Farce food
The latest Pixar outing concerns a French rodent named Remy (Patton Oswald) who develops a unique sensory skill that enables him to appreciate the culinary arts. An unfortunate incident involving Remy’s place of residence forces him and his entire colony to move to the city of Paris, where Remy encounters the restaurant owned by once-renown chef and also Remy’s idol, the late Auguste Gasteau (Brad Garrett). A chance encounter with lowly kitchen help Linguini (Lou Romano) culminates into an unlikely collaboration where Remy “instructs” the zero-cooking-skills Linguini to serve up delicious food and rise up the kitchen ranks, much to the chagrin of chef master Skinner (Ian Holm). Elsewhere, Linguini’s rising popularity and fame catches the attention of notorious food critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), the man responsible for dethroning Gasteau from his position as the greatest chef in France.
It’s tough to write reviews for movies that you really like, which explains why many cinematic milestones were still left untouched in the annals of BigMovieFreak.com. I’m inclined to use corny movie review adjectives like “delightful”, “heartwarming” and “meaningful”, because sometimes you do get movies that actually live up to their marketing taglines. The worse I could say about Ratatouille is that it’s a farce about the kitchen’s number one nemesis, the filthy household rat, being a better cook than any of his human counterparts. Its warmth and lightheartedness is a distinct shift of tone from director Brad Bird’s Oscar-winning and action-packed The Incredibles, which may affect your opinion about it if you’re expecting a The Incredibles redux. Ratatouille is much closer in tone to Bird’s Iron Giant and most of Hayao Miyazaki’s work than the toilet-humour-ridden, condescending CG cartoons of late, which is a good thing if you’re dreading Shark Tale Part 2.
Though when I say “lighthearted”, it’s not that Bird is shying away from darker elements (or in other words, becoming kiasi). Like the speech given by Helen Parr to her two kids about not holding back when dealing against murderous enemies in The Incredibles, Remy’s father Django (Brian Dennehy) reminds his kids about the irresolvable feud between man and rat by showing them the dead rodents that are hung like trophies on the window of a pest exterminator’s shop. It’s not gratuitous, but could be ghastly enough to upset certain kids. On the other hand, bitter realism like this isn’t new to animation; from the deaths of key characters in Bambi and The Lion King to the sporadic use of gore and violence in even some of Miyazaki’s oeuvres. It’s a good storytelling device that makes you more emotionally invested in the characters’ troubles and fates, and one that too many animation makers lack the courage to use.
Ratatouille started off a little slow, but I was completely engaged the moment Remy stepped into Gasteau’s kitchen. The fun is in guessing how this little guy’s going to overcome the overwhelming challenges of being accepted as a chef in the human society, and Brad Bird succeeded in pulling it off in a plausible way, requiring only a little suspension of disbelief. You know this movie’s a winner the moment you start rooting for this little guy, the Little Guy in every sense of the word, and your heart aches at every rejection, misunderstanding and deadly kitchen utensil thrown at him. - BMF
Directed by Brad Bird, co-directed by Jan Pinkava, and screenplay by Brad Bird, Jim Capobianco, Emily Cook, Kathy Greenberg and Jan Pinkava. Voiced by Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Janeane Garofalo, Brad Garrett, John Ratzenberger and Peter O'Toole. |
