Ratatouille

Ratatouille follows the story of Remy, a rat who refuses to eat the same old rubbish his fellow rodents feast on daily. His sophisticated pallet and culinary skills catch the attention of Linguini, a chef starting out at the illustrious Gusteau's. Together, they work to change the restaurant from corporate fast-food sellout to fine French cuisine, in order to impress renown critic Ego.

Its ironic that a woman such as me, who cooks perhaps once a week, should be so fond of a little animated rodent, cheffing it up big style in Paris. And yet, as I open my third tin of pre-made ravioli this week, I am reminded of the core mantra 'Anyone can cook'

Ratatouille is delicious! In this witty fairy-tale of a French rodent with a great passion for cooking, the chefs at Pixar have blended together the right mix of ingredients, wonderfully scripted characters, visual and verbal wit and genius slapstick, to deliver a warm and irresistible creation that will no doubt appeal to any audience.

The movie revolves around Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat living in the suburbs of Paris. This rat, however, is far from ordinary. He realises his special talent is for smelling ingredients in food, leading him to believe that his true calling is in cooking. Through a dramatic turn of events, Remy is separated from his family and ends up at Gusteau’s restaurant where he befriends Linguini (Luo Romano), a relative of Gusteau (Brad Garrett) who cultivates aspirations of becoming a chef but actually works as the floor scrubber. Suprisingly the partnership between the two produces scrumptious treats, ones that lead Gusteau’s to once again light sparks in the press. The question is how long will the secret chef go unnoticed?

The film is practically flawless. The aspect only the harshest of critics would pick up on is the character and voice of Linguini, who perhaps is just not as fantastic as the rest. Lou Romano doesn’t quite seem to hit the right note and the character itself is a tad too whiny, even for someone in as bad a position as him. However, the rest of the cast do more than a great job, particularly Patton Oswalt who relies mainly on ear twitching and eyebrow raising, but when he does talk, you listen. Ian Holm, the small, evil chef is brilliant and Peter O’Toole, who seems to relish being the bad guy, brings an edge to another great Pixar villain.

Overall, you can't ask for a better film than Ratatouille, a new classic from Disney/Pixar that is filled with humour, amazing animation, and, most importantly, lots of heart. You don't have to be a food connoisseur to appreciate Ratatouille. Even if you have never had ratatouille, this movie will go down smooth and easy, filling you up with satisfaction and delight!