Ratatouille

The idea of animation in America changed when Pixar stepped on the scene and combined with Disney to make 1995’s Toy Story. Computer animation had been done before, sure, but perhaps never to the colourful scope and brilliant scale of the John Lasseter-directed picture. Fast-forward to 2007 and Pixar unleashed its eighth film, the vivacious and heart-warming Ratatouille. Directed by the incomparable Brad Bird, who also brought us the oft-overlooked The Iron Giant in 1999, Ratatouille may well be the best film of 2007.

With Ratatouille, one cannot help but drink in the vibrancy, the colour, and the beautiful storytelling that Bird has elected to serve us. It is as gracious and energetic a meal as ever concocted, with spices and flavours piquing all of the right corners of any cinephile’s palette. The concept is bizarre: rats working in a kitchen in France, of all places. Yet it works and it works with such tenderness and such comedy that it may well go down as one of the richest comedic treats of the decade.

We meet Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) and find that he is a rat with aspirations and with a very special gift. He can smell and taste with such keenness that he is soon depended on by his family to sniff out rat poison. Remy lives in the attic of a French country home with his brother Emile (voiced by Peter Sohn) and his father Django (voiced by Brian Dennehy). Remy’s father wants the rats to stay in the colony in the French attic, but an incident which sprouts from Remy’s culinary curiosity soon forces the family apart.

Remy ends up in Paris and finds himself right at the foot of Gusteau’s restaurant. Gusteau, now deceased, was one of France’s finest chefs. His restaurant, now down to three stars thanks to critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole), has long been a dream locale for Remy. And in an act of providence, Remy finds himself amongst the chefs. He encounters a clumsy garbage boy, Alfredo Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano), and ends up hiding under his toque blanche to cook in Gusteau’s kitchen. The food becomes legendary and Linguini must try to keep up appearances while his popularity rises. It is Remy, of course, who does the actual cooking.

Bird’s film is incredibly animated. The details of each character are delightful, with the fur of the animals and the expressions on the faces of the characters among the best in animation history. It is a beautifully animated film, with food that looks so delicious that I wanted to pluck it right from the screen. Apparently the animators attended cooking classes in order to get a sense for presentation and how things should look.

The character of Remy is fascinating. Here is a rat, yet he is drawn and constructed with modesty, consideration, and thoughtfulness. Remy produces more sentiment from a raised hand or a look than many animated characters would construct out of a whole monologue. The character design is fascinating as well, with the human characters looking exaggerated but never ridiculous.

As we know, Bird’s picture won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. It couldn’t have been more deserving and its success and beauty as a film really continues the idea that Pixar is doing some truly special work. With this year’s incredible WALL-E, the computer animation company is becoming a force to be reckoned with not merely in animation but in filmmaking period. Ratatouille is a classic. It is a wonderfully-textured, impeccably-drawn piece of ART that deserves time, attention, and many repeat servings.

Trailer: