Ratatouille
Starring: Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O’Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, John Ratzenberger
Director: Brad Bird
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Rated: G
Theatrical Release Date: 06/29/2007
Run Time: 110 min.
Details: In ‘Ratatouille’, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great chef despite his family’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unwanted visitor in the kitchen at one of Paris’ most exclusive restaurants, Remy forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, the garbage boy, who inadvertently discovers Remy’s amazing talents. They strike a deal, ultimately setting into motion a chain of events that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down. Remy finds himself torn between following his dreams or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef.

My review:
I was surprised when I walked out of the theater because I actually enjoyed Ratatouille. Maybe this was because I went in with such low expectations. I was really not expecting to enjoy it. The characters were cute and lovable. It has great cast. The plot was not too deep which is good for a kids movie. Too often writers and directors try to impart adult themes in movies made for kids. I don’t have a problem with kids movies just being fun for the kids. My only complaint about the story was that it was very predictable. After the first 20 minutes of the film you pretty much knew what the problems the main characters were going to face and could make a good guess as to how the would solve them. Normally this would turn me off of a movie but because it was so much fun to watch I still enjoyed it. Oh, and speaking of predictable, since it is a Disney film you know that both of the parents of one of the main characters (Linguini) are dead.

Ratatouille was as usual a masterwork of animation by Pixar. The animation in this movie was so good that you actually forgot it was animated. As opposed to an animated movie, Ratatouille was a movie that just happened to by animated. The rats in particular stood out for me. Their fur was rendered exceptionally well and they moved vary naturally the way you would expect real rats to move (when they weren’t walking like humans of course). The animation beat other recent animated films such as Open Season, Surf’s Up, and Meet the Robinson’s hands down. I’m really glad Disney worked with Pixar on this film.

Ratatouille was a fun, light hearted film. My kids really enjoyed it too. Its a great summer movie to kill an afternoon with the kids.

My rating: 3.5/5 stars
High point: The animation was awesome
Low point: The predictable plot

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