No sinking ship here…
Remy is a rat. He’s not just any rat, he’s a rat with taste and smell unlike any other rat. Compared to his brother and father, he chooses a higher grade of food, well above garbage that rat’s are known to be consuming. Outside of the snobbish tastes, Remy has a greater calling in life, to become a chef. To do that he must not only follow his nose, but also follow his imagination which is producing the ghost of a well-known chef, who just recently passed away, named Gusteau. When Remy finds out that he’s been living in Paris for a good portion of his life, he quickly begins to seek out Gusteau’s restaurant and possibly his future as a chef. His biggest obstacle, of course, is the fact that he’s a rat. So, he quickly befriends a young garbage boy who helps to make a name for both of them.
So you get the jest of the movie. It’s a pretty ambitious story of a rodent trying to be a chef. Quite frankly, any other studio couldn’t pull this off. Pixar does a magical job of not only pulling the story off, but getting the right personalities to make it work. Patton Oswalt would not be the first choice of main characters in any film, in my opinion. He does such a beautiful job portraying a rat that wants more than he’s born for in this story. He brings Remy to life so well and you forget he’s the loud/obnoxious comedian in real-life. That’s a tough job. He plays the poor rodent to perfectly and shows the urgency of ‘wanting-something-greater’ than most could do. Brad Bird’s writing helps him to do this. Aside from acting, even beyond the wonderful performance of Romano as the garbage boy, the real reason why this movie works is that it seems to be aimed towards more than kids.
In the past, Pixar has always been known for making cute films. Cars, for example, was a film mainly about morals and thinking about others. Toy Story showed us how much we all needed to be loved and how to accept new people into an already stable group. Ratatouille goes a different path. It’s a got a lot of discrimination elements in the story, showing how one can succeed beyond what one was stereotypically known for. It’s a lot more serious, certainly more deeper than any other Pixar film that I had the pleasure of experiencing. It rates up there with Finding Nemo, which is a huge compliment considering how well that was done. One particular element of Ratatouille that stands out the most is that there isn’t any stupid comedy in it. When I say stupid, I don’t mean dumb. I mean comedy that is just there for laughter, but serves no great purpose. And maybe that’s the downfall of the film in most critic’s eyes. How it didn’t succeed in the theater like the others, is beyond me. Maybe the critic’s are looking for those one-liners and just simply didn’t receive them. That’s too bad, considering that the film didn’t need them.
This is the best Pixar film I’ve seen to date. You don’t need to miss out on it. Especially the end dialogue with the food critic, it is simply the best to combination of words, visuals and music. Very endearing to the heart of this reviewer.
Pack of Special Features
While certainly not overly charmed with special features, there are enough here to keep you occupied, for a little while at least. The deleted scenes are nice, the short film is good, but the real beef here is the Remy and Emile short history lesson on rats. That is not only educational, but it’s also very interesting. Other features, they’re okay, not great.
Final Thoughts
This is the best film I’ve seen from Pixar, and I’m not blowing smoke up your butt by saying that. If you are looking for funny-ha-ha sort of humor, turn away. If you’re looking for an endearing, colorful story that really hits home, this is the movie for you. Forgive the features, but enjoy the movie. Just don’t expect kiddie stuff, except a deeper, more serious storyline.
