It’s pretty easy to make little rodents charming and fun characters(just ask Disney himself, to a clichéd extent), but it’s even harder to make them work in such a way that’s original and exciting as comedy in conventional ways for today’s audiences. I remember the first time I ever saw a teaser for this movie. I thought it looked silly and I had to wonder just what Pixar and Disney were thinking. A rat wanting to get fancy Frency food. Please.But Brad Bird shouldn’t be lumped into the group of today’s CGI animators.Brad Bird’s "Ratatouille" is a rich, textured film that explores several important themes while sustaining a strong moral core
To Put the story in brief, Ratatouille follows Remy(Patton Oswalt), a rat who wants to become a good cook instead of a good food thief(like his father and co.) and will attempt to do so with his special smelling abilities. After a mishap where he lives, he winds up underneath Paris, close to the restaurant of his mentor, the recently deceased Gusteau(Brad Garrett). Using the garbage boy of the ex-5-star restaurant Linguini(Lou Romano), he attempts to spread his talent of cooking. Conflicts arise when the head chef Skinner(Ian Holm) suspects the sudden rise of fame in Linguini’s cooking and realizes his true worth. More conflicts arise when the only female chef becomes romantically involved with Linguini; Remy is having trouble returning to the lifestyle of a rat, and a well-known
yet stern critic Ego(Peter O’Toole) decides to make a return into the spotlight.
All the actors are in fine form for their voice parts.But it is the reliable O’Toole who really enjoys the part as the dark, brooding critic, and does the best voice work of all, outdoing all the rats.
The animation, is brilliant. There is no other word to describe it. Just the one scene where Remy realizes that he is in Paris, and overlooks the entire Parisian skyline, is enough reason to see the film. It looks fantastic in every scene, and never does the beautifully rendered scenery or characters look any less amazing than they did in the scene before. Pixar has really fine-tuned their style over the years, and it shows in how astonishing these characters look, even down to the minuscule little details like a few stubbly hairs on Linguini’s chin. It just looks that realistic
Bottom Line: You can only raise the bar higher so many times before not even yourself can reach it. This is what happened with Cars and Monster’s Inc., and movies like Ratatouille are the reasons why. While the pacing and running time may be a turnoff for some, the excellent visuals and flawless storytelling more than make up for it. Like a full course meal, Ratatouille has a little bit of everything and much more. In a year of pretty sad sequels, a charming story about a rat with a crazy dream rises to the top of the quality heap.