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Ratatouille
It's hard to comprehend the fascination animators seem to have for rodents. Perhaps it stems from over exposure to Tom And Jerry in formative years. At any rate, first Aardman gave us the underrated Flushed Away; now Pixar strikes back with Ratatouille. Neither title would seem an easy sell - indeed, Disney's marketing department has been moaning to anyone who'll listen about that, since Ratatouille proved the least successful Pixar release yet, box office wise. Hence the long, long wait for the UK cinema release. To be fair to the publicity guys, it's not just the tricky title and the rat problem; Ratatouille's celebration of haute cuisine and gourmet cooking is probably pitched a bit high for the infants who lapped up previous Pixar favourites. That would also suggest why critics have made this one of the best reviewed movies of the year - even though the food critic in the movie (voiced by Peter O'Toole) is an insufferably arrogant snob. Be that as it may, in my estimation the critics are right to rave. If you're old enough to appreciate it, this is a terrific movie: beautifully animated, full of detail, texture and atmosphere, a good story crisply told, and very funny to boot. Remy (voiced by US comedian Patton Oswalt) is a young rat, and the black sheep of his family. While everyone else is content to forage for garbage, Remy turns his nose up at slob and swill. He's developed a taste for the finer things in food. In particular, he's a fan of the famous Parisian chef Gusteau, whose cook book and TV appearances fascinate the young rodent. 
Separated from the colony after a near squeak with a shotgun, Remy is guided to Paris by the spirit of the recently departed Gusteau, a friendly figment of his imagination. Naturally he makes his way to Gusteau's restaurant, now being managed by the temperamental and self-serving Skinner (Ian Holm), and he strikes up a mutually beneficial friendship with Linguini (Lou Romano), the kitchen dishwasher, and such a cack-handed cook he needs any help he can get. As it turns out, Remy is more than a boon. He's a natural chef, maybe the best in "le tout Paris". They work out a system where Remy sits under Linguini's chef hat and directs his cooking with tugs on his hair. It's a bit ungainly at first, but you can bet Gordon Ramsay would operate this way if he could. Written and directed by Brad Bird (with Jan Pinkava), Ratatouille expands on some unfashionable ideas in The Incredibles about quality. See, Mr Bird believes in it. He might even go so far as to say that he's down on mediocrity. Even so, he ties himself in knots trying not to be elitist here. Gusteau's dictum is "Anyone Can Cook", a principle that the critic Anton Ego finds patently absurd - but of course it's Ego who is absurd to most people. He says he loves food so much he won't swallow anything less than the best. I suspect there's something of this snob in Brad Bird. But the accommodation he arrives at in the film is to balance off Gusteau's egalitarian zeal with Ego's fine discernment, subtly redefining Anyone Can Cook as "Anyone Can Cook (in theory)". 
At least anyone can eat - and savour - this delicious movie, certainly one of the highlights of the year. The animation is superb. Filmmakers can't easily convey the sensations of taste and smell, but Ratatouille communicates a real passion for food, creativity and life itself. Not bad for such a trifle. Tom Charity Titles related to this articleRelated/similar articles
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