Review: Ratatouille (2007) ****

Mmmmmmm…saffron

In Ratatouille it is said that the best food in the world comes from France, that the best food in France comes from Paris and that the best food in Paris comes from Gusteau’s. Or it used to. As the story begins, the restaurant has seen better days. Once the 5-star toast of Paris, Gusteau’s is now a 3-star mediocrity, catering to tourists and staffed by outcasts. There is a woman, a criminal, a gambling cheat and a gunrunner. In charge of them all is the diminutive tyrant Skinner who is content getting rich by trading on Gusteau’s name to sell a line of ethnic frozen dinners. At the opposite end of this kitchen ladder is Linguini, the garbage boy. He isn’t very good at anything; not even taking out the garbage.

In such a kitchen full of misfits, no one is unwelcome - except a rat, of course; even a rat who can cook. Enter Remy, our hero.

Remy isn’t just an ordinary rodent content to sniff through garbage all day long. Armed with a heightened sense of taste and smell and enlightened to the possibilities of exciting culinary combinations, Remy yearns to create amazing food. “I’m tired of taking,” he says. “I want to add something to this world.” Perhaps Remy’s talent combined with Linguini’s eagerness to move up in the world can help return Gusteau’s to its former glory. But will they be able to keep the secret that there’s a rat in the kitchen?

Like the dish it’s named after, Ratatouille is simple, but it’s also multi-layered. Perking along in its entertaining way, it delivers warmth, humor, suspense and romance. There is even an occasional chase sequence thrown in to keep things lively. Though Pixar’s computer animation no longer wows in the same novel way it once did, the work in Ratatouille is as beautiful and nuanced as you’d expect, expertly capturing the rustic charm of the French countryside as well as the romantic, cobblestoned, Old World ambience of Paris as we like to imagine it might once have been.

Besides the scenery, Ratatouille also features some terrific characters and voice work. Ian Holm brings a great energy to the role of Skinner while a more laid back Patton Oswalt sets the perfect tone for Remy. The standout here though is Peter O’Toole as the food critic Anton Ego. Ego looks like a mortician as he hunches over a skull-shaped typewriter in a coffin-shaped room, spitting out bitter venom with the power to make or destroy a restaurant and O’Toole lends the character the perfect note of crusty menace.

I should make a special note of Michael Giacchino’s score. Blending traditional, accordion infused French café music with bits of jazz and more modern movie soundtrack styles, the music, like the movie itself, treads a fine line between the old and the new. A balance is struck that seems timeless. This isn’t music that crops up to tell you what to think or feel every step of the way necessarily, but it’s the glue that holds the disparate themes and styles of Ratatouille together. My favorite part is the main theme as sung by Camille. She recently made a splash as a part of the Euro-Pop group Nouvelle Vague who most notably made an album of New Wave hits performed in a loungy Bossa Nova style. Her voice is just right for that combination of old-meets-new that Giacchino has so skillfully blended together.

I have a few small gripes that keep Ratatouille from surpassing my all-time favorite Pixar film, The Incredibles. For one thing, I didn’t like the character of the boy Linguini very much. As a result, I didn’t much care about his success or failure. While I rooted for his counterpart Remy, some of the energy was sapped from the story. Also, I didn’t like Janeane Garofalo as Linguini’s love interest Colette. Usually I like Garofalo but her French accent was so inconsistent and unconvincing as to be a distraction. It’s unfortunate because Colette is a great character. Finally, I wish that O’Toole’s Anton Ego had more screen time. He’s prominently featured in my favorite scene, but he’s just not around enough. It’s a waste of a great character and a great performance.

Minor complaints aside, Ratatouille is a lovely film. This isn’t a slapsticky, fart and vomit joke laden affair oozing with pop culture references like a certain series of films starring a green ogre. This is a gentle movie. It’s the ultimate misfit story that seeks to prove Chef Gusteau’s assertion that “you must not let anyone define who you are by where you come from.” As one of the characters comes to learn, perhaps not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.

In the end Ratatouille is a celebration not only of food, but of the power of great art to move us. It’s about the pure joy of creation and of the need to be yourself without letting others limit what you can be. It’s also one of my favorite movies of the year.

Recently nominated for 13 Annie Awards honoring excellence in animation, Ratatouille is currently available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Ratatouille. USA 2007. Written and directed by Brad Bird. Music Composed by Michael Giacchino. Voices by Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett and John Ratzenberger. 1 hour 50 minutes. MPAA Rating: G. 4 stars (out of 5).

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