Ratatouille Review

View our special Ratatouille feature!

"Ratatouille" reviews

Movie

Ratatouille

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-10-01 22:06:49

Rating

4/5

Provider

CinemaSource

Review

Who would have thought an animated movie about a rat who can cook would turn out to be such a gourmet feast—not only for the eyes but for the soul? Ratatouille is a Pixar tour de force.

Story

Then again, Ratatouille does come from Brad Bird, the creator of The Incredibles, so you know you are in for something good. Meet Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat who dares to dream the impossible dream of becoming a gourmet chef. All his life, Remy has had a gifted sense of smell. While his family rummages through the garbage for scraps, Remy only goes for the good stuff, stealing directly from the kitchen. For instance, a piece of brie, combined with a fresh berry is just heaven for Remy. Then circumstances literally drop Remy into the Parisian restaurant of his dreams, Gusteau's, where he soon discovers having whiskers and a tail is detrimental to cooking five-star meals. So close and yet so far away. But as luck would have it, the petite rodent befriends the restaurant's shy, outcast garbage boy Linguini (Lou Romano), and together they form a most improbable partnership. With Linguini's clumsy body channeling Remy's creative brains, they turn Paris upside down. Vive Remy!

Acting

Ratatouille doesn't have any showboating animated characters in need of A-list voices to bring them to life. Instead, the vocal talent all take a backseat to the story, and it works out perfectly. Stand-up comedian Oswalt (TV's The King of Queens) taps into a rodent frame of mind and gives Remy a nice mix of intelligence, spunk and food savvy, while voiceover veteran Romanoo is effectively goofy and sweet as Linguini. There's a slew of other more well-known voices as well, including: Ian Holm as the domineering, slightly sadistic, short-in-stature chef Skinner at Gusteau's; Janeane Garofalo as Collette, the only female in the kitchen, who at first resents Linguini but then grows to love him (mais oui!); Brad Garrett as the late great chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy's mentor whose spirit resurfaces in Remy's imagination; and finally Peter O'Toole—yes, THE Peter O'Toole—as the pompous food critic Ego who hates everything he eats. Well, that is until he samples Remy's cuisine.

Direction

What can I say? Helmed by the ultra-talented Brad Bird, Ratatouille is simply a masterpiece in animation, which is quite a compliment in this day and age of the CGI glut. Reaching the standard they set with Toy Story, Pixar has never stopped churning out the highest quality CGI you'll ever see onscreen, unsurpassed by any of their competition. Ratatouille's attention to detail is nothing less than amazing, down to Remy's rapid breathing when he's frightened, just as if we are watching a real rat, to the way Bird and his crew turn the City of Lights into a truly mesmerizing sight. And for those who love to cook—or eat good food, for that matter—forget about it! Ratatouille is the delicacy you've been waiting for, on par with expert cooking movies such as Like Water for Chocolate or Babette's Feast. Pixar clearly has defined the way we watch animation, creating films that are not only entertaining for the children but just as hilarious, compelling and heartfelt as any live action film. Now, if only the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences can just get off their high horse and consider an animated film worthy of a Best Picture Oscar. Ratatouille might just have a chance.

Bottom Line

Hollywood.com rated this film 4 stars.

Movie

Ratatouille

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-10-05 16:09:34

Provider

Review

The Pixar guys are back with a gourmet educated rat who longs for better things in his French degustations.

Remy dreams of becoming a chef. Not surprisingly, being a rat is a bit of a hindrance to this ambition. And he doesn’t exactly garner the support of his family and friends with his elevated views and tastes. So an opportunity to get into his hero’s restaurant, the chef Auguste Gusteau, is a difficult one to resist. He doesn’t of course and as a result the French culinary world is thrown into turmoil. Attempting to balance his insatiable need to cook with his undeniable presence as a pest in human eyes, he happens upon the chance to feed his need and help a young cook launch his career.

The Incredibles director, Brad Bird has another complete winner on his hands here. The plotting and characterisations are equal and beyond any of Pixar’s previous films and the delivery by the voice cast is spot on - making sharp one-liners and gags flow for the adult and kids audience alike. The look of the film is much, much warmer too (may be it’s all that cooking!) than previous Pixars, as the characters seem imbued with a richness and depth we’ve not previously seen. It’s laugh out loud funny and blubberingly weepy in all the right paces. The balance is exactly right between plot and morality tale for the youngsters and the tempo is like listening to your fave music. It's a riot of fun and what movie screens were made for: escapism and genuinely magical storytelling. It’s amazing how they do it really – but thank goodness they do! Being able to forget about all the technicalities of a film like this and just lounge in the richness of it all is a sweet and rewarding treat.

One of the best things to hit cinema screens this year. Delightful and delicious. When’s the next course?