'Ratatouille' satisfied my appetite

Rating: 10/10 (1 July 2007)

Ratatouille/2007/***1/2
Main Stars: Remy: Patton Oswalt Linguini: Lou Romano Skinner: Ian Holm Colette: Janeane Garofalo Gusteau: Brad Garrett
During and especially after this film I was hungry. The film had very convincing food; I'll give you that. You know why? Because the animation was truly brilliant! So much detail put in Pixar Animation Studios has started a reputation to now release a Pixar film every summer and they still convince, compel, enchant, etc. with their brilliant animation, clever scenes and compelling story. It's truly amazing to me how they can release a film every year and still be able to maintain an intrinsic beauty! As for Ratatouille, it filled my expectations more so than I thought. I had read a couple of critics' reviews and they were not mixed. The unanimous was good. One gave it three stars. Another gave it three and a half stars. And finally four stars. So I thought I don't know what to expect. Although the unanimous rating was good, that doesn't mean that that three could have been for animation purposes so it was only mildly recommended. So I told myself to remain sober throughout the entire film regardless of what other people say. And, as a result of NOT expecting it to be great like most Pixar films are, I was very impressed. Good job, Pixar. And mainly, good job, writer and director Brad Bird, whose The Incredibles was also extremely impressive. He showed his unrecognized talent once again! One other thing that spit at me to remain sober throughout the film was the preview for it. The preview didn't make it look very good and I'm actually glad. I think that previews shouldn't spoil films. Some films release the previews that have the funny parts already in them. So, when you see the movie, you don't like it as much as you should have because you have already seen a funny scene! Not for this film. But the previews were good enough to have me checkin' the film out and not to be completely turned away. The basic premise I found interesting and the movie proved that even more. But what is the basic premise? It's actually kind of odd. But there is nothing wrong with oddity, is there? It's what makes the world revolve on its very axis. And something like Ratatouille is something you don't see every day. Good. No clichés. It's about this rat named Remy (Patton Oswalt). He is the more motivated of the rats in the rat colony he is in. His ingenuity in cooking is what motivates him and makes him want to do more. So soon he visits actual Paris, leaving his family and friends behind. He never knew he lived in Paris until he finally was inspired by a future friend and restaurant owner Gusteau (Brad Garrett) and had enough courage to leave the sewer, climb a tall building and be surprised to see the Eifel Tower. How much more revealing can you get that you're in Paris than seeing that? He then awkwardly meets with a young adult looking for a job named Linguini (Lou Romano). Remy then becomes the chef behind the hat. Although continually being spied on by the fastidious head chef Skinner (Ian Holm), he still continues to do well at what he does best and practices and practices with his chef acquaintance. Linguini's personal feelings start to bloom for a Miss Colette (Janeane Garofalo) later on. On worse news, he doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a chef and that gets a little hard on him after a while. Food critics come in and out and continue to rate the restaurant good or bad. Before Linguini was hired, the restaurant had lost a star and then another from the insanely picky, arrogant food critic named Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole). Although a secondary character, Ego is also a vital character in the film that not only proves the moral of the film, but also proves one of the morals of life. And I, as a film critic, need to keep some of the lessons learned in this film myself and learn from my mistakes as well. Maybe I won't learn my mistakes by eating some food but maybe I'll learn by watching an impressive, enjoyable film like this one. Movie directed by Brad Bird.