TheMovieStory

Ratatouille (pronounced /ˌrætəˈtuːiː/, /-ˈtwiː/; French: /ʁatatuj/[2]) is a 2007 computer-animated family film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film was the eighth movie produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005.

It tells the story of Rémy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat living in Paris who wants to be a chef, but has to overcome the disapproval of his family and the prejudice of humans. Using a somewhat hapless young man as a means through which to practice his art, Rémy meets yet another obstacle in the form of a famous, notoriously hard-to-please food critic named Anton Ego, nicknamed “The Grim Eater”.

It was released on June 29, 2007 in the United States, to both critical acclaim and box office success. The title is from the French dish, of which a variation is served in the film, and a pun on the species of the main character.

Plot

Rémy is a rat who lives in the attic of a French country home with his brother Émile and his father Django, the leader of a rat colony. Inspired by a television show hosted by France’s recently deceased top chef, Auguste Gusteau, Rémy does his best to learn how to cook. Underappreciating his exceptionally discerning sense of smell, his clan puts him to work sniffing for rat poison in their food.

The old woman who lives in the house discovers the rat infestation and immediately sets out to exterminate the vermin with a shotgun. As he flees with the rest, Rémy grabs Gusteau’s cookbook. He is separated from the others and floats through a storm sewer on the book, ending up by chance at his idol’s namesake restaurant, now run by former sous-chef Skinner. Alfredo Linguini, a young man with no culinary talent, arrives with a letter of introduction from his recently deceased mother. Because she is fondly remembered by the staff as Gusteau’s old flame, he is reluctantly hired by Skinner to clean up. While working, Linguini spills a portion of a pot of soup and attempts to cover up his mistake by adding nearby ingredients at random. The horrified Rémy, watching from a skylight, falls into the kitchen. While trying to escape out the window, he cannot resist the temptation to fix the soup along the way. Linguini catches Rémy in the act, just as Skinner confronts Linguini. During the confusion, some of the soup is served to a critic, who is favorably impressed.

Rémy discovers that he can control Linguini’s movements by pulling on his hair.

The kitchen’s sole female cook, Colette Tatou, convinces Skinner not to fire Linguini; Skinner agrees, provided Linguini recreates the soup. When Skinner spots Rémy, pandemonium breaks out. After Linguini traps Rémy in a jar, Skinner orders him to dispose of him. Knowing Rémy was responsible for the soup, Linguini cannot bring himself to kill him. He tells Rémy his problems and discovers that Rémy understands him. The unlikely pair form an alliance. Rémy (referred to by Linguini as “Little Chef”) secretly controls Linguini’s movements. The two perfect a marionette-like arrangement; Rémy tugs at Linguini’s hair to direct him (which causes involuntary movement) while remaining hidden under his toque blanche.

When customers ask for another dish besides the soup, Skinner tries to sabotage Linguini by ordering him to prepare an old Gusteau recipe that had been a disaster. Rémy changes the dish, over Colette’s determined opposition, and it proves to be another hit. Skinner, suspicious of Linguini’s success, plies the boy with vintage Château Latour in an attempt to discover his secret. However, the sly questioning yields nothing.

The next morning, Linguini nearly confides his secret to Colette. Desperate to stop him, Rémy makes him fall on Colette and they end up kissing. They begin dating. Meanwhile, Skinner learns from Linguini’s letter of introduction that, unknown to everyone but his mother, Linguini is in fact Gusteau’s son and stands to inherit the restaurant, imperiling Skinner’s ambition to exploit Gusteau’s image to market low-quality prepared frozen foods.

One night, Rémy and his colony are reunited. At the ensuing party, he surprises his father by saying that he is not going to stay, but continue to associate with humans. In response, Django shows Rémy the storefront of a rodent control business, which displays dead rats in traps. Rémy, though horrified, refuses to believe that enmity is inevitable between the two species, and leaves.

While scrounging for food, Rémy finds Gusteau’s will. Just then, he is discovered by Skinner, resulting in a chase through the streets of Paris. Rémy gets away and presents the document to Linguini. Linguini assumes ownership of the restaurant, fires Skinner, and becomes a rising star in the culinary world. Skinner becomes obsessed with ruining Linguini and catching Rémy; he tells a health inspector the restaurant is infested with rats. Later, Rémy and Linguini quarrel and Linguini decides that he no longer needs Rémy’s help. Rémy retaliates by leading a kitchen raid by his fellow rats. Linguini looks for Rémy to apologize, only to catch the rats in the act leaving Rémy feeling guilty.

Things come to a head the next night with an announced visit by demanding food critic Anton Ego, whose contemptuous earlier review of Chef Gusteau’s cooking had reduced his coveted five-star rating to four and eventually led to the chef’s untimely death (which dropped his restaurant’s rating another star). Ego challenges the chef by requesting that Linguini prepare whatever he dares serve him. Rémy returns to help Linguini. Linguini picks that ill-timed moment to finally admit the truth to the staff. They all think he has lost his mind due to the pressure and walk out, even Colette. However, she returns, remembering Gusteau’s mantra, “Anyone can cook!” Django, impressed by his son’s determination, has his rats work under Rémy, while Linguini waits tables using roller skates. The health inspector shows up and sees the rats in the kitchen; he is promptly tied up, gagged, and thrown in the pantry. Rémy decides to prepare ratatouille, a traditional dish not considered haute cuisine, but does it so well that the first taste of it causes Ego to relive a childhood memory of his mother making it for him. Meanwhile, after bursting into the kitchen, Skinner suffers the same fate as the health inspector. Ego assumes that Linguini is the chef, but Linguini says he’s just his waiter making Ego want to know who to thank. After a frantic consultation, Linguini and Colette tell Ego he must wait until the rest of the customers have left. In the end, all is revealed. A changed man, Ego writes a glowing review, declaring the chef at Gusteau’s the greatest in all of France.

In the dénouement, Gusteau’s is closed by the health inspector. Ego loses his job and credibility when the news comes out that he has praised a rat-infested restaurant. However, with Ego as investor and regular patron, Linguini, Colette, and Rémy open a successful new bistro called “La Ratatouille”, which includes a kitchen modified to accommodate Rémy and a separate dining area for rats in its attic. A line of people is shown waiting outside the filled restaurant, under a sign with a rat wearing a toque and wielding a cooking spoon.

Production

Jan Pinkava came up with the concept and directed the film from 2001, creating the original design, sets and characters and core storyline.[3] Lacking confidence[4] in Pinkava’s story development, Pixar management replaced him with Bird in 2005.[5][6][7] Bird was attracted to the film because of the outlandishness of the concept and the conflict that drove it: that kitchens feared rats, yet a rat wanted to work in one.[8] Bird was also delighted that the film could be made a highly physical comedy,[5] with the character of Linguini providing endless fun for the animators.[9] Bird rewrote the story, with a change in emphasis. He killed off Gusteau, gave larger roles to Skinner and Colette,[10] and also changed the appearance of the rats to be less anthropomorphic.[11]

Because Ratatouille is intended to be a romantic, lush vision of Paris, giving it an identity distinct from previous Pixar films,[5] director Brad Bird, producer Brad Lewis and some of the crew spent a week in the city to properly understand its environment, taking a motorcycle tour and eating at five top restaurants.[12] There are also many water-based sequences in the film, one of which is set in the sewers and is more complex than the blue whale scene in Finding Nemo. One scene has Linguini wet after jumping into the Seine to fetch Rémy. A Pixar employee (Shade/Paint Dept Coordinator Kesten Migdal) wearing a chef uniform and apron jumped into Pixar’s swimming pool to see which parts of the suit stuck to his body and which became translucent from water absorption.[13]

Cast

Main characters

• Patton Oswalt as Rémy, a country rat who winds up in Paris, where he fulfills his dream of cooking. Director Brad Bird chose Patton Oswalt to voice Rémy after hearing his food-related comedy routine.[8]

• Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini, a clumsy garbage boy who becomes a famous chef overnight, though Rémy does the actual cooking.

• Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tatou, the only female chef in the kitchen, who eventually becomes Linguini’s girlfriend and Rémy’s only supporter among the original Gusteau kitchen staff.

• Ian Holm as Skinner, the Napoleon-esque, Facel Vega-driving, owner of “Gusteau’s” (after Gusteau’s demise) and the main antagonist of the film. Skinner’s behaviour, diminutive size, and body language are loosely based on Louis de Funès.[24]

• Peter O’Toole as Anton Ego, a feared, powerful food critic whose harsh criticism drove Gusteau to his death. He claims to love food and refuses to swallow any that does not match up to his lofty expectations. Anton Ego’s appearance was modelled after Louis Jouvet.[25]

• Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau, a deceased master chef. He often apppears as a figment of Rémy’s imagination, talking to him and acting much like his conscience. Many reviewers drew upon similarities between Gusteau and the real-life chef Bernard Loiseau, who committed suicide after media speculation that his flagship restaurant La Côte d’Or was going to be downgraded from three Michelin stars to two.[26] La Côte d’Or was one of the restaurants visited by Brad Bird and others in France [12].

• Brian Dennehy as Django, the father of Rémy and Emile. He wants nothing more than for his son to stay with the colony, and has a bias against humans.

• Peter Sohn as Emile, Rémy’s older brother. He is loyal and good-hearted, though unimaginative, and is Rémy’s confidant. He also indiscriminately wolfs down anything that seems remotely edible, much to Rémy’s dismay.

Awards & nominations