Anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great!

Rating: 10/10 (29 July 2008)

From my point of view, Ratatouille is very easily the best movie. Its plot is very simple, yet it's brilliant when it's mixed up with the idea of a rat who got what it takes to be the best chef! I also fall in love with the animation. It's fantastic. The objects texture, the drawings, the furs! Not to mention, the best angles and composition yet in an animation movie. OMG.. so colorful, detailed and so alive. Like watching moving paintings, which is so full of art sense. Even you can be overwhelmed by just seeing the rat's heart beats.
The story is one of the most original scripts. It's very solid with humor that's not pushed over the limit. It's classic in many other ways. The character development is also one of the best in Pixar's. The director once again succeeds to build characters that are gray, not the typical black&white characters as seen on many other children movies. And I'm personally in love with Remy! Remy is talk-active, smart, enthusiastic, passionate, perfectionist, but also a bit cocky, pushy, crafty, etc. In short, he's so rich and natural in his character! For me, he's also one of the best Disney's character because of his heroic thing. There aren't many Pixar's movies who have the identical ideation as other previous Disney's character, but Remy has it. From time to time, Disney's characters always tend to be different and be something or someone that stands out in the crowd, and against all odds. And that idea of being different is brilliantly drawn in Remy, that I don't see also being drawn that brilliantly in any other Pixar's character (except maybe WALL-E).
I also love Emile. He's with his tummy is so cuuuute!! :D And speaking about cuteness, the rest of the rats are also very cute, with their tiny bright sparkling eyes. Yes, as I said, if you speak about the animation; the camera angle, the composition, the artworks of the movie are the best ones amongst all Pixar's movies. It's just so artistic and delightful.
The quality of the animation is well accompanied with the warming music from The Incredible's Michael Giacchino. Even besides, the sound editing is very good. All the characters seem to fit the voices. I love how Patton Oswalt voices Remy. Just perfect. Or how Ian Holm voices Skinner. Fantastic.
But above all the praises, what I like most from the movie is the second half part of the movie which I think, excels in many ways. You are first offered the feel of happiness when Linguini officially owned the restaurant and fired Skinner. Then all of a sudden, there are lots of conflicts like when Remy couldn't accept the fact that Linguini started to deny his capability, over Colette. It continued when Remy brought the whole colony to steal foods, that made Linguini really disappointed and said harsh words to him and kicked him away.
All of the desperation continues when all the gourmet employees quitted their job when they think that Linguini was out of his mind for trusting a rat, and even Colette walked away from him. It's all in the night when it was the most important night for them. Gladly, Colette is an important character so she's brought back to the whole ending scenes, along with the movie essensial slogan "anyone can cook" which she had believed from the very beginning.
And after all the desperations, out of nowhere, Django gently spoke to Remy in a very fatherly way (i love it!). And boom! This is the part I'm talking about. It's when the rats colony got into the kitchen and help to cook. Wow! The feeling I get when watching this part is just overwhelming. Now I can see why they call themselves "a family" and am just so excited to see Remy walked around the kitchen and tasted all the sauces, the cookings and said words such as, "good, too many salt, good". It's just so entertaining and at the same time, inspiring. That part is also so hilariously funny, if not the funniest part of the movie. Like when the health inspector got tied up by the rats. LoL! Speaking about this part, it's concluded with the best ending yet, when Remy cooks Ego ratatouille and afterwards Ego makes a review about it. The review is really breath-taking.. It speaks about the morality of a critic itself which I think is really genius. How can you criticize a movie that's concluded with something speaking about the work of a critic itself? "The work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and theirselves to our judgment." Those lines are amazing. Have you ever thought of its meaning? It's very deep and has a lot of love message, of how you appreciate others, no matter where they come from, or what they are. As spoken wise, a great artist can come from anywhere. That's why I always cry every time I come to this part. Even after watching it 17 times, I still cry.
And the fact that the ending has something really related to its own title (Ratatouille) is just superb because not so many movie can save its very own title from the beginning of the story till the end, yet make it the bomb for the ending. Like wise saying, save the best for last.
In the end, it leaves us with warm feelings, along with a spirit that "anyone can cook" (but only the fearless can be great!). A spirit of how "a great artist can come from anywhere". Also some cute memorable moments and an originality that easily mark it the best movie ever made.