It is rare to find movies based solely on culinary display, yet Pixar just so happens to give everyone’s taste buds a little tingle. Ratatouille, a beautifully executed animated movie released back in 2007, deals with the intricately woven themes of love, friendship, teamwork and of course, food! The plot revolves around a rat named Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt), who dreams of becoming a renowned chef, despite his family’s wishes and the odds of lurking into a very rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the city of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated underneath a restaurant, made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau, whose reputation has been seeping through the cracks, ever since the death of its original proprietor. Remy aims on making it big, but the idea of a rat working in a kitchen, cooking for humans, along with the health officers creeping in night and day, though daunting, only serves to cork up his toothy, confident smile. But hope is soon revived, when Remy witnesses the arrival of Linguini (voice of Lou Romano), a young boy who has come to the restaurant looking for a job.
Linguini is hired as a janitor, but Remy realizes that he can use Linguini to achieve his dream, and after a very awkward meet-and-greet session, the two team up; with Linguini supplying the arms and Remy supplying the talent. It’s a treat to see how Remy hides under Linguini’s toque blanche and puppeteers him into creating dishes that bring Gusteau back to its days of glory. The dishes are a hit, the customers love what’s offered, but Skinner (voice of Ian Holm) suspects that something is fishy. He plays the role of Gusteau’s owner and having a secret reason to get rid of Linguini, does everything in his power to expose the young chef as a fraud. While romance sparks up between Linguini and Colette (voice of Janeane Garofalo), making Remy question his friendship with the former, the restaurant keeps getting famous, attracting France’s biggest food critic, Anton Ego (voice of Peter O Toole) who aims to review Gusteau again.
Why is Ego’s review so important? What happens to Remy and Linguini? Why is Skinner such a greasy little croquembouche? Watch and find out!
Covering many bases without feeling overstuffed, the movie has just the right amount of ingredients to make it perfect for children and adults alike. From Remy’s struggle with identity crisis and an allegedly unachievable ambition, to Linguini’s evolution from an unassertive, doubtful boy to a confident, poised youth, the idea of strong family ties and aiming high to achieve your goals, the movie provides that emotional punch complete with a picturesque Parisian skyline, the dark, ominous, underground sewers and the accordions and violins that add to the essence of France. Rated an 8.0 by IMDB, and positive reviews written by the likes of The New York Times, The Globe and Mail and The Wall Street Journal, this feel-good movie demands viewers to grab all the food they can and spend a breezy evening wandering Paris through Remy’s eyes.
Contributed by Mustafa Naveed Malik, a student of Marketing and an insatiable pizza lover. He is a prolific writer and regularly updates his pieces on his facebook page, Brewed at 5AM .
