The Artist's Journey

Rating: Null/10 (20 February 2008)

Like "The Incredibles", Brad Bird's earlier film, "Ratatouille" celebrates the passionate, sometimes aggressive, pursuit of excellence. But while "The Incredibles" dealt with superheroes pushing aside mediocrity and embracing their powers, "Ratatouille" paints a lowly rat as a budding artist who must, in the quest for greatness, rise above those around him.
The plot, a thinly disguised rift of Plato's "Ion" (in which Socrates and Ion discuss everything from art to art criticism), unfolds in an unpretentious but profound manner. Rats (ie humans) are dirty, uncivilised, pack animals. They eat garbage, live in filth and are generally stupid. But Remy is different. He dreams, he reads, he dares to experience different tastes. In short, he's an imaginative little rat and completely out of place amongst his barbaric brothers!
And so Remy leaves his family behind and embarks on a quest to become an artist. But like all great men, Remy first needs a mentor. In this case, his mentor is a dead chef by the name of Gusteau. Gusteau is Remy's hero, his role model, and so Remy shall live his rodent life by Gusteau's ideals!
Of course, being a rat, Remy can't accomplish anything on his own. To rectify this he enlists the help of Linguini, a bumbling kid who lacks ambition, drive and direction. By living in Linguini's hat and "pulling his strings" - like a film director takes control of his crew, or a puppeteer controls a puppet - Remy uses Linguini to create and make art, which the film equates with fine French cuisine.
The film is so determined to examine art's function on the collective and the collective's role in the creation of art, that later in the film Remy's family comes to the rescue and likewise helps him create. Though they do not understand his artistic view the world, though they do not respond as he does to fine art and sophisticated food, they nevertheless love Remy enough to band together and help him create and fulfil his dreams.
And so Bird stresses the communal aspect of creation. No artist, especially a filmmaker, no matter how independent he views himself to be, can accomplish greatness without help. And though a budding artist must (somewhat naively) break away from his family, at times ridiculing their lack of understanding, Remy can not realise his dreams without their love and support.
It's interesting to note that Remy has no mother in the film. His family is all male. Historically, most mothers embrace their son's artistic desires. It's the practical father figure which the artist must overcome and prove himself to. What's sweet is that Remy shrugs his father aside, dares to be independent, but then needs his father to accomplish his dreams. Brad Bird, and many film-makers, likewise started off with sceptical family support and funding.
Eventually Remy rallies a band of artists together (one character called Colette makes a point to label each of the chefs as artists and bandits). These are not cooks, they're rebels and outlaws! Of course none of these artists want to dream or take risks. Like Remy's dad, they've become stagnated. They follow Gusteaus recipes by the letter, not daring to step out of the box and create for themselves. But Remy is different. He has a vision! He has that creative spark! "Change is nature, Dad," Remy says to his father, "we can influence when we decide to!"
But Remy's father doesn't understand. He thinks his son is a wide-eyed dreamer. But when Dad sees little Remy commanding a kitchen full of humans like a maverick film-director, a smile creeps across his face. He understands his son, sees the strength in him, and promptly rallies behind the kid.
The film's message is summed up best during a final-act monologue. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. To be a great artist, one must be willing to fight for change. And so Remy lifted Linguini and his tribe of rats out of the gutter. He believed in himself and they believed in him, and together they all prospered.
Ultimately, "Rattatouille" is one of PIXAR's most mature films, thanks largely to Brad Bird's simple yet sophisticated scriptwriting. The film advocates creative independence, yet stresses the importance of community. It celebrates the artist, but destroys the artist's condescending and pretentious view of "non artists" as "simpletons". It praises high art and refined tastes, but sings hymns of praise to the simple pleasures of the common man.
Furthermore, the film examines the role of the artist and the importance of those who support, finance, inspire, and critique him. It touches upon the artist's ability to inspire the heard through his own actions and how the power of the one and the needs the many inter-mesh. The film has several cute relationships, but director Brad Bird is smart enough to recognise their darker underpinnings. There are symbiotic relationships here every bit as dark as Hitchcock's "Vertigo".
Finally, the film ends with a beautiful monologue by an egotistical art critic and is packed with both gorgeous virtual camera work, and romantic architecture, the Parisian landscape rendered in loving detail. As CGI allows animators to play with space, refine their shots and fine tune their virtual landscapes, there are scenes here which push camera work and composition to perfection. Here, every shot is perfect. Every camera move, intricate and precise. The long tracking shot which follows Remy as he navigates the catacombs of Paris is particularly beautiful.
10/10 – A smart film and a beautiful love letter to artists. Visually, the film is also divine. Pixar created realistic CGI plastic with "Toy Story", hair and wind effects with "Monsters Inc", water effects with "Nemo", metal and reflections with "Cars" and now here, with "Ratatouille", they tackle food and architecture. What next will they try? Air and vacuum?
Worth multiple viewings.