Ratatouille

June 29, 2007

Rated: G Runtime: 110 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Pixar is usually good, but Brad Bird directing Pixar is better. Bird (THE IRON GIANT, THE INCREDIBLES) brings complex characters and a storyline that the animation serves, not the other way around.

Ratatouille Remy is a Paris rat who doesn’t want to be part of the rat pack. He dreams of being a French chef.

Linguini is a human working in a Paris restaurant who also wants to cook, but doesn’t have the talent for it.

The two team up, the rat hiding in the human’s chef’s hat and pulling his hair when he wants the human to add certain spices (because he can understand but not talk Humanspeak).

As one might expect, complications ensue for a rat who wants to be a gourmet cook in a fancy restaurant.

This is a fun movie, and, like much of Pixar’s stuff, enjoyable and appropriate for kids but written for adults.

With the plethora of computer-animated “pack of animals” movies lately (penguins dancing, penguins surfing, suburban animals thrust into the wilderness, wilderness animals thrust into the suburbs, zoo animals forced into the wild, wild animals forced into the zoo), that this one focuses on one character, and most resembles the 1996 Tony Shalhoub film BIG NIGHT about two brothers opening a fancy restaurant, may give some indication that this isn’t your usual computer-toon.

The action sequences are truly exciting, and aren’t played for laughs. When the rat is being swept down a storm sewer, or being menaced by an old lady with a shotgun, it’s not portrayed as a funny animal in peril, but as something that really is life-threatening.

The animation is good, and more complex than some computer-animated movies with robots or bugs. The rat fur and water effects are impressive.

The Paris scenery is gorgeous. This movie has a more realistic feel, less stylized, than some recent animated films.

And there’s a lot of good comedy.

And the food is tastefully (pun intended) presented. A movie that revolves around cooking should make you hungry, and this one did make me hungry.

In theaters, this film has a Pixar short before the film, LIFTED, about two aliens trying to abduct a farmer from his farmhouse in the middle of the night. This was nominated for a 2007 Oscar for Best Short Animated Film .

Posted by Mack Guffin | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Comedy, G, Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, John Ratzenberger, Patton Oswald, Peter O'Toole, Theatrical