An amazing film about what it means to be an artist, and a critic

Rating: 10/10 (19 March 2020)

I forgot how good this movie is, but rewatching it, I definitely consider it one of the best Pixar films to date. Mature in its storytelling, but kid friendly enough, Ratatouille tells the story of Remy, a rat with a keen, almost supernatural, sense of taste and smell, making him unique amongst rats in his ability to cook and create new flavours. However, his status as a rat prevents him from pursuing this dream, until he meets Linguini, a young man who is incompetent in the kitchen, but is somehow able to act as Remy's puppet, a human vessel allowing him to pursue his dream, but not without some resistance.
The main thing that makes this movie great is the ending. At the climax of the film, Anton Ego, the shadowy restaurant critic whose scathing review led to the death of Gusteau, the original owner of Gusteau's restaurant, enters the newly refurbished restaurant with Linguini in charge, expecting to tear it down in the same way. However, when he's presented a perfect dish, and meeting the true chef behind it, he writes perhaps one of the best monologues in film history, something that, in essence, is what critics in all forms do.
Ego in essence makes fun of himself and the role of being a critic, a person who risks nothing writing scathing reviews of those who truly work their hardest to present them something. This is undeniable. No critic can truly say that their reviews matter more than the piece of food, establishment or media that they are criticising. Anyone can say "The Room" is a bad film, but in objective fact, many people worked incredibly hard to make it over years. That in itself makes The Room more valuable than any single review, positive or negative. Me saying Ratatouille is a good movie doesn't matter much when compared to the impact the movie made on the world at large.
But he does give himself a little credit. Critics are great and valuable in one particular way: revealing things that are new and worthwile, before the masses discover it. Maybe you read a review for a niche arthouse film that you never heard of before, and that movie becomes your favourite film ever made. That is incredibly valuable, both to you, the critic, and the artist who you discovered. You can then act as a critic yourself, and spread the love further. Going back to the Room, a movie so bad that it has spawned a media empire of people loving to hate it. That required critics to discover, see it as the so-bad-it's-good masterpiece it is, and spread it amongst the masses. Critics are in essence on the front lines of culture, being the first to see and comment on the latest things. Maybe that makes them a bit pretentious at times, gives them an inflated ego, but I still maintain that critics are incredibly important to the functionality of arts, entertainment and food industries, in that they can help people find motivation to keep moving forward.
Beyond that, Ratatouille is a really fun kids movie with cute rats and incredible music. Watch it again if you haven't seen it in a while.