Life-changing Ratatouille.

Rating: 10/10 (9 June 2010)

The truth about reviewing your favorite movie is it's never easy. After all these years, Ratatouille happened to be my favorite USA-made cartoon. Or, should I say it's destined to be? OK, let's be fair first. Ratatouille is not a movie you'd like to go into with your rat-hating grandma, especially when you still want to save some goodwill for her.
But again, this is a movie I need to recommend to everyone except those who never had any struggles in lives. What precedes the technical terms, atheistic values is its natural reflection on many aspects of my real-life experiences. OK, I am in my mid-20s, having finished university but not in the line of work I love, just like Remy. However, I was also extraordinary like Gusteau, and just like him I wasn't approved by everyone and had a difficult time struggling with it(luckily for me it wasn't a heart attack). Still, I like to review movies which also sums Anton Ego's profession, though unlike me he likes to make harsh comments every time. I don't know how many of you IMDb guys are just like me out there on earth, but it's surely unlikely that you can relate to all the main characters in a movie. Oh, I still forgot to tell you, that the movie is about making delicious cuisines, which is a hobby I have developed after watching Ratatouille.
Yeah, and that's how Ratatouille made to my No.1 animated movie of all time. It's so personally inspiring, yet it balanced individualism and collectivism in its brilliant plot. According to Brad Bird the writer/director, this movie is what he wanted to make for a long time but had to drop it because it may be considered too offensive. My experience showed that there could be some kind of sexual preference/bias to this film, that all the male audiences I know loved it instantly including my 55-year-old father but half the female audiences felt reluctant to finish watching it. My mum had to do some serious thinking to appreciate its value after the first viewing which she bite her fingernails through. That being said, Ratatouille does have some crude humors and implications if not interpreted right would offend certain group of people. But, isn't that exactly like the modern globalizing world we're living in? Values, ideologies, customs all struggle to find their places in a newly shuffled world. Young people are often caught up in the middle; some of them carry a talent so dangerous yet so fascinating, like Remy. Some of them only want to stay out of trouble, like Linguni. The way they have to survive together combining a mouse's wizardry and a human's appearance is instantly pervasive, bizarre and unrealistic, yet in my opinion it's a very realistic metaphor to the unfair, hypocritical and above all imperfect human realities.
The movie is very dark at times, especially when Remy was led by his father to visit the mousetrap vendor machine. Meanwhile, it's very poignant and tear-jerking especially in the end. Backed up by his entire family of rats, Remy made a dish most unexpected by the egotistic food critic Anton Ego. With the very first bite, Ego's pen dropped on the floor, his eyes widened and entire person freeze in awe. The camera moved into Ego's eye as he brought up the early memory in which mom cooked him the same dish--Ratatouille for him after he injured himself riding a child's bicycle. As he jumped back to reality, he didn't bother to pick up the pen, and finished the dish all the way up like a child. The long lost joy revived on his wrinkled face. Ego asked for the cook to express his deep appreciation, but Linguni refused his praises. Colette and Liguini then told Ego he had to wait for all the guests to leave for seeing the real cook. Ego waited until Liguini presented him Remy in a cook's hat. After Remy showed him all the hard evidences of cooking his favorite dish, Ego left Gusteau's restaurant to write his dish review. Overvoiced by Ego reading his review, Remy stood in the back-alley of the restaurant, gazing at the happy Liguini couple who called him to join them on the way home. He waved them off, and turned to find his father calling him to join the rats family's way home. Loving Linguni and family at the same time, Remy waved his father off, and stood in the middle of the street savoring the triumph as well as enjoying the independence. "This is a long night to remember", thought him to himself in a special bitter-sweetness. Little did he know, this bitter-sweetness is also shared by his father, who finally learned to accept his son's difference, as he sleeps in the moonlight. In his review, Ego reflected on his harshness and tendency to entertain the world rather than giving them true talent and truly delicious food. He told the public that the chief cook of Gusteau restaurant is unbelievably low-born but is the best cook in Paris. In his self-reflecting review, Ego redeemed himself. In the next day, Gusteau Restaurant was closed down for hygiene problems, and Ego lost his job as the high-profile food critic because he gave Gusteau positive comments. He then invested in a small restaurant which in no time attracted thousands of guests. Then the movie ended with Remy, Linguni and Gusteau being partners and closed friends.
have I ever had, or will I ever have another touching moment like what I just described to you in a movie? I hope I will. The notion of adventuring with your own unique taste in Ratatouille directly resulted in me becoming a amateur cook, who enjoyed friends' expressions as they bite my works like tigers. "You should open your own restaurant." They sometimes tell me so. "No", I replied, "I don't want the bureaus finding a rat in my hat, besides, I'd rather cook for family."