Ratatouille

****

Remy…….…………….Patton Oswalt
Linguini……………….Lou Romano
Chef Skinner…………..Ian Holm
Colette…………………Jeneane Garofalo
Django…………………Brian Dennehy
Gusteau………………..Brad Garrett
Anton Ego……………..Peter O’Toole

Directed by Brad Bird
Screenplay by Brad Bird
Story by Brad Bird, Jim Capobianco, and Jan Pinkava with additional material by Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg


Ratatouille is one of the most effortless movies I have seen. It goes about its business likes it has no desire to aspire to anything other than entertaining you. It’s only afterward that you realize how much the movie was saying, which makes its ease all the more remarkable.

It begins as the story of Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat who has an exceptional sense of smell and takes great delight in food. This passion gets him in trouble with the humans where the pack is living and they have to leave.

Remy ends up in Paris. The people there share his passion for food, but feel generally the same about rats. He can’t help himself, however, and ends up in a restaurant where he saves a hapless garbage boy named Linguini from ruining the soup.

And from there, the movie just goes, introducing one wonderful character after another: the head chef Skinner (Ian Holm), the female chef Colette (Jeneane Garofalo), the critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), and many more, all of whom have their moments whether they be singular or shared with many. The plot is a delight as it twists and turns and wends its way always landing where it should but never overstaying its welcome.

You can’t talk about a Pixar film without talking about the animation. There are many action set pieces in the movie. One of my favorites is after Linguini decides that Remy is going to help him cook. Neither knows how this is going to work and their first attempt is hilarious. In the end, there may be a few too many set pieces and they may go on too long, but each one is so ingenious that I can’t fault the movie for it.

Linguini (Lou Romano) may be my favorite creation by Pixar yet. He is a perfect blend of animation and voicework. He’s still not sure how to use his legs and arms and Lou Romano makes him talk as if he’s never said the right thing in his life. I’ve met people who would talk and move like this if they were animated.

The movie gets it right in even the smaller moments. When Remy talks about food, the visuals and sound design they use creates one of the best representations I’ve seen on film of how an artist views the world.

And I’m not a traveler, but Pixar movies are the ones that make me want to go places. Finding Nemo made me want to visit Sydney, Australia and now I want to go to Paris.

I’ve become a big fan of director Brad Bird (The Iron Giant and The Incredibles). He has his own stories that he tells in his way, eschewing standard formulas. In any other Pixar movie, the reuniting of characters who have been separated is usually the point. Mr. Bird separates and reunites two characters but he’s interested in something else: What if the issues they had before haven’t gone away? It’s one of the many ways that this movie has more on its mind.

Much has been made about America’s view of animation as child’s fare. The issue is larger than whether we can accept animation for adults. That too is limiting. Animators don’t have to worry about the real world. They have more tools at their disposal than any live action director does and Brad Bird is utilizing all of them. Ratatouille evokes smell and taste better than any live action movie I’ve seen. It is what animation is capable of.