Pastably The Best Animated Movie Ever

Rating: 10/10 (13 October 2018)

Fully animated film projects were once considered childish and appropriate only for kids. Cartoons would never have the same meaning and plot as live action films. However, in recent years, producers have proven this belief to be incorrect, elevating the standards of animated films and dispelling the rumor that movies without real cameras were inferior. Now, graphic designers and artists compose widely popular projects that receive widespread praise. However, as there is competition in every industry, the movie industry is largely based on critics and reviews. There are disagreements as to which movies are better than others. Disney's "Ratatouille" stands as the best animated movie ever created, perfectly utilizing relatable struggles of everyday life, rocky relationships, and the power of food in order to show human consideration and compassion for others.
Ratatouille is the story of a rat who helps a human find his purpose and during that process, learns about himself too. The movie is based in the beautiful country of France, where food is a big part of their culture. However, in the beginning, the movie starts out completely differently, with Remy, the rat, running in the rain to an old lady's house. Remy and his family are stealing food, but when the old lady finds out, she tries to kill them all. This leads the crowd to panic and run down a drain, but as Remy is the last of his entire family to go down the drain, Remy reaches a fork in the piping system. Here, he's forced to choose a path, and when it turns out to be the other path his family went down, he loses everybody he counted on and is left by himself. Eventually, he crawls through the sewer system and finds himself on a rooftop above Paris. Amazed, he starts roaming the city, eventually meeting Linguini, the human main character. Linguini works for a restaurant but can't cook, and Remy is a rat who can cook. Together, they come up with a hair pulling control system where they quickly receive praise (and trouble) around the kitchen. The restaurant, after getting a bad review from a critic, is expecting another highly esteemed critic and depends on Linguini's incredible dishes. However, they don't know that there's a rat in his hat cooking for him, and Linguini is still a shy, insecure cook who was initially hired to be a garbage boy. This entire adventure goes through ups and downs as Linguini's and Remy's friendship develops. The pair discover their motivations, passions, and how they need to work together despite being different species.
Compared to all over movies, "Ratatouille" builds up the most relatable main characters despite one not even being a human. Remy, the rat, is able to show a completely different life while still having human emotions and feelings. Alfredo Linguini is the new, cheaply paid employee who can't seem to find any significance to his daily life. Both of these characters have personalities that revolve around conflicts we all have encountered. In the beginning of the movie, Remy and his family are forced to steal food, and when he is separated from them due to escaping down a drain, he's completely lost. Remy doesn't know who he is, and nobody can help him except himself. This struggle of self identity and the idea dealing with the unknown hits home for all of us. Linguini, after being hired as a garbage boy, gets into a mishap with the owner of the restaurant and is constantly picked on for not being anything more than his job. His life is miserable and he lives without much meaning, which we've all gone through at some point. The struggle, confusion, and fear displayed by both main characters connects with the audience deep down, bringing an all too familiar sentimental feeling to everyone in the theater.
Some say that, despite its high reviews, "Ratatouille" is a weak attempt by Disney to use European values for interest and money. They say that the "French" culture of Ratatouille is filled with American workers with awful examples of cliche French language. Others say that the whole idea of having rats interact with humans in a plot about food is simply disgusting. However, if you look closer, you'll see that Disney really pushed the French culture aspect in the movie, molding the setting, side characters, and streets like something out of France. In fact, when drawing the food animations, the production crew consulted actual French chefs. Also, as disgusting rats are, the producers used this to show how animals can have good values too. They can help humans, and simply seeing animals as dirty inferiors isn't right.
When the movie first came out, I immediately loved it. There's charm, excitement, weirdness, comfort, and relatability in the movie. The lessons taken from the scenes are down to earth, important lessons that everybody should know, and just the idea of having a meaningful dialogue with a rat in it is incredible. When the producers were creating the movie, they blended French culture with a plot that revolved around French cuisine. Bottom line, I believe that everybody should see "Ratatouille" because it's unique plot and animation provides such a range of emotions that only a few other animated films have accomplished. No matter your age, you can find humor, a good cry, a heartwarming message, and everything else from the movie. "Ratatouille" is one of the best animated movies ever, and it's a masterpiece of cinema history.