Ratatouille DVD Review

View our special Ratatouille feature!

"Ratatouille" reviews

DVD

Ratatouille

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2008-02-08 15:50:32

Provider

DVD Review

Remy dreams of becoming a chef. He totters on his hind legs so as not to get his front paws dirty and wishes he wasn't a disease-ridden rodent. Not surprisingly, being a rat is a bit of a hindrance to his ambition. He doesn’t exactly garner the support of his family and friends with his elevated views and tastes. So an opportunity to get into a top Paris restaurant, run by his hero the chef Auguste Gusteau, is a difficult one to resist. Attempting to balance his insatiable need to cook with his undeniable presence as a pest in human eyes, Remy happens upon the chance to feed his need by hiding under the hat of lowly kitchen boy Linguini, and helping the young cook launch his career.

The Incredibles director Brad Bird scored another hit with this ratty tale. Ratatouille contains plenty of colourful set pieces like fraught chases along the Seine and a wonderfully romantic moment when Remy scuttles on to the rooftops and first checks out the Paris skyline.

The film also works as a heartfelt plea for compassion for the outsider - Colette, a female chef, struggles to make it in the male dominated restaurant world; Linguini turns out to be the unwanted son of a celebrity chef, and Remy the rat was always going to find it hard to be accepted. The marked difference between the palatial interior of the restaurant and the lowly chefs in the kitchen also makes it a worthy class parable.

When’s the next course?

Extras include short films like Your Friend The Rat, Lifted, a conversation with Brad Bird and Thomas Keller, deleted scenes, character profiles, behind the scenes progression reel, and building Paris featurette.