Ratatouille (June 29, 2007)

The plot of the movie revolves around Remy, a rat who has an enhanced sense of smell, who dreams of being a chef. In order to achieve this dream, he teams up with a man named Linguini, a mere garbage boy at a Parisian restaurant. They form a mutually beneficial partnership- Remy helps Linguini keep his job and maintain his façade of a being a chef while Linguini helps Remy live out his fantasy. They face many obstacles throughout the journey, and, along the way, Linguini finds love in the form of a Sous chef named Colette. It is a beautiful story of following your passion, expressing your unique gift, and surmounting any obstacles to get there set to a wonderfully French-inspire score composed by Michael Giacchino. The animation is also phenomenal, with stunningly detailed character designs amidst a gorgeous Paris backdrop (though some of the buildings could use more definition). The main characters, Remy, Linguini, and later on Colette, are fantastic. Linguini is an awkward boy whose mother, we find out, had a child with the famed and recently deceased chef, Auguste Gusteau and so his Michelin starred restaurant is rightfully his. This is not found out until a little over midway through the movie so instead he has to focus on maintaining his job at that very restaurant through sheer luck and determination. This is helped along by his chance meeting with Remy whose innate culinary skills helps Linguini become indispensable to the restaurant (with the help of Colette, who is a skilled chef in her own right but has had to be scrappy and tough to make it in a male dominated industry. The villain is Chef Skinner, the current owner of Gusteau’s restaurant, who since Gusteau’s death has used his name to market a line of cheap microwavable meals, muddying his illustrious name. He is predictable but his exaggerated mannerisms make him an enjoyable and humorous antagonist. The rest of the staff, as well as Remy’s rat family (sans his brother Emile and father Django) are fairly forgettable and not worth mentioning. They do help flesh out the world and so serve a purpose, but I do not care about them personally. My favorite part of the movie by far is the cooking. It is rendered exquisitely- with flavors expressed with a colorful, firework-style display- and is deliciously fast paced keeping the movie moving towards its, slightly, unexpected conclusion. I could watch more of just the cooking sequences with no further plot, Pixar really nailed them. Overall, this film is a masterpiece to behold with likable characters, a memorable message, and a beautiful setting well worth watching. I believe it is one of Pixar, best (if not their best) film and it kicked off a string of hits for the studio.

Final Rating: 9.5/10