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Review #475 of 365
Movie Review of Ratatouille (2007) [G] 110 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $13.25
Where Viewed: AMC Theatres Flatiron Crossing 14, Broomfield, CO
When 1st Seen: 30 June 2007
Time: 4:50 p.m.
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer
DVD Release Date: 6 November 2007
Directed by: Brad Bird (The Incredibles)
Screenplay by: Brad Bird (The Incredibles) from story by Brad Bird, Jim Capobianco, and Jan Pinkava.
Featured Voice Cast (Where You Might Remember Him / Her from):
Patton Oswalt (Reno 911!: Miami) • Ian Holm (Renaissance) • Lou Romano (Cars) • Brian Dennehy (The Ultimate Gift) • Peter Sohn (The Incredibles) • Peter O'Toole (Venus) • Brad Garrett (Music and Lyrics) • Janeane Garofalo (The Wild) • Will Arnett (Blades of Glory) • Julius Callahan (Keeping Up with the Steins) • James Remar ("Jericho") • John Ratzenberger (Cars) • Teddy Newton (Cars) • Tony Fucile ("The Maxx") • Jake Steinfeld (Aimée & Jaguar) • Brad Bird (The Incredibles)
Soundtrack: Download now from 
— or — order the CD below
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
The first taste most fans got of Pixar's newest animated film, Ratatouille, was the nearly ghoulish poster of the darling little rat, Remy, (if rats can be darling) plastered against a door narrowly escaping an arsenal of knives that have been thrown at him. When I first saw the poster, I thought it was a terrible choice as it really is quite morbid. As it turns out, the poster is an accurate prelude for what's to come in this film. First and foremost, this is a story about a rat. And while there is a deeper message in there as old as "don't judge a book by its cover", it doesn't change the fact that many, many people can barely abide the sight of rats. Make no mistake the Pixar animation wizards have authentically reproduced the incredibly smooth and almost beautiful, eek, movements of rats. So, getting past the rat-factor for some will present a challenge. The star rat of the story, Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), is adorable. His heart is in the right place. He's a teenager, so sometimes, he's tempted to do things that he knows aren't right—mostly stealing food from the kitchen for his brother, Emile (voiced by Peter Sohn) and brother's friends. His story is that he wants to be a chef.
"… The talent at Pixar•Disney Animation is out of this world…add Ratatouille to the list of great hits in a long line of fantastic films."
He's been inspired by the late 5-Star French chef, Gusteau (ghost voiced by Brad Garrett), whose catch phrase was that anyone can cook. Remy interprets that line as it definitely applies to him. As good fortune would have it, he meets up with a bumbling garbage boy at Gusteau's restaurant named Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano). This unlikely pair discovers a marionette technique whereby Remy can control Linguini to be his human presence in a place where rats typically are unwelcome—the kitchen of a formerly top French restaurant that's lost its way after the departure of its owner and top chef from this earth, coincidentally Gusteau. In his place, Larousse (voiced by James Remar) has taken to marketing the brand in the form of microwaveable meals diverting his attention away from the core business that was ravaged in a harsh critique by acclaimed French restaurant critic Anton Ego (voiced exquisitely by Peter O'Toole). All the parts come together. There's Remy trying to become a chef and fulfill his life's dream against the wishes of his father, Django (voiced by Brian Dennehy). There's Linguini who's just trying to find out who he is and making it in the world because he takes a chance on a little rat. Their only ally in the kitche is also nearly the only female in the story, Collette (voiced by Janeane Garofalo).
In so many ways Ratatouille was absolutely brilliant, funny, entertaining, and animated to unbelievable perfection. After raising the bar with Cars last year, despite its unexpected loss to Happy Feet for Best Animated film of 2006, the expectations for Ratatouille should rightfully be extremely high. Still, it would be wrong, however, to overlook several perturbing aspects of the story especially as this is a Rated-G film pitched directly at young children (see a sampling of toys that seem like they could only be for young children below to see what I mean). Unlike Cars, Ratatouille is brimming with ominous and foreboding villains. First up is a granny with a shotgun who tries to blow Remy and Emile to smithereens. Occurring early in the film, this entirely disturbing sequence ends with Remy's family's colony being rendered homeless, the entire rat family boarding get-away ships in the river, and then again being attacked by Granny, this time in a gas mask.
In so many ways Ratatouille was absolutely brilliant, funny, entertaining, and animated to unbelievable perfection. After raising the bar with Cars last year, despite its unexpected loss to Happy Feet for Best Animated film of 2006, the expectations for Ratatouille should rightfully be extremely high. Still, it would be wrong, however, to overlook several perturbing aspects of the story especially as this is a Rated-G film pitched directly at young children (see a sampling of toys that seem like they could only be for young children below to see what I mean). Unlike Cars, Ratatouille is brimming with ominous and foreboding villains. First up is a granny with a shotgun who tries to blow Remy and Emile to smithereens. Occurring early in the film, this entirely disturbing sequence ends with Remy's family's colony being rendered homeless, the entire rat family boarding get-away ships in the river, and then again being attacked by Granny, this time in a gas mask.
"Still, it would be wrong, however, to overlook several perturbing aspects of the story especially as this is a Rated-G film pitched directly at young children."
That's not the worst of it though, because this is also the part where Remy gets separated from his family in a terrifying sewer drain plunge. Were this the end of the peril for Remy, it might have been forgotten. Ah, but no. Remy must endure episodes of dodging rat smashing cars, knife throwing chefs, nearly being baked in the oven, and eventually a morality tale about the true colors of humans from his father who takes him to a storefront to see dozens of his brethren hung by their necks in the window atop every manner of devious invention from rat poison to spring-loaded, back-breaking rat traps during which he describes humans solidly as the enemy of all rats. If that weren't enough, Anton Ego has been animated to fit along side some of the more dreadfully frightening Disney villains from the evil witches in Snow White and Sleeping Beauty to Jaffar in Aladdin. He's a food critic? Why's he so evil and nasty? And, finally, there's the gruesome Larousse with his pencil-thin mustache/beard. He's motivated by greed, self-absorbed, and singularly focused on catching Remy, if he can prove that he exists. Extracting these elements or toning them way down, would have placed Ratatouille in a class closer with its predecessor. Writer / Director Brad Bird is an amazingly gifted and talented filmmaker. For some reason, he made these decisions with this script and film to make it far more violent than would be expected in a G-rated movie (with all due respect to the MPAA raters). The lengthy scene of Granny and her shotgun shooting up her house trying to kill Remy and Emile will stick out in my mind for a long time to come. I can only imagine the impact it might have on little viewers. I do know that I had nightmares for months after seeing Sleeping Beauty, and that the most fondly remembered animated Disney films of yesteryear have always been known to have a dark edge. Bambi's mother, too, gets shot. My point is that Cars proved so eloquently that there doesn't need to be an ominous, evil, nightmare-inducing villain in animated films or stories for children for that matter. They can be about overcoming personal challenges, personal growth, and learning to position one's own needs below those of others. Ratatouille could have been of the same ilk story-wise. Wasn't simply becoming a chef when you're a rat a big enough personal challenge? The entire Granny-get-your-gun part was totally unnecessary as was the trip to the Pest Control shop. And why did the food critic need to be the French cousin of Cruella De Vil?
Alternate French Poster
(click to purchase)
So, in the end, Ratatouille, represents a return, so it seems, to the older style Disney Animated film stories, maybe that's as it should be since Pixar is now under the Disney umbrella. Unfortunately, it forces me to urge once again, that the filmmakers remember their genre and their audience. If you are going to make a film like A Scanner Darkly, you know that it's going to be R-rated and no young people are going to be in the audience. Animation is not just for kids, in other words. But if you are going to make a film for kids, you need to be conscious of the kids. Making darling and adorable little creatures that must endure great peril, mostly at the hands of humans, teaches them what exactly? Helps them understand what exactly? And when the nightmares start to roll in, are the filmmakers going to be there to console the little ones and let them know it was only a movie? And what does the "it's only a movie" excuse really mean to a 4-year old? And, no, the excuse of, "Well you don't have to take your child to see it," doesn’t really hold up does it? Well, you don't have to market it to children, you don't have to design 1000s of promotional tie-ins for children from bed sheets to Happy Meal® toys, do you? As a grown up, I mostly loved the film. I didn't mind that the heroes were rats. I don't expect, given the films I've seen, I'll have worse nightmares. The animation is absolutely par excellence. The voice cast was terrific. The lack of female characters was odd, and one of them was Gunshot Granny. This was not a great thing, but it is something that Pixar, in general, needs to think about as the male to female ratio in their films leans heavily to the male side. The story in unusually deep for an animated film working on many levels. It has an animal rights activist side to it, while also dealing with the concepts of prejudice head on. Challenging one's social paradigms and overcoming fears are important. The Ratatouille ala Rat while, of course, rat is not the word for rat in French, plays nicely throughout. Therefore, the film is to be recommended highly for older children and adults but given strong words of caution for younger children. Many parents and guardians found themselves scrambling out of the theatre during the first few minutes of Finding Nemo, and this could well be true for Ratatouille also. Most socially conscious parents and guardians today would probably prefer not to have their little one seeing Granny toting her shot gun, and when Remy's father takes him to see the truth about humans, this might be a good time to take that trip to the potty. The talent at Pixar•Disney Animation is out of this world. They have scored another great hit in a long line of fantastic films. Hopefully, the members of the Disney animated team (responsible for Meet the Robinsons) and the Pixar team, can learn to play nice, work together, and keep these great films coming. Moreover, when making films for little kids, the unified team needs to get the John Lasseter/Cars writing team onboard as consultants to figure out a way to make their film truly little kid friendly.
Alternate French Poster
(click to purchase)
So, in the end, Ratatouille, represents a return, so it seems, to the older style Disney Animated film stories, maybe that's as it should be since Pixar is now under the Disney umbrella. Unfortunately, it forces me to urge once again, that the filmmakers remember their genre and their audience. If you are going to make a film like A Scanner Darkly, you know that it's going to be R-rated and no young people are going to be in the audience. Animation is not just for kids, in other words. But if you are going to make a film for kids, you need to be conscious of the kids. Making darling and adorable little creatures that must endure great peril, mostly at the hands of humans, teaches them what exactly? Helps them understand what exactly? And when the nightmares start to roll in, are the filmmakers going to be there to console the little ones and let them know it was only a movie? And what does the "it's only a movie" excuse really mean to a 4-year old? And, no, the excuse of, "Well you don't have to take your child to see it," doesn’t really hold up does it? Well, you don't have to market it to children, you don't have to design 1000s of promotional tie-ins for children from bed sheets to Happy Meal® toys, do you? As a grown up, I mostly loved the film. I didn't mind that the heroes were rats. I don't expect, given the films I've seen, I'll have worse nightmares. The animation is absolutely par excellence. The voice cast was terrific. The lack of female characters was odd, and one of them was Gunshot Granny. This was not a great thing, but it is something that Pixar, in general, needs to think about as the male to female ratio in their films leans heavily to the male side. The story in unusually deep for an animated film working on many levels. It has an animal rights activist side to it, while also dealing with the concepts of prejudice head on. Challenging one's social paradigms and overcoming fears are important. The Ratatouille ala Rat while, of course, rat is not the word for rat in French, plays nicely throughout. Therefore, the film is to be recommended highly for older children and adults but given strong words of caution for younger children. Many parents and guardians found themselves scrambling out of the theatre during the first few minutes of Finding Nemo, and this could well be true for Ratatouille also. Most socially conscious parents and guardians today would probably prefer not to have their little one seeing Granny toting her shot gun, and when Remy's father takes him to see the truth about humans, this might be a good time to take that trip to the potty. The talent at Pixar•Disney Animation is out of this world. They have scored another great hit in a long line of fantastic films. Hopefully, the members of the Disney animated team (responsible for Meet the Robinsons) and the Pixar team, can learn to play nice, work together, and keep these great films coming. Moreover, when making films for little kids, the unified team needs to get the John Lasseter/Cars writing team onboard as consultants to figure out a way to make their film truly little kid friendly.
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Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word review of this film]
Other Projects Featuring Ratatouille (2007)
Voice Cast Members
Patton Oswalt
• Ian Holm • Lou RomanoBrian Dennehy
• Peter Sohn • Peter O'TooleBrad Garrett
• Janeane Garofalo • Will ArnettJulius Callahan
• James Remar • John RatzenbergerTeddy Newton
• Tony Fucile • Jake SteinfeldBrad Bird
Director
Brad Bird
Screen Writer
Brad Bird
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Ratatouille (2007) Review-lite [150-word cap]
Writer / director Brad Bird of The Incredibles fame is the man behind Ratatouille creating a remarkably rich tale (tail?) about a rat named Remy whose ambition in life is to become a great French chef. As if that weren't sufficiently challenging for the little guy, he must do so while avoiding every human-induced calamity known to ratkind from a shotgun-toting granny to knife-wielding chefs. Curiously short of female characters and full of ominous and foreboding villains, the film should not be viewed by younger children without precautions. Older children and adults will find the film hilarious and imaginative. The technology of the animation has upstaged the Pixar geniuses' previous all-star creation, Cars quite handily. Standouts among the voice cast included Patton Oswalt as Remy, Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego the nasty French food critic, Lou Romano as Remy's human marionette, Linguini, and Janeane Garofalo as Collete.
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