Ratatouille

Brad Bird

Lou Romano

Janeane Garofalo

Peter O'Toole

Brad Garrett

Brian Dennehy

Peter Sohn

Will Arnett

Ratatouille (/ˌrætəˈtuːi/ RAT-ə-TOO-ee, French: [ʁatatuj]) is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar and was co-written and directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005. The title refers to a French dish, "Ratatouille", which is served at the end of the film and is also a play on words about the species of the main character. The film stars the voices of Patton Oswalt as Remy, an anthropomorphic rat who is interested in cooking; Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini, a young garbage boy who befriends Remy; Ian Holm as Skinner, the head chef of Auguste Gusteau's restaurant; Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tatou, a rôtisseur at Gusteau's restaurant; Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a restaurant critic; Brian Dennehy as Django, Remy's father and leader of his clan; Peter Sohn as Emile, Remy's older brother; and Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau, a recently deceased chef. The plot follows a rat named Remy, who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy.

Development of Ratatouille began in 2000 when Pinkava wrote the original concepts of the film. In 2005, Bird was approached to direct the film and revise the story. Bird and some of the film's crew members also visited Paris for inspiration. To create the food animation used in the film, the crew consulted chefs from both France and the United States. Bird also interned at Thomas Keller's The French Laundry restaurant, where Keller developed the confit byaldi, a dish used in the film.

Ratatouille premiered on June 22, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California, with its general release June 29, 2007, in the United States. The film grossed $620.7 million at the box office and received critical acclaim. The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was later voted one of the 100 greatest motion pictures of the 21st century by a 2016 poll of international critics conducted by BBC.

## Plot

Remy is an idealistic and ambitious young rat with highly developed senses of taste and smell who dreams of becoming a chef like his idol, the recently deceased Auguste Gusteau. Emile is Remy's gluttonous older brother who eats food whole, rather then savor the flavor. When their family are forced to flee their home, Remy and Emile become separated and Remy eventually finds himself at a skylight overlooking the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant in Paris.

He sees garbage boy Alfredo Linguini spill a pot of soup and attempt to recreate it. Remy sees that he is ruining it and fixes his mistakes, which Linguini witnesses. Skinner, Gusteau's former sous-chef and new owner, confronts Linguini for tampering with the soup, but while they argue the soup is accidentally served and proves to be a success. Skinner retains Linguini who is assumed to be the soup's creator, and orders him to kill the rat. Instead, Linguini hides Remy under his toque where Remy guides Linguini like a marionette by pulling on his hair. Skinner assigns the female chef Colette to train his new cook.

Skinner and Remy learn that Linguini is Gusteau's illegitimate son and the rightful owner of the restaurant. Remy gives the evidence to Linguini, forcing Skinner to step down as owner. The restaurant thrives, Remy's recipes become popular, and a romance develops between Linguini and Colette causing Remy to feel left out. He visits Emile and his clan in their new lair but Remy and his father Django fall out over his admiration for humans and Remy leaves.

World-renowned food critic Anton Ego, whose negative review precipitated Gusteau's death, announces he will dine at the restaurant. After getting into a heated argument with Linguini, Remy leads his clan to raid the restaurant's pantries in revenge, but Linguini drives them out. Remy is then captured by Skinner, but freed by Django and his brother Emile. Linguini apologizes to Remy, having been unable to cook without him, and reveals the truth to the staff who leave in disgust. Colette returns, recalling Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook."

Impressed by Remy's determination, Django and the clan offer to help. The rats cook while Linguini waits tables. Remy creates a ratatouille variation, confit byaldi, which reminds Ego of his mother's cooking. The rats tie up Skinner and a health inspector to prevent them revealing that rats are cooking, and when Ego requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette make him wait until the other diners have left before introducing Remy. Ego is stunned and writes a glowing review, saying he now truly understands Gusteau's famous motto and calling Remy "nothing less than the finest chef in France."

However, Gusteau's is permanently closed due to the presence of rats violating health regulations and Ego loses his job and his credibility as a critic. He then funds and frequents a popular new bistro, La Ratatouille, created and run by Remy, Linguini, and Colette, and the rats settle into their new home on the bistro's roof.

## Voice cast

* Patton Oswalt as Remy, a rat with heightened senses of taste and smell, enabling a

talent and desire for cooking. Director Brad Bird chose Oswalt after hearing his food-related comedy routine.

* Ian Holm as Chef Skinner, a diminutive chef and owner of Auguste Gusteau's restaurant. Since Gusteau's death, Skinner has used the Gusteau name to market a line of cheap microwaveable meals. Skinner's behavior, diminutive size, and body language are loosely based on Louis de Funès.
* Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini, the son of Auguste Gusteau and Renata Linguini.
* Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau (whose first and last names are anagrams of each other). Many reviewers believe that Gusteau is inspired by real-life chef Bernard Loiseau, who committed suicide after media speculation that his flagship restaurant, La Côte d'Or, was going to be downgraded from three Michelin stars to two. La Côte d'Or was one of the restaurants visited by Brad Bird and others in France.
* Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tatou, Gusteau's *chef de partie*, inspired by French chef Hélène Darroze.
* Brian Dennehy as Django, Remy and Emile's father, and the leader of the rats.
* Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a restaurant critic. His appearance was modeled after Louis Jouvet.
* Peter Sohn as Emile, Remy's gluttonous older brother.
* Will Arnett as Horst, Skinner's German sous chef.
* Julius Callahan as Lalo, Gusteau's *saucier* and *poissonnier*. Callahan also voices François, the advertising executive handling the marketing of Gusteau's microwaveable products.
* James Remar as Larousse, Gusteau's *garde manger*.
* John Ratzenberger as Mustafa, Gusteau's *chef de salle*.
* Teddy Newton as Talon Labarthe, Skinner's lawyer.
* Tony Fucile as Pompidou, Gusteau's *patissier*. Fucile also voices Nadar Lessard, a health inspector employed by Skinner.
* Jake Steinfeld as Git, a former lab rat and member of Django's colony.
* Brad Bird as Ambrister Minion, Anton Ego's butler.
* Stéphane Roux as the narrator of the cooking channel.
* Thomas Keller as a dining patron who asks "what's new".