Ratatouille
Year: 2007
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm, Patton Oswalt, Peter O'Toole & Lou Romano
Runtime: 111 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 28/11/22
Director: Brad Bird
Starring: Janeane Garofalo, Ian Holm, Patton Oswalt, Peter O'Toole & Lou Romano
Runtime: 111 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 28/11/22
Following Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, all eyes were on the studios eighth animated feature to prove that the studio wouldn’t be held back from their usual high quality by the house of mouse’s desire for big profits, franchises, and merchandising. The general consensus is that Ratatouille, the first Pixar feature made as a Disney studio, is do exception to Pixar’s pedigree and is one of the greatest animated films of all time. For me however, Ratatouille is a film I find somewhat dull and by the numbers. Yet I can never quite put my finger on exactly why. Maybe this review will help me find out?
Remy (Patton Oswalt) is a rat with an unusually good sense of taste and smell. This disposition causes Remy to be particularly picky about the kind of food he eats, which in turn leads him to discover the art of cooking. Inspired by the words of the deceased chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), Remy finds himself befriending a garbage boy at Gusteau’s once famous restaurant. The boy, Linguini (Lau Romano), find himself tasked with becoming a chef at the restaurant or being fired by sous-chef Skinner (Ian Holm). Together, with the aid of fellow chef Collette (Janeane Garofalo), Remy and Linguini create marvellous dishes putting Gusteau’s back on the map and placing them in the crosshairs of esteemed food critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), all whilst a suspicious Skinner is determined to uncover Linguini’s secret to cooking.
Remy (Patton Oswalt) is a rat with an unusually good sense of taste and smell. This disposition causes Remy to be particularly picky about the kind of food he eats, which in turn leads him to discover the art of cooking. Inspired by the words of the deceased chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), Remy finds himself befriending a garbage boy at Gusteau’s once famous restaurant. The boy, Linguini (Lau Romano), find himself tasked with becoming a chef at the restaurant or being fired by sous-chef Skinner (Ian Holm). Together, with the aid of fellow chef Collette (Janeane Garofalo), Remy and Linguini create marvellous dishes putting Gusteau’s back on the map and placing them in the crosshairs of esteemed food critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), all whilst a suspicious Skinner is determined to uncover Linguini’s secret to cooking.
As an amateur critic, my favourite aspect of Ratatouille is Ego. He has a considerably understated presence in the film, appearing in only three scenes and all of them in the back half of the film. Yet his careful and concise wording, and the way it flows like poetry, combined with a truly fantastic performance from O’Toole really cement Ego as one of my favourite Pixar characters.
Aside from Ego the story of Ratatouille certainly is inspiring for anyone who dreams of being good at something. It’s all about believing in yourself, and ignoring things you consider negatives about yourself such as where you come from, how much money you have, or how old you are. Ratatouille is also very funny in places, Pixar’s signature visual gags are plentiful here and some clever dialogue presents plenty of humorous moments for children and adults alike.
But that’s really as far as my praise goes with much of Ratatouille. Personally, I find Remy an unlikable protagonist. He’s pretentious, arrogant, he lies profusely, and yet despite all this he has the gall to be unsure of himself and his abilities (but only when the plot calls for it). Linguini is not an active player in the story, and yet for the most part it’s his story. He has no agency in the film and is pushed from one scene to the next because of what other characters do. He never makes any decisions for himself, and when the opportunity arises, he takes all the credit for himself.
Collette initially comes off as this cold, unapproachable person who has had to fight tooth and nail to get where she is and will fight to stay on top. Then within a few minutes gets googly eyes for Linguini, teaches him everything she knows and is content being second fiddle to him. Then finally Skinner feels like he belongs in a Mr. Bean sketch. His frustration with Linguini turns into delusion and obsession as he actively destroys his career trying to prove that Linguini is hiding something (even though he has no basis for these accusations aside from one or two fleeting glimpses of what he thought might be a rat stood next to Linguini in the street behind the restaurant).
The characters are not written with the kind of depth or complexity I have seen from other Pixar films, and the voice cast also do not feel like they are pulling their weight a lot of the time. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with the performance, but they feel somewhat hollow and lacking passion. Voice performances for animated films need to be as animated as the characters themselves in order to bring them to life, a lot of the time I felt as though the performers were just reading lines in a sound booth.
Aside from Ego the story of Ratatouille certainly is inspiring for anyone who dreams of being good at something. It’s all about believing in yourself, and ignoring things you consider negatives about yourself such as where you come from, how much money you have, or how old you are. Ratatouille is also very funny in places, Pixar’s signature visual gags are plentiful here and some clever dialogue presents plenty of humorous moments for children and adults alike.
But that’s really as far as my praise goes with much of Ratatouille. Personally, I find Remy an unlikable protagonist. He’s pretentious, arrogant, he lies profusely, and yet despite all this he has the gall to be unsure of himself and his abilities (but only when the plot calls for it). Linguini is not an active player in the story, and yet for the most part it’s his story. He has no agency in the film and is pushed from one scene to the next because of what other characters do. He never makes any decisions for himself, and when the opportunity arises, he takes all the credit for himself.
Collette initially comes off as this cold, unapproachable person who has had to fight tooth and nail to get where she is and will fight to stay on top. Then within a few minutes gets googly eyes for Linguini, teaches him everything she knows and is content being second fiddle to him. Then finally Skinner feels like he belongs in a Mr. Bean sketch. His frustration with Linguini turns into delusion and obsession as he actively destroys his career trying to prove that Linguini is hiding something (even though he has no basis for these accusations aside from one or two fleeting glimpses of what he thought might be a rat stood next to Linguini in the street behind the restaurant).
The characters are not written with the kind of depth or complexity I have seen from other Pixar films, and the voice cast also do not feel like they are pulling their weight a lot of the time. There’s nothing explicitly wrong with the performance, but they feel somewhat hollow and lacking passion. Voice performances for animated films need to be as animated as the characters themselves in order to bring them to life, a lot of the time I felt as though the performers were just reading lines in a sound booth.
Technologically Ratatouille doesn’t represent a significant step forward for the studio either. The way they animate people, particularly their faces, has improved from their last human-centric film, The Incredibles, but that was also released half a decade prior to Ratatouille so I would expect improvement there.
The studios more refined lighting techniques first showcased in cars make a return here which does give environments more life and make them feel more natural. Even the difference between the restaurant kitchen during the daytime and then during evening service is visibly different, everything has a warmer glow during the evening whilst the room is lit by the ceiling lights as well as various reflective cooking utensils. But there’s nothing that stands out as particularly visually impressive. In comparison to other animated films at the time, ratatouille was still ahead of the curve by a considerable margin, but it did not significantly improve on previous Pixar efforts.
Michael Giacchino’s score is fine, but it really is just the most cliché French sounding music you’ve ever heard. It lacks its own personality and instead feels like some kind of stock music you would find by searching France and accordions.
Maybe it’s just me, I just don’t really like Ratatouille that much. There’s nothing exactly bad about the film, it’s fine by the metrics of kids animated films, but this is a Pixar film we are talking about here. For me it needed to do more, be more, but instead it feels like it settles for being just fine.
There is a good film here, and don’t let my review put you off checking it out because I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more than me. But Ratatouille is one of the few Pixar films I find myself forgetting exists, and regularly skipping over when I rewatch the studio’s catalogue.
The studios more refined lighting techniques first showcased in cars make a return here which does give environments more life and make them feel more natural. Even the difference between the restaurant kitchen during the daytime and then during evening service is visibly different, everything has a warmer glow during the evening whilst the room is lit by the ceiling lights as well as various reflective cooking utensils. But there’s nothing that stands out as particularly visually impressive. In comparison to other animated films at the time, ratatouille was still ahead of the curve by a considerable margin, but it did not significantly improve on previous Pixar efforts.
Michael Giacchino’s score is fine, but it really is just the most cliché French sounding music you’ve ever heard. It lacks its own personality and instead feels like some kind of stock music you would find by searching France and accordions.
Maybe it’s just me, I just don’t really like Ratatouille that much. There’s nothing exactly bad about the film, it’s fine by the metrics of kids animated films, but this is a Pixar film we are talking about here. For me it needed to do more, be more, but instead it feels like it settles for being just fine.
There is a good film here, and don’t let my review put you off checking it out because I’m sure you’ll enjoy it more than me. But Ratatouille is one of the few Pixar films I find myself forgetting exists, and regularly skipping over when I rewatch the studio’s catalogue.