My Movie Review on Ratatouille · 6:28am Dec 1st, 2021

Greetings and salutations, my friends.

This is your top-of-the-line film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.

Today, for the 8th and final installment of this year's "Thanksgiving Treat", I'm gonna give you guys my take of Disney-Pixar's "Ratatouille".

Here's the rundown of it:

Remy is a young rat with an exceptionally gifted sense of smell. He deeply yearns to be a cook like a famous French human chef named Auguste Gusteau, yet he finds himself constantly being put down simply because he's a rat. After getting separated from his colony, he finds himself in Paris. On top of that, he's also right on the doorstep of Gusteau's restaurant.

When he accidentally ends up in the kitchen, Remy decides to secretly try his hand at improving the restaurant's soup. That is, until he gets caught by Alfredo Linguini, who is a bumbling yet very kindhearted garbage boy who literally can't cook. Unwittingly, Linguini is believed to be the one who cooked the soup, and thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response the soup received he's asked to make it again.

With his job on the line, Linguini turns to Remy for assistance in cooking. And with Linguini's help, Remy can finally have his chance to be a real chef.

Can the two of them pull off their secret collaboration? Or not?

I know that this summary pretty much gave away what this movie is about, and I'm sorry if I revealed too much. But, it was the best I can do. My only hope is that it doesn't contain too many spoilers.

I'm gonna be honest with you guys, this movie was another little something that I've been wanting to review for years but often put off due to other commitments. I particularly had it in mind to analyze for the Thanksgiving season because of it revolving around food and cooking, along with it being another Pixar film that I grew up with since childhood. As you can see, this year I decided to no longer put off making my review of this movie.

The interesting thing about "Ratatouille" is that it generated my interest in cooking, and now that I think about it...I believe it was a particular influence in getting me to learn how to make food for myself outside of just sandwiches.

The one thing I will admit is that, in preparation for reviewing it, I had to see the movie two times in a row so that I could get my brain working. For some reason, I was having difficulty doing so the first time.

Now that I've seen the film again...I can say with complete honesty that "Ratatouille" is truly a gem of a Pixar movie. One of the most unique members of their filmography too.

For instance, the direction and screenplay by Brad Bird, and the story by him, Jan Pinkava, and Jim Capobianco, were awesome!

Considering the fact that Pinkava was the one who originated the concept, I think he definitely came up with a great idea for a movie. Brad Bird certainly wasn't afraid of changing it up a bit to make the film something of his own, but it's nice that he was wanting to be faithful to Pinkava's vision too.

As the director and screenwriter, Bird truly knew how to cook up something enjoyable with this movie. Using Pinkava's vision as a blueprint, he incorporated a sense of fun and intrigue that was entirely his own. The humor throughout this movie was hilarious to watch, especially the physical comedy used with Linguini; there was an emotional resonance and heart that helped the movie be life-giving; and the story itself is not only interesting but carries a complexity that makes it far from what anyone would expect. The film had great morals about following one's passions and dreams, of course. But, it also teaches that we shouldn't stop being ourselves in the process.

The animation was astonishing, if I may add.

I don't remember if I often commented on the character animation of a film, but I believe "Ratatouille" showcased some of the best I ever watched. Any time that Linguini was on the screen, I could tell that the animators were having a field day working with him. The rat characters were wonderfully well-done too, because there was a naturalism behind how they looked and moved that made them actually feel like real rats. The animators did a wonderful job helping the emotions and movements of the characters match the vocal performances too. Plus, the backgrounds and settings were undeniably gorgeous to look at, and the textures of everything in the movie were mindblowingly authentic.

The music by Michael Giacchino was magnificent as well.

As with every movie I reviewed that Giacchino composed for, I loved how emotionally-invested, passionate, and committed he was in working on "Ratatouille". What astounded me the most about his score was that it also carried a sense of something authentically French, like the melodies were done by a composer who was actually born in France. In addition to this, "Le Pestin" was one of the most beautiful songs I ever heard, and Camille's singing was enchanting with a capital 'E'.

Finally, the vocal performances, characters, and character development were fantastic.

When it comes to which performers and characters stood out to me the most, it's admittedly hard to say. All of the cast members sounded like they were giving their all and having fun playing their parts, and each of the characters had a distinctive personality and development that helped them standout. If I had to pick what my favorite vocal performances were, though, it'd be Patton Oswalt as Remy, Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini, Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tattoo, Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau, Ian Holm as Jonah Robert Skinner, and Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego. The aforementioned characters were also the ones that I believe had the greatest developments in the film.

On the subject of Patton Oswalt...in my opinion, his work as Remy is the best of his career. He helped Remy be instantly three-dimensional inside-and-out with his voice alone, his comedic-timings were hysterical, and the way he threw himself into the part made me think he did way more than simply provide Remy's voice. Remy himself was a lovable and relatable protagonist that I enjoyed hanging with.

Also, I'd like to confess something regarding Anton Ego. As a person who's been making reviews for years now, I can't help but relate to Ego in many ways. Even see something of myself in him. He and I don't have the same personality, but as reviewers...we both crave for the very best in something, and we're certainly not afraid of sharing our honest opinions on what we review. If we like something, we offer our praise and commendation towards it. If we don't like something, though...well, we pretty much make our distaste of it known. And believe me, despite most of my past reviews being overwhelmingly positive, there were times where I'd come across a movie or show that'd make me angry instead of joyful.

In conclusion, "Ratatouille" is without a doubt a delicious treat cooked up by Pixar. It has all the qualifications to make it worthwhile, and it's one of the many animated films that I believe will undoubtedly stick with people for eternity. It's a great showcase of Brad Bird's filmmaking talents too, and it reminded me that I believe him to be one of Pixar and Disney's most valuable contributors.

So, I rate "Ratatouille" five out of five stars.