Ratatouille [2007] - DVD ( - Dir: Brad Bird)

As good a film as Pixar has ever put out, Ratatouille is a frantic, innovative movie, boasting some of the finest quality animation ever put on the screen.

Ratatouille tells the story of wannabe-chef Remy The Rat, who becomes drawn into the mantra of legendary cook Gusteau, that anyone can cook. The deceased Gusteau's ghostly image appears to Remy, and guides him to his restaurant, whose standards have been slipping since his death. Remy, through the manipulation of a lowly restaurant worker called Linguini, soon starts secretly cooking the food, and this unusual set up proves to be a trove of treasures that Pixar carefully picks through.

Ratatouille's trick is to tie its cutting edge animation techniques to old-school essentials. At times harking back to the frenetic style you'd expect of Chuck Jones, it threads an original narrative through its story, which itself is packed with memorable characters (none more so than Peter O'Toole's superbly-voiced restaurant critic). It perhaps runs a little too long, but it's so well-written and so lavishly entertaining that it's a churlish complaint to have.

For in an era of cynically-produced family movies, Ratatouille is really something special. With an appeal that spreads across generations, and a quality that puts it right up there with Pixar's finest, it's an outstanding piece of cinema, and one set to be enjoyed for many, many years. Unmissable. --Simon Brew

Customer Reviews of Ratatouille [2007]

disturbed trucker

17th August 2008

Mediocre at best
this kept the kids amused for a while, but ultimately was a cookie cutter family movie and once was more than enough for all of us.

Dodster
UK
23rd June 2008

Brilliant
This must be one of the best animated films ever made. The animation is amazing. The story. A rat who wants to be more, and sets out to achieve this through a twist in circumstances, is crazy, but then anything is possible in animation.
The plot draws you in, involves you and holds your attention for the entire length of the film. Brilliant. If you haven't watched this yet, don't hesitate. Recommended for young and not so young alike.
The extras are good too with an animated story on rats through history!

Hugh Garske
Maidenhead, UK
21st June 2008

Another animated classic for the whole family.
Brad Bird weaves his magic again with this charming peasant done good story. The fact that a story about a rat cooking michelin-rated food actually made it to production gives an idea of how good the story and animation had to be. And they're better.

The scene with the food critic tasting the dish is one of the most memorable scenes ever produced.

S Sage
London
9th April 2008

Delicious!
My husband & I saw this at the Cinema (without our children) and loved it! The story of Remy, the rat with a genius for cooking is fantastic. It moves along at a cracking pace using all the creative, high energy, visual effects that you would expect from PIXAR but without losing emotional connection. SPOILER Alert: The morality story of how this lowliest, most vilified of creatures has the talent and finds the spirit to climactically topple the opinion of society's most revered judge, the aptly named food critic Anton Ego (superbly voiced by the one and only Peter O'Toole - who undergoes his own journey of transformation) is wonderfully uplifting. As others have mentioned the sight of a kitchen crawling with rats is so uncomfortable, that it also makes you question your own prejudices, and whether you really believe that `Anyone can cook'. There is a wonderful extra on the DVD where Remy and his brother explain the bad press rats have had and how The Plague was not their fault...!

Then of course there is the sensory experience in the film. A lovely depiction of the sights, sounds and smells of Paris, the wonderful way Remy tries to explain flavour and fusion of flavours to his brother depicted by colour and music and not least, the food preparation itself. You can almost taste the soup and of course the fantastic ratatouille that Remy prepares at the end.

By the way a tip if like us, you have children under 10. They loved the DVD with the English-descriptive setting turned on (initially by accident, but hey!). This narrative fills in many of the visual cues that they would otherwise miss.

Lifted - the failed alien abduction was hilarious and is also included on the DVD along with loads of other fascinating extras.

Entertaining, taste-bud and thought-provoking stuff, top marks.

one-eyed Jack
England
28th March 2008

Essential for all the family!
Yes, this one's up there with the best of them. It occasionally gets a bit 'talky' for the likes of young children but that's partly because there's an intelligent script that will be appreciated by the parents watching by their sides. The quality of the animation is bang up-to-date and at times quite spell-binding. Impressive in every way, for technical detail, for authenticity of what life is like in a busy Parisienne kitchen, for great one-liners and for overall family entertainment. An absolute must-have.

And the first thing I wanted to do after seeing it was to make some ratatouille myself - it looks delicious!

At the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008, RATATOUILLE won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film. So you see - it's pretty good!