Bon Appetit for "Ratatouille"

Rating: 8/10 (22 July 2007)

"Ratatouille", Pixar's latest animated flick, may not rank in the same caliber as "Finding Nemo" or "The Incredibles", but it is a tasty, entertaining movie that serves a touching message, like all the other Pixar movies do.
If you think that movies about packs of rats are horrifying, then think again. Yes, you will see thousands of rats running wild, but these animated rats serve a far different purpose. These rats do not destroy mankind and eat people, and these rats are so benevolent. Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), the gray, furry main character, is different from the rest of his clan, and is the most intellectual rodent of them all. Remy is so tired of scourging garbage, and wants to cook in a French restaurant after stealing legendary chef Auguste Gusteau's (voiced by Ray Romano)book, "Anyone Can Cook" in the home of an elderly woman that drove the rat pack away with a shotgun. His father (voiced by the ever-burly Brian Dennehy) does not approve of that, and wants him to accept the fact that he is a rodent unwanted in the human world. His brother Emile, the chubby, brown animal, approves of Remy's desires, but isn't nearly as picky as Remy is. Like the rest of the pack, Emile is only too happy to eat any garbage there is.
Once Remy gets from the sewers to the restaurant, Gusteau's, he sees Gusteau's ghost, which gives him guidance on how to be a great chef. You see, Gusteau died of a broken heart after the evil food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole voicing it with pure gusto)took away one of the five stars. Ego's scathing reviews can put any restaurant out of business. At the restaurant, Remy hides under the hat of bumbling garbage boy turned chef Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano), and Linguini can only cook well if Remy is around to pull his curly, red hair or gnaw at him under his clothes. Also at the restaurant is Collete (voiced by Janeane Garofalo), the only female chef who is at first reluctant to reciprocate Linguini's romantic interest in her, but then they fall in love, and Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm), the venal head chef and owner of Gusteau's who wants to do away with Remy, his rat pack that invade the kitchen near the end of the film, Linguini's sloppiness, and market Gusteau's products as fast or frozen foods. And Pixar good luck charm John Ratzenberger, as always, brings comic relief to his characters, here as the mustachioed maitre d' Mustafa.
As the movie goes on, messages abound. For instance, Ego remembers eating ratatouille as a little boy and decides to give it a good review and then lightens up his dark image. Note that Ego is definitely drawn darkly. But the real message of the movie is that when you are a lowly rat, you can rise to your status, go beyond it, and your clan can too.
All the actors are in fine form for their voice parts. Oswalt is humorous and affecting as Remy. Garrett and Garofalo don perfect French accents for their characters. Dennehy gets into character as the tough father. Ratzenberger, as I said before, does his usual Pixar shtick. Holm brings menace to his role. 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.
Although this a G-rated movie, I would not recommend this to very young children. Skinner tells Linguini "Welcome to Hell" as he hires him at the restaurant. There is a lot of wine drinking, and in G-rated movies, alcohol, smoking, and the aforementioned cussing are not used in such movies. And small children may be frightened at the sight of swarms of rats and then dead rats in one sequence. I did admire the upbeat messages of this movie such as what it's like to be a critic or rat, and I am being a critic right now, fair, but not lenient or evil like Ego. However, the thousands of rats together can be a put-off for many. Still, a good film, and the best part of it was the restaurant and the drawings of the City of Lights, and you feel like you want to travel there and eat at Gusteau's.
And hopefully in the near future there shall be a Gusteau's somewhere in Disneyworld, but don't count on rats cooking the meals.