and over again in movies aimed at kids. However you'll be engaged almost immediately by Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), with his charming personality and matter-of-factness. He's just not cut out for the rat lifestyle of stealing and skulking about - but worst of all he has a very sensitive palate and cannot abide by the idea of eating garbage .

He's the son of the rat pack's (sorry, couldn't help myself) leader, and he has a not-so-bright but endearing brother (named Emile and voiced by Peter Sohn) who will eat anything that isn't nailed down. Remy is entranced by Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett), the world's greatest chef, who he watches on the television in the house where his clan resides. Gusteau believes that anyone can learn to cook, and he's a huge guy with a heart to match. Unfortunately critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O'Toole and looking like an escapee from a Tim Burton animated film) has taken a dislike to Gusteau and writes a scathing review with dire consequences for the great chef.

Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm) who was the sous-chef (aka second-in-command in the kitchen) has taken over and is more concerned with creating a frozen-microwave dinner empire based on terrible food with Gusteau's name than he is on creating any new dishes for the patrons of the restaurant. Along comes the very endearing and bumbling young man Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano) who eventually becomes a threat to Skinner. Through a very funny sequence of events Remy ends up helping Linguini cook amazing meals that immediately become the most popular at the restaurant.

The characters in this film are amazing, but what really surprised me was that here I was watching a G-rated animated movie - and I was dying to find out what would happen next! I don't recall feeling that way while watching a movie of any rating in a very long time, and Ratatouille did not disappoint with it's results. The animation was top notch, with the backgrounds at times seeming so real that I think they were indistinguishable from live action. One thing I found interesting after sitting all the way through the credits is that Pixar uses NO motion capture techniques when creating their films. Very impressive.

There is also a great cast of extras, including Collete, who is instructed to take Linguini under her wing, and a cast of other characters in the kitchen all with mysterious (but not scary) backgrounds.

This movie was funny, touching and had me wondering what would come next. I don't know how Brad Bird and company continue to produce G-rated films that are so incredibly watchable by adults, but I look forward to their next film Wall-E and wish that other makers of animated films aimed at kids would learn something from these guys.

The only reason that I didn't give it 5 out 5 stars is that frankly there were a couple of scenes that creeped me out when the rats were shown en masse. One little fuzzy rat is cute, but showing a couple hundred of them scurrying about, especially in a kitchen gave me the willies.

Oh, and make sure you arrive early enough to catch the animated short film Lifted , which was hysterical!

Ratatouille

Remy the rat dreams of becoming a great chef despite the world's anti-rodent bias. After moving to Paris to follow his dream, he teams up with kitchen assistant Linguini and shows off his culinary skills in a professional kitchen. But can the pair convince the world's most notorious food critic that anyone can be a chef?

Movie Reviews
4.5 star movies

by Camus

So why has this sumptuous feast of a film taken so long to land on these shores? Mainland Europe had it three months ago. Could it have anything to do with Pixar's management being singularly unimpressed with Disney's US based marketing decisions? "It was a fiercely competitive summer!" The movie must have seemed like a tough sell to even neophytes at Marketing 101. The title is unpronounceable (unless you have some food, Fawlty Towers - "He put basil in the ratatouille?" - or French-related education) and it's about a rat in a kitchen (a no-no). Rats are not cuddly. But for heaven's sake, it's Pixar. It's not as if their track record cannot be exploited. John Lassiter's company, now residing at Disney, needed an adrenaline shot after the tiniest whiff of critical disappointment that greeted Cars .

Well, to date, sweet Remy the ratatouille rat has pulled in $476 million worldwide (just what is classed as a success these days?) The P&A budget is almost never included in budgetary analysis (P&A – prints and advertising, sometimes their costs can exceed the actual film's). But then a Pixar disappointment is $461 million box office (sheesh). Cars , whatever anyone says, was a huge hit. And on the subject of what people say, the corrosive catch-all excuse - "creative differences" - has, Bisto-like, curled lazily into the nostrils of industry pundits. It's Pixar's first internal creative squabble – gosh! Stop the presses!

Ratatouille 's co-director Jan Pinkava, (credited ominously after the cast list in smaller letters) says in an interview with Computer Arts magazine that he'd always wanted to say the following: "No comment." His remark comes at a time when nosy industry hacks are clamouring for blood – especially as this is Pixar, cinema's golden company producing hit after hit after hit and now melded with Disney in the way that a frothy Guinness head is melded to its dark underbelly. With the exception of distribution muscle and some (questionable) marketing savvy, I didn't think Pixar would sit well at the mouse house. But perhaps Lassiter and co. can 'pixarise' Disney and not fall foul to the reverse. Pinkava (Oscar winning director of the glorious Pixar short Geri's Game ) was removed as director of his very own Ratatouille and replaced by Brad Bird, writer/director of The Incredibles . I admit it. I am very curious. Computer animation is planned to the n'th degree (by definition, it has to be) and I wonder mightily what direction Pinkava was taking the rats to have been so sweepingly ousted in what would have to have been a very public disagreement. But regardless of the effect of the behind the scenes "Oh shit, Pixar is just like any other company!" blues, what comes out of a warring (OK, at the least arguing) kitchen still needed tasting.

And Ratatouille is... is... a grown up Pixar. It's difficult for me to qualify that because it's more of a feeling. This loving homage to Paris and its culinary majesty is a triumph of artistic hubris. You do not have to be a man made of rubber tyres to know – almost instinctively – that Paris prides itself as the world's number one focal point for gourmet cuisine. As clichéd as 'each Frenchman has a lover, married or not', and that the entire country's citizens could be summed up by a tartan wearing groundskeeper in The Simpsons as "cheese eating surrender monkeys", so Ratatouille nudges the pendulum a little further in the other direction. France (pardonnez-moi, La France) quite likes Ratatouille and there are many reasons for this.

Ratatouille respects France, understands its national mores and idiosyncrasies. It's no surprise that Pixar's film-makers researched the shitake mushrooms out of their subjects. What the film may have been aiming at under Pinkava's direction is now moot – perhaps sadly, perhaps not. Brad Bird is not exactly a pop culture virgin. The man has made a few affecting and stirring movies ( The Iron Giant , The Incredibles ) and had a long stint on The Simpsons to give him some even more deeply rooted pop-culture street cred. But these are Parisian streets and these are French characters. It's a testament to either Pinkava's or Bird's sensitivities or downright worship of all things Gallic, that their version of Paris comes across as highly romanticized but simultaneously and oddly credible.

Remy (played likeably by stand up comedian, Patton Oswalt) is a rat born with Jean Baptiste Grenouille's sense of smell. Who the hell is Jean Baptiste Grenouille? Spray on some Perfume . Remy's father (voiced by Brian Dennehy) suddenly realises his son is an asset – a poison detector. But Remy has ambitions beyond playing the safety inspector of his clan. Routed by an old lady whose shotgun assault of her own home becomes somewhat self defeating, Remy is cast into the drains of France, bereft of family and friends, and ends up in Paris conversing with the spirit of a dead master Chef – the once owner of one of the most respected restaurants of Paris.

Spying on a lowly worker employed to take out the rubbish, Remy witnesses his inept efforts at cookery and needing some rodent refinement. Cue Remy's soup rescue and the lowly worker, Linguini's, utter disbelief at a rat adding ingredients to a soup that would have taken the varnish off Vivien Westwood's nails. Charged to dispose of Remy, Linguini realises that this rodent not only can understand his plaintive grudges but promises to be the Yoda to his Luke. The only "Uh, hang on!" is the script's assumption that a human being can be physically puppeteered and intricately controlled by the tugging of hair. It's a beautiful but wanting conceit but it takes a large slice of fantasy swallowing to be comfortable with this idea. I said to myself "Get over it!" But it took a while. Bird sold the idea well enough by spending some time on the 'training montage'. Peter O'Toole is brilliant as Anton Ego, the food critic whose honey voiced barbs drip with malicious relish and whose selfless decision making and critical integrity serve as the film's climax – and it is remarkably affecting bringing a lump to the throat that no foodie movie I know has ever done before.

Of course, there's romance, action, humour (both sly, literary and slapstick) but above all, there is a tremendous amount of warmth and much more of an adult sensibility – like a film for children (duh) but made with dark chocolate, not milk. If I cannot articulate what I mean I shouldn't be writing reviews (shut up, at the back there) so let's have another crack at it. Ratatouille moved a 46 year old man as much as it touched his 11 year old son. Now that has Pixar written all over it... Bravo.

Ratatouille

USA 2007

110 mins

directors

Brad Bird

Jan Pinkava

producer

Brad Lewis

screenplay

Brad Bird

Simon Pegg

story

Brad Bird

Jim Capobianco

Jan Pinkava

additional story material

Emily Cook

Kathy Greenberg

cinematography

Robert Anderson

Sharon Calahan

editor

Darren Holmes

music

Michael Giacchino

production design

Harley Jessup

starring

Patton Oswalt

Ian Holm

Lou Romano

Brian Dennehy

Peter Sohn

review posted

20 October 2007

Ratatouille (United States, 2007)

Brad Bird may be one of the few animated filmmakers working today who understands what the concept of a "family film" means. It's something that offers material to viewers of all ages and doesn't lose one group by catering too strongly to another. Following The Iron Giant and The Incredibles , Bird has turned his attention to the sewers and kitchens of Paris with Ratatouille . In some ways, it's an odd subject for a big-budget cartoon. Rats don't make for the most cuddly of animated creatures and the movie spends enough time developing plot that younger children may squirm. Nevertheless, while Ratatouille misses the pinnacle achieved by The Incredibles (considered by some to be the best-ever computer animated film), it provides solid entertainment and shows why something like Shrek the Third should be cast aside.

In Ratatouille , Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) is a culinary wizard of a rat. His senses are so refined that he refuses to eat garbage and is used by others as a "poison detector" since he can tell if something is toxic by sniffing it. His desire, however, is to become a chef, and he gets a chance to achieve his dreams when he meets Linguini (Lou Romano), a janitor at Gusteau's, a famous Paris restaurant. Hiding under Linguini's chef's hat, Remy urges the young man to create dishes of amazing mastery. Like Cyrano de Bergerac, Remy pulls the strings and Linguini takes the credit. Soon, Gusteau's is the talk of the city and Linguini has captured the heart of the woman of his dreams, Colette (Janeane Garofalo). But trouble looms. The chef (Ian Holm) whose position Linguini usurped wants revenge. And powerful food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) has decided to have a meal an Gusteau's; on the night of his arrival, Remy is nowhere to be found.

Flushed Away had no difficulty using rats as main characters, largely because they looked much like human beings with a lot of hair. Ratatouille provides us with rodents that, while not lifelike, are close enough that it could give some phobic viewers a moment's pause. Since this is Disney, the film emphasizes the creatures' "cute" aspects - a round pink nose and wide, innocent eyes - but there's no mistaking what they are. Ultimately, it's a lot easier to think about cuddling up next to a penguin than a rat. This is one instance in which the realism of CGI may not be an asset.

Ratatouille continues the recent trend of A-level animated pictures raising the visual bar. With human beings looking ever more like their real-life counterparts, it's becoming increasingly obvious that the future of computer generated animation may know no boundaries. There's a chase scene during the second half of Ratatouille that takes us through the streets of Paris and onto boats floating on the Seine. This sequence is so exquisite that it's almost impossible to believe it was conceived and realized within a computer. The single noteworthy quality of Shrek the Third was its animation, and Ratatouille has topped it. (Not that we would expect anything less from Pixar.)

Bird has fashioned the movie as a parable about racism and tolerance. The conflict here is between rats and humans, and the breakthrough comes when members of each species learn a little about those of the other. Then there's the Cyrano de Bergerac angle, which will go over the heads of children (and perhaps some older audience members). While there are no song-and-dance numbers to enrapture kids, there are plenty of action sequences and a majority of the comedy is universal enough to tickle the funny bones of viewers of all ages.

For the most part, the vocal casting relies on actors with generic voices or those who can hide their natural intonations. The exception is Peter O'Toole, who gives ominous depth to the character of Anton Ego (although the visual representation of the critic looks like Christopher Lee as filtered through Tim Burton). This isn't O'Toole's first role in an animated movie, but it may be his most memorable. He also delivers an interesting monologue about critics that could be seen as applying to more than those who review restaurants.

At nearly two hours in length, Ratatouille demands a longer attention span than most animated movies. (Plus, it's fronted by a five-minute short, Gary Rydstrom's delightful "Lifted.") It rewards those with patience, regardless of age. The movie wisely saves its best and most impressive set pieces for the second half, whether they're the aforementioned chase or the sight of hundreds of rats invading a restaurant kitchen. And, while Ratatouille isn't specifically about the love of food, that's another ingredient Bird has stirred into the pot.

Coupled with Surf's Up , Ratatouille offers movie-goers a recent rarity: back-to-back quality animated family films. It has been years since we have seen something similar, and the effectiveness of this movie helps to wash away some of the bad aftertaste left by Shrek the Third . For parents looking to spend time in a theater with their kids or adults who want something lighter and less testosterone-oriented than the usual summer fare, Ratatouille offers a savory main course.

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Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Grave of the Fireflies (1993)
Shrek (2001)
Grinch, The (2018)
Quest for Camelot, The (1998)
Emoji Movie, The (2017)
(There are no more better movies of (voices) Patton Oswalt)
(There are no more worst movies of (voices) Patton Oswalt)
Lord of the Rings, The: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Sweet Hereafter, The (1997)
Time Bandits (1981)
eXistenZ (0199)
Fifth Element, The (1997)
Day After Tomorrow, The (2004)
Incredibles, The (2004)
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Cast & crew
User reviews

Ratatouille

A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous Paris restaurant.
A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely, and certainly unwanted, visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down. — Orange
Remy, a resident of Paris, appreciates good food and has quite a sophisticated palate. He would love to become a chef so he can create and enjoy culinary masterpieces to his heart's delight. The only problem is, Remy is a rat. When he winds up in the sewer beneath one of Paris' finest restaurants, the rodent gourmet finds himself ideally placed to realize his dream. — Jwelch5742
Obsessed by his ambitious culinary aspirations, Remy, a young Parisian rat gifted with an impeccable sense of smell and a delicate palate, winds up at the Michelin-star restaurant of Chef Auguste Gusteau, his idol. And as the ecstatic rodent sets foot in the busy kitchen, the four-legged food wizard becomes the guardian angel of hapless garbage boy Alfredo Linguini after helping him take credit for a scrumptious gastronomic delight. Now, the sky's the limit. However, Chef Skinner, Gusteau's villainous new owner, and cynical restaurant critic Anton Ego want to see Linguini fail. But as the stakes rise, the question remains. Can anyone cook? — Nick Riganas
A young male rat who loves food and cooking teams up with a young male human after he is separated from his clan. They work together to work in a famous restaurant in Paris, France, and improve its status to make it more great and popular, and continue the legacy of its head chef who passed away. — RECB3
The movie opens with a TV documentary featuring Chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), the youngest chef in France to receive a five-star rating and owner of the best restaurant in Paris. He's also the author of a bestselling cookbook that proudly bears his mantra, "Anyone Can Cook!" A rat named Remy (Patton Oswalt) begins talking about his life in monologue fashion. Remy states that he has enhanced senses of both taste and smell, which makes him very meticulous about what he eats. Remy's brother Emile (Peter Sohn) is impressed by this talent, but their father Django (Brian Dennehy) who leads the rats' colony, could care less - until Remy reveals that he can recognize the scent of rat poison in or near food. Django puts Remy to work sniffing and testing food for the rest of the clan. Remy is not happy about the rats having to steal food from the garbage; he would prefer to go to the kitchen and take the "fresh" samples. But Django, who hates and fears humans, forbids Remy (and all other members of the clan) to interact with them. Despite his father's orders, Remy spends several nights in the home of an old lady, Mabel, (which is where the rats have colonized), reading Chef Gusteau's cookbook and watching television programs about cooking. Before long he has a near-expert level of knowledge about food preparation. One day, Remy takes Emile into the kitchen to get some spices that will go with some other food samples they have gathered. Emile hesitates, but agrees to go with his brother. While inside, Remy sees Gusteau on TV and listens in, but he learns that a famous food critic named Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole), known for having viciously high standards, gave Gusteau's restaurant a less-than-stellar review that resulted in the restaurant losing one of its five stars. A heartbroken Gusteau died soon after, which meant the loss of another star according to tradition. While reacting to the news of Gusteau's death, Remy accidentally wakes Mabel, who attempts to kill him and Emile with a shotgun. They manage to evade her, but the roof of the house is shot multiple times and collapses, exposing the entire rat colony. Django orders everyone to evacuate but Remy stays behind to grab Gusteau's book. The rats manage to escape on miniature rafts into a river. Remy uses the cookbook as a flotation device but is separated from the group by a rapid current in the sewers. Hours later, Remy sits, reading the cookbook, waiting for a sign of his friends and family. Through a fusion of grief, loneliness and hunger, Remy begins to hallucinate that the illustration of Chef Gusteau is talking to him. Gusteau encourages Remy to go up through the sewers and find out where he is now. Remy travels along several pipes and finds that he is in Paris - just in front of Gusteau's restaurant! Inside Gusteau's, the new head chef Skinner (Ian Holm) meets Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano), the son of Chef Gusteau's recently-deceased old flame, Renata. Linguini gives Skinner a letter written by his mother in the hope of getting a job at the restaurant; He is given the role of plongeur, or garbage-boy, and put to work immediately. As Remy watches the action in the kitchen, he spots Linguini accidentally knocking over a pot of soup and trying to cover up his error by adding random ingredients. Knowing that the combination Linguini has forged will be terrible, Remy freaks out and accidentally falls into the restaurant through the skylight. He tries to escape through an open window, but catches a whiff of the soup and, revolted by the smell, adds his own ingredients to the mixture. However, inspired by a hallucination of Gusteau, continues to fix the soup, but gets caught by Linguini, who traps him underneath a bowl before he can run away and anybody else notices him. Skinner spots Linguini supposedly messing with the soup and chews him out, but he cannot stop the wait staff from serving the soup. A bowl is served to a food critic, Solene LeClaire, who likes the concoction. Skinner still wants to fire Linguini, but another chef, Colette Tatou (Janeane Garofolo), sticks up for Linguini, stating that firing him for making something a customer liked would go against the restaurant's mantra and heavily affect their reputation for the worst. Skinner relents and allows Linguini to stay. Remy makes another attempt to escape, but this time Skinner spots him and Linguini manages to catch Remy in a jar. Skinner orders Linguini to take the rat away and kill it. Linguini takes Remy to a river but cannot bring himself to dispose of the rat. Linguini knows that the rat was the one who really made the soup and that Skinner will expect a duplication of the recipe. Linguini, seeing that Remy can apparently understand him, takes the rat home and essentially adopts him. The next morning, Linguini sees that Remy (who he has nicknamed "Little Chef") has apparently stolen food and bailed, but in reality has cooked breakfast for them both, which is short-lived when Linguini notices that they're late for their first day. When they arrive at the restaurant, Linguini tries to find a way to have Remy cook but without anyone else seeing. After a few tries, they find out that Remy can manipulate Linguini like a puppet by pulling on the boy's hair. Deciding that this is their best method, Linguini and Remy spend the next few days practicing cooking in their spare time. Before long they are able to make a perfect duplicate of the soup that captured the critic's attention. Skinner appoints Colette to teach Linguini about the finer points of haute cuisine. Colette does not relish the task at first; she's the only female chef, worked very hard to obtain her position and sees Linguini as a possible threat to her status. Later that night Skinner meets with an agent. We learn that since Chef Gusteau's death, Skinner has been making a profit by selling out the Gusteau name and image to a line of cheap frozen food. Taking a moment to read the letter from Linguini's mother, Skinner panics and calls his lawyer. The lawyer (Teddy Newton) explains that Gusteau's will stipulates that if no heir can be found after two years (a deadline which expires in less than a month), Skinner will inherit the restaurant. Apparently the letter from Linguini's mother states that Linguini is Gusteau's son, and should be the rightful heir! Skinner refuses to believe it while the lawyer suggests doing a DNA test as well as a background check. Colette begins training Linguini (with Remy also paying rapt attention) about the fine art of cooking, and a rapport develops between the two. One night, a group of guests, sick of ordering Linguini's soup time and time again, asks the head waiter Mustafa (John Ratzenberger) about what is "new". The staff panics, but Skinner decides to have Linguini prepare an old Gusteau-style recipe for sweetbreads. Skinner knows that Gusteau considered that recipe a "disaster" and hopes that it will be Linguini's downfall. Colette begins to follow the recipe but Linguini (under Remy's manipulations) alters it severely, which angers her. But a few minutes later, Mustafa bursts in and declares that the customers love the new concoction and there are several more orders for it! The other chefs toast Linguini's success later that evening. Skinner, knowing about Remy, brings Linguini into his office and pulls out a bottle of rare '61 Château Latour in an attempt to get Linguini to talk about his "secrets" but gets nowhere. Meanwhile Remy, resting outside, spots a mysterious figure in the garbage pails. He is stunned to find that it is his brother Emile! Overjoyed, Remy runs inside to steal some ingredients to fix food for his brother. Afterwards, Emile brings Remy to the new colony. Django is overjoyed to find his second son alive, but grows furious when Remy says he wants to leave the colony (and return to Linguini). Remy lets slip that he's "observed" humans and has found that they're not as bad as Django made them out to be, but Django, in an attempt to change his mind, brings Remy to a storefront that specializes in rat-killing, stating his belief that humans and rats must always be enemies. Remy, however, feels differently. He leaves the colony and goes back to Linguini. The next morning, Remy finds Linguini still at the restaurant, exhausted from spending overnight cleaning. He notices Colette pulling in and attempts to hide Linguini's drowsiness with a pair of sunglasses. Colette, annoyed at Linguini for seemingly using her advice to impress and get in closer with Skinner, mistakes his fatigue for snobbishness and slaps him. She confesses to a now-awake and startled Linguini that she thought he was not like the other chefs and had romantic feelings for him, and leaves in a huff. In an attempt to apologize, Linguini tries to confess his secret to Colette, but Remy, desperate to remain hidden, forces Linguini forward so that he ends up kissing Colette. After a few seconds of hesitation, she reciprocates and a relationship between the two is formed. Meanwhile, Anton Ego is in his study when he hears news from his butler of Gusteau's renewed popularity. Stunned, he vows to return there and find out what is truly going on. Skinner's lawyer returns to confirm Skinner's worst fear - Linguini is indeed Gusteau's son. Skinner decides not to tell Linguini and let the will's deadline (a mere 3 days away) pass - after which he can fire Linguini and suffer no ill effects. Later that night, Linguini goes out on a spin with Colette on her motorbike, leaving Remy behind. He finds Emile with a few other rats outside the restaurant. Remy is frustrated that Emile snitched on him, and heads in to get food to keep the other rats from telling the rest of the colony. He sneaks into Skinner's office to find the key to the food locker, and in the process finds and reads the documents describing Linguini's parentage. Remy tries to take the documents, but Skinner spots him escaping again. Despite a thorough chase, Remy gets away and Linguini learns the truth. Skinner is fired, Linguini takes charge of the restaurant and the Gusteau frozen-food line is halted. At a press conference a few days later, Linguini tries to explain his "genius" without exposing Remy, much to the latter's frustration. Anton Ego then walks in and introduces himself to Linguini, promising to come by the restaurant the next night to review Gusteau's once more. After the conference, Linguini vents to Remy about how he's inhibiting his focus and, in his growing arrogance, decides to try and work without Remy's help. In anger, Remy arranges for the rest of his rat-clan to raid the restaurant that night. Linguini finds out and throws all the rats out, including Remy, warning him not to come back or else he'll be "treated the way restaurants are supposed to treat pests". Remy retreats into the night, dejected. That evening, Remy is found by Emile near the restaurant observing Linguini's poor leadership. Emile then tries to grab a piece of suspiciously placed cheese, but Remy notices that it's a trap and gets caught trying to save him. It turns out that the trap was set by Skinner, who wants Remy to work for him creating new frozen foods. Ego arrives at the restaurant, and instead of ordering off the menu he challenges the chef to "hit [him] with your best shot." Skinner, eager to see the downfall of Linguini, asks to have the same dish that Ego is served. Remy, still caged, is freed by his father and brother. Thankful, he returns to the restaurant to help Linguini. The chefs spot him returning and try to kill him, but Linguini steps in and protects Remy, confessing the truth to everyone. The chefs, stunned, walk out - even Colette. Linguini retreats to his office believing there to be no hope for Gusteau's. Django comes in and admits that he was wrong; seeing Linguini stand up for Remy has changed his attitude about humans. Django recruits the entire rat colony to help out - they will follow Remy's orders to prepare the food. Just then, a health inspector arrives and sees the kitchen full of rats. A group of rats led by Django swarms the inspector, tying him up and locking him in the pantry. Before long, after a thorough cleaning in the kitchen's dishwasher, the rats form an intricate system under Remy's supervision and are preparing all the meals for the restaurant. Linguini, knowing that someone will have to wait tables, puts on a pair of roller skates and begins serving the guests. Colette, having had a change of heart, returns to the restaurant to help Remy and Linguini. She asks what Remy wants to prepare for Ego. Remy selects ratatouille, an older-style recipe not traditionally up to the standards of Gusteau's (Colette calls it a "peasant dish.") Soon enough, the entrée is prepared and served to Anton Ego. Ego takes a bite of the ratatouille, and immediately has a flashback to his childhood where his mother prepared the same dish to brighten his spirits after a bicycle accident. He is overwhelmed with emotion for the dish. Skinner, furious, storms into the kitchen - and is tied up and thrown into the pantry alongside the health inspector. Ego's heart is warmed by the fantastic meal and insists on thanking the chef, but is told that he must wait until all other customers have left. That evening, Ego learns the whole truth from Linguini, Colette and Remy. After leaving the restaurant, Ego writes a fantastic review for Gusteau's - proclaiming the chef to be "the finest in Paris", while neglecting to reveal the chef's true identity. Unfortunately, the good fortune does not last. The health inspector and Skinner are eventually freed, and word gets out about the inner workings of the kitchen which leads to Gusteau's being shut down. Ego loses his job and a great deal of credibility for promoting a rat-infested restaurant. Remy, telling this story to his family and a few friends, states that Ego is now working as a small-business investor. It seems that Ego (along with Colette, Linguini and Remy) has opened a bistro named "La Ratatouille" where humans and rats (in a hidden, separate chamber) are both welcome, and Gusteau's legacy lives on.

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Waiter, there's a rat in my soup movie review (2007)
Roger Ebert. August 30, 2007. 4 min read. Gently persuasive, Remy (left) finds a way to communicate with Linguini, and together they electrify Paris with their cooking in Ratatouille. A lot of animated movies have inspired sequels, notably " Shrek," but Brad Bird 's "Ratatouille" is the first one that made me positively desire one.
Ratatouille
Ratatouille is a wonderful, wistful comedy, and a sparkling return to form for the computer animation studio Pixar after last year's lacklustre Cars. Aug 24, 2014. Ratatouille puts the "anyone can ...
'Ratatouille' Review: 2007 Movie
When Linguini receives credit for Remy's artistry, Skinner is forced to hire him as a cook. But Skinner challenges him to repeat his "accidental" soup recipe. When Linguini comes to the ...
Ratatouille
Movie Review | 'Ratatouille' Voilà! A Rat for All Seasonings. Share full article. Remy the epicure rat and Linguini the kitchen worker in a scene from the animated Pixar film written and directed ...
Ratatouille
Read critics' and audience's opinions on Ratatouille, a Pixar animated film about a rat who becomes a chef in Paris. See the original scores, full reviews, and quotes from various sources.
Ratatouille (2007)
Ratatouille: Directed by Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava. With Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy. A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous Paris restaurant.
Ratatouille (2007)
Read what IMDb users think of Ratatouille, a Pixar movie about a rat who dreams of becoming a chef. See ratings, comments, spoilers, and more from fans who loved the animation, story, and voice acting.
Movie Review: Ratatouille (2007)
Overall, Ratatouille is another Pixar/Disney hit. The story is enlightening, funny and well directed. The voice casting is good too (I've always thought Patton Oswalt would make a terrific rat or pig). And even though the animation isn't groundbreaking it provides enough visual "oomph" to engross the viewer.
Film Review: Ratatouille
Film Review: Ratatouille "Ratatouille" is delicious. In this satisfying, souffle-light tale of a plucky French rodent with a passion for cooking, the master chefs at Pixar have blended all the ...
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille (film)
'Ratatouille': A portrait of an artist as a culinary rat
Ratatouille Directed by Brad Bird (U.S.) The moral of "Ratatouille" is delivered by a critic: a gaunt, unsmiling fellow named Anton Ego who composes his acidic notices in a coffin-shaped room and ...
Ratatouille Movie Review
Our review: Parents say (75 ): Kids say (160 ): The story doesn't have the emotional depth of The Incredibles or Finding Nemo, but the animation is every bit as dazzling. Every scene of the chefs shredding, peeling, dicing, and stirring is vibrant and layered. And the moment Ego tastes the titular dish is so delicious a visual reference that it ...
Ratatouille
Despite his sensational sniffer and sophisticated palate, Remy's dreams of becoming a chef seem hopeless due to one small detail--he's a rat! Through a twist of fate, he ends up in the world-famous restaurant of his late hero, Auguste Gusteau. With a dash of culinary courage and the help of garbage boy Linguini, Remy whips up exquisite meals that impress even the nasty chef Skinner and food ...
Ratatouille (2007)
Read 37 reviews from critics who rated Ratatouille 96 out of 100 on Metacritic. Find out why they praised the film's humor, imagination, and food scenes.
Ratatouille Review
Ratatouille Review. 9. EDITORS' CHOICE. It would be an overstatement to say that Ratatouille is something of a love letter to critics. But given the review-friendly pedigree of director Brad Bird ...
Ratatouille Review
Ratatouille Review. Remy (Oswalt), a country rat, has an exceptional sense of taste and wants to be a chef in Paris. When he meets inept human Linguini (Romano), newly installed on the bottom rung ...
Ratatouille
Movie Review. Young Remy wants to cook. He's enthralled, consumed, obsessed with the idea of someday becoming a great chef. Remy has a problem, though: He's a rat. A Parisian rat with a heightened sense of smell, a discerning palate and a natural skill in the culinary arts … but, still a rat. ... Ratatouille probably won't be placed ...
Ratatouille (2007)
Ratatouille, by contrast, is a film of winning sincerity and conviction, from filmmakers unafraid to practice what they preach. The film exemplifies its own message: A small-scale story about a sensitive, talented rat longing to be a world-class chef in a five-star Parisian restaurant isn't the most obvious pitch for a sure-fire family hit.
Ratatouille Review
Ratatouille. 4.5. Remy the rat dreams of becoming a great chef despite the world's anti-rodent bias. After moving to Paris to follow his dream, he teams up with kitchen assistant Linguini and shows off his culinary skills in a professional kitchen. But can the pair convince the world's most notorious food critic that anyone can be a chef? Movies.
Ratatouille film review
Ratatouille respects France, understands its national mores and idiosyncrasies. It's no surprise that Pixar's film-makers researched the shitake mushrooms out of their subjects. What the film may have been aiming at under Pinkava's direction is now moot - perhaps sadly, perhaps not. Brad Bird is not exactly a pop culture virgin.
Ratatouille
At nearly two hours in length, Ratatouille demands a longer attention span than most animated movies. (Plus, it's fronted by a five-minute short, Gary Rydstrom's delightful "Lifted.") It rewards those with patience, regardless of age. The movie wisely saves its best and most impressive set pieces for the second half, whether they're the ...
Ratatouille (2007)
A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous Paris restaurant. A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated ...

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