RATATOUILLE

Pixar truly work on another level. Just like Walt Disney in the 30's when he changed animation (and film) forever with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and then proceeded to remarkably improve and explore deeper themes with movies like Pinocchio, Cinderella & Alice in Wonderland... it's surely Pixar leading the way in the 21st century. No other studio are making such beautiful films with timeless characters that you feel like you've known all your life, and tales that will still be relevant ten years from now and not dated and old like the 'wink at the audience' Shrek movies. These are the movies our kids will be growing up with two decades from now, knowing beat by beat the tales of Mr. Incredible, Woody and Remy the Rat... just like we did for the 2D animated classics. Ratatouille is a smart sophisticated film and having said that above, this is still definitely the most adult driven film the studio has made so far. This should be no surprise to those who have seen The Iron Giant or The Incredibles, director Brad Bird's two other extremely satisfying and fresh feeling stories that are mostly void of the slapstick humor compared to it's competition in the animated field but not lacking the frantic energy that makes them so watchable. Voiced superbly by comedian Patty Oswalt, Ratatouille begins with Remy, a smart rat with a keen sense of smell who is tired of eating the scraps left in the garbage from humans. Remy dreams of cooking up his own culinary delights, no matter how absurd or ridiculous an idea that could be for a rat. His hero is famous chef Auguste Gusteau, the proponent of great food who brandishes the phrase 'Anyone can cook', which of course inspires Remy, who after a terrifying sequence where he is separated from his family and home, seizes the opportunity of a lifetime when he observes how badly rookie chef Linguini has made of his first dish on his first day in the kitchen. Behind Linguini's back, Remy makes some much needed adjustments! Remarkably the added ingredients Remy makes (from many hours of reading the Gusteau cookbook) to the soup turns out to be a huge hit and the stunned chefs of the kitchen are amazed at what this rookie boy can do. Head chef, the villainous but not over-the-top Skinner (Ian Holm) challenges the boy to replicate the dish but of course he's suspicious (how can a young boy cook something so good without any training), and as Linguini's dishes get better and better, the more sure and closer Skinner gets to the truth of who is really cooking the food. The movie works from then on as an odd ball Laurel and Hardy like partnership as Remy and Linguini team-up (yes only in animation could a rat and a human interact so well) for the good of both their interests - Remy and his love for cooking, and Linguini for is need to keep the job. Paris is my favourite city in the world, and when this rat stares at the Eiffel Tower and dreams of living there for it's good food, I forgot I was watching a movie about a rodent and I was drawn in completely to this tale. Indeed, it felt like my story. Brad Bird clearly loves Paris too and his energetic 'love letter' to the city must have been painstakingly re-created by countless days on computers but it takes this film to such a high level. The geography seems 100% right, the Notre Dame cathedral looks where and how it should, and the streets of Paris feel like the streets of Paris just as much as Before Sunset... one of the best movies to ever use the city (IMO). It's no surprise this film has a 97% fresh rating on Rotten Tomaotes. It's impossible to not like a film that is as well cooked as this one. It may not be the best Pixar movie ever, but you would be hard pressed to find someone that didn't enjoy it. Ratatouille is one that's going to be around for a long time and man, if you ever want to inspire a young kid to learn how to cook and take time with preparing delicious food then this is the film.

rating: 4

I adored Ratatouille when I saw it last week and I would tip Brad Bird for his delicious delight if I could. I will certainly be back to order Ratatouille again. It tastes so good and yummy that you only wish every time you would be as satisfied as this everytime you visited the movies.