shadow_blade-89459
"Ratatouille" (2007) is a professionally produced animated adventure comedy about a rat named Remy, voiced by Patton Oswalt, who has an uncanny ability to cook and an aspiration to become Paris' top Chef. Remy, through coincidence and direction from the spirit of famous Chef Gusteau, voiced by Brad Garrett, meets Linguini, voiced by Lou Romano, and forms an alliance between rat and human. I have watched this film several times now and every time I get this warm feeling in my heart. This animation provides a very real sense that there is an ability to separate the differences between entities to share commonalities. The story is very strong and realistic. In the film, the scenario is applied to a despised animal and a human, but the same scenario can be applied to the race, gender and sexual orientation that plague the world today. The vocal acting compared to the visuals is spot on. I never felt like anything was out of place. I commend directors Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava for bringing this work to life and delivering such a powerful message through, what most people consider, a "kids movie." I love this film and recommend to everyone to watch at least twice.
Jesper Brun
Ratatouille proves yet again how Brad Bird manages to breathe fresh air into something we have seen many times before while he at the same time offers a realistic look into a new corner of the world which in this case is the cooking business. You can tell his distinctive style by the look of the characters in the movie. Their sometimes exaggerated features make them all unique to look at. Most impressive is the giant colony of rats. As I said the story is something we have seen many times before with a nobody becoming a somebody while still struggling with his heritage which is the case for Rémy who is a rat who likes to cook. Linguini is a clumsy young man with no talent for cooking at all, but he grows with the help of Rémy. The execution breathes fresh air into it by how they work together which is not just hilariously entertaing, but also very creative. Every voice actor is doing a phenomenal job, the animation is lush and the message the movie conveys is inspiring. It is another incredible achievement for Brad Bird and Pixar.
priceturner
Brad Bird returns to Pixar, with one of my personal favorite pixar films. Beautifully animated, and one of the best screenplays I've seen from any film. Ratatouille's creativity and beauty can only be matched by Birds signature direction and Patton's Oswalts stand out performance.
classicsoncall
The first thing one has to do here is get beyond the idea of a rat becoming an accomplished French chef. Having spent my entire career in the food industry, and knowing that even one mouse dropping can fail a business's health and safety inspection, I had to cast a wary eye for this animated feature. But beyond the initial hesitation, the story turned out to be fairly creative, and I enjoyed all the clever animated sequences the artists came up with to make the story work. My best takeaway was how to tell if bread is fresh by it's 'symphony of crackle'. That didn't sound like a very technical term to me, but melodious enough to make me remember it the next time I'm in a bake shop. When Remy's creation brings food critic Anton Ego all the way back to his own Mom's home cooking, it served to make Remy the toast of Paris cuisine, proving that at least in the world of Pixar, anyone can cook.
