Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (16 July 2007)

What Ratatouille's got that nearly every other family film hasn't got is that everything about it is honest and real, with of course the exception of little nightclub societies of rats. It explores many things that I think it's wonderful that young kids will see at an early age in a film like this, a family film, the kind that they should trust. One major thing I'm speaking of is the atmosphere and portrayal of Paris and the nature of the restaurants. Not only do we learn about the foods and what goes on in the kitchen, but we also see customers that are insinuated as rich Americans who visited the restaurant last time they vacationed in Paris and always get the same thing, and other such details. The film is rich rich rich with details, by the way, which should fascinate all who see this, young and old alike.
But what I'm really getting at when I say Ratatouille is more honest and true to life is it's truly profound message, a deeper, more thoughtful one than most family films. I'm not saying that family films necessarily all have token messages and common sense morale. I'm saying that hardly any of them truly say anything thought-provoking the way this one does. It's about creation against simple survival. It uses its fun little concept of a rat who prefers fine cuisine to garbage to maturely symbolize that theft is simply surviving, and adds nothing and gives nothing, whereas creation is making your mark on existence, and exercising life and earning the finer things. The film glorifies sophistication as well as it parodies prudish French poise.
The only flaw in the film I see is the stale device of the fantasy guardian angel of the fat deceased master cook Chef Gusteau. What this particular role in the film delivers could be done in the clever way everything else is.
You may wonder why I feel that this is one family film where kids can trust its realism when the film is about a talking rat that controls and understands human beings. Well, I can support my point about the film's message by referring to a clever key scene near the beginning where we see that rats talking to each other from their point of view, then briefly see the rats having the same conversation from a human's point of view, and it's made clear at that point that, though we as the audience understand them when they speak in Patton Oswald's voice, they can only be vocally understood by each other and not by humans. I told you the film is rich with details most family movies wouldn't have. You'll be shocked at its maturity.