Ratatouille, the feast of 2007

Django and Emile, eating foods taken from garbage.

For me, Ratatouille is easily the best movie. This is Brad Bird’s best yet. Its plot is very simple, yet brilliant when it’s mixed up with the idea of a rat who got what it takes to be the best chef. I also fall in love with the animation. It’s fantastic. The objects texture, the drawings, the furs. Not to mention, the best angles and composition yet in an animation movie. It’s just so colorful, detailed and alive. I was like watching moving paintings, which is so full of art sense. Even you may be overwhelmed by just watching how the rat’s heart beats.

The story is one of the most original scripts. It’s very solid with humor that’s not pushed over the limit. It’s classic in many other ways. The character development is also one of the best in Pixar’s. The director once again succeeds to build characters that are gray, not the typical black or white characters as seen on many other children movies. And I’m personally in love with Remy! Remy is talk-active, smart, enthusiastic, passionate, perfectionist, but also a bit cocky, pushy, crafty.

Remy’s father, Django is against the idea of getting too close to humans. From his point of view, humans are dangerous. But Remy thinks the other way. Humans are interesting. “They create,” said Remy. Having the differences in opinions, Remy often has fights with his father. I still remember how Django warned Remy of how dangerous the human world is for rats.

Django: This is the way things are. You can’t change nature.
Remy: Change is nature, Dad. The part that we can influence. And it starts when we decide.

(This is the part when Remy turns to leave Django)

Django: Where are you going?
Remy: With luck, forward.

Remy’s so rich and natural in his character. For me, he’s also one of the best Disney’s character because of his heroic thing. There aren’t many Pixar’s movies who have the identical ideation as other previous Disney’s character, but Remy has it. From time to time, Disney’s characters always tend to be different and be something or someone that stands out in the crowd, and against all odds. And that idea of being different is brilliantly drawn in Remy, that I don’t see also being drawn that brilliantly in any other Pixar’s character (except maybe WALL-E).

Remy's watching Gusteau in TV, while holding a small jar of saffron. I love this frame so much cause it shows perfectly how much passion Remy has to create new things. It inspires me to do the best with my talents.

I also love Emile. He’s with his tummy is so cute. And speaking about cuteness, the rest of the rats are also very cute, with their tiny bright sparkling eyes. Yes, as I said, if you speak about the animation; the camera angle, the composition, the artworks of the movie are the best ones amongst all Pixar’s movies. It’s just so artistic and delightful.

The quality of the animation is well accompanied with the warming music from The Incredible and Up’s Michael Giacchino. Even besides, the sound editing is very good. All the characters seem to fit the voices. I love how Patton Oswalt voices Remy. Just perfect. Or how Ian Holm voices Skinner. Fantastic.

(The parts below contain spoilers)
But above all the praises, what I like most from the movie is the second half part of the movie which I think, excels in many ways. You are first offered the feel of happiness when Linguini officially owned the restaurant and fired Skinner. Then all of a sudden, there are lots of conflicts like when Remy couldn’t accept the fact that Linguini started to deny his capability, over Colette, Linguini’s girlfriend. It continued as when Remy brought the whole colony to steal foods, that made Linguini really disappointed and said harsh words to him and kicked him away out of the kitchen.

Remy and Linguini figuring out what way they can work together nicely making dishes.

All of the desperation continued when all the gourmet employees quitted their job when they think that Linguini was out of his mind for trusting a rat, and even Colette walked away from him. It’s all in the night when it was the most important night for them and Gusteau’s. Gladly, Colette is an important character so she’s brought back to the whole ending scenes, along with the movie essensial slogan “anyone can cook” which she had believed from the very beginning.

And after all the desperations, out of nowhere, Django gently spoke to Remy in a very fatherly way. And boom! This is the part I’m talking about. It’s when the rats colony get into the kitchen and help to cook. Wow! The feeling I got when watching this part is just overwhelming. Now I can see why they call themselves “a family” and am just so excited to see Remy walked around the kitchen and tasted all the sauces, the cookings and said words such as, “good, too many salt, good”. It’s just so entertaining and at the same time, inspiring. That part is also so hilariously funny, if not the funniest part of the movie. Like when the health inspector got tied up by the rats. LOL.

Linguini and Collette start getting into each other. This is the point where Remy starts to feel he's left behind.

And speaking about this part, it’s concluded with the best ending yet, when Remy cooks Ego ratatouille and afterwards, Ego makes a review about it. The review is really breath-taking.. It speaks about the morality of a critic itself which I think is really genius. How can you criticize a movie that’s concluded with something speaking about the work of a critic itself?

In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends.

Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: “Anyone can cook.” But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau’s, who is, in this critic’s opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau’s soon, hungry for more.

Those lines from Anton Ego are amazing. Peter O’toole just speaks it right, in a perfect manner. Spoken along with the movie’s main theme which is so melodious and romantic, with the sound of accordion and strings, the scene really touched me in a way I could never imagine. I cried (and heavily) when it came to this part. And after watching it 27 times, I still cry when I see this beautiful scene.

Have you ever thought of its meaning? It’s very deep and has a lot of love message, of how you appreciate others, no matter where they come from, or what they are. Spoken wise, a great artist can come from anywhere.

And the fact that the ending has something really related to its own title (Ratatouille) is just superb because not so many movie can save its very own title from the beginning of the story ’till the end, yet make it the bomb for the ending. Like wise saying, save the best for last.

In the end, it leaves us with spirits that “anyone can cook” (but only the fearless can be great!). The spirit of how “a great artist can come from anywhere”. And also some cute memorable moments and an originality that easily mark it the best movie ever made. At least, from my point of view and all the Oscar judges that honored the movie in 2007 with the highest title an animation movie can ever achieve.

In the end, Ratatouille always leaves you with lots of warm feelings, and also with superb 2D animation of the credit title. The whole movie is so artistic, romantic and beautiful in such an elegant simplicity.

It has been two years since then, and I don’t think I will meet another one that can capture my heart like Ratatouille did, and does. And hopefully, will always. (mb)

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