Ratatouille is delicious! (The movie, not the French cooking phrase meaning a grilled vegetable platter).
And in a cunning twist, the movie’s culinary creativity is about rats! Its great fun for the whole family, and who knew rats could be so entertaining?
This is one of the best Disney movies to come along in ages, thanks to great animation, a plethora of culinary secrets (as in Anyone Can Cook!), cute characters, and even though the plot is somewhat overdone, happily ever after never tasted so good.
The beginning of the movie takes us into Remy’s world in the charming French countryside. Remy (Patton Oswalt) is a rat, yes, but he has a talent for smelling. And he wants to be a cook. He, against his father’s wishes, continues to go into the world of humans to find the secrets of being a great chef.
His muse in this passionate calling is a five star restaurant chef (well, four star chef since he was demoted a star by a vicious food critic) that also has a TV show. When the old lady whose house the colony of rats inhabit falls asleep in her chair watching her daily cooking show, Remy sneaks into her kitchen and watches it with her.
Of course this arrangement cannot be kept infinitely and Remy is caught and the old lady, using a shot gun and blasting up her house, tries to rid herself of the rat colony. Remy risks life and limb to rescue his prized possession - the cookbook entitled ‘Anyone Can Cook’! The book becomes his life raft as he seeks to avoid the old lady’s awesome shooting talents.
And so begins the adventure of a rat with a passion to be chef ending up…where else? In Paris, city of love, but more importantly, a city of good, no, GREAT food. Remy finds himself separated from the rest of the rat colony (which also escaped unscathed), but he also finds that his five star chef (um, four star chef, now dead), is his cooking muse, talks to him as a figment of his imagination (some great humor in their conversations!).
In all the splendor of Paris, he finds that wondrous five star (um, four star) restaurant through modern means…the bill board.
From there, the fun picks up. Remy manages to save a pot of soup by sneaking spices and other ingredients into it, and the restaurant once again begins to enjoy success since the death of its famous owner and chef.
But Linguini (Lou Romano), an employee of the restaurant (think shaggy haired, stuttering bus boy) is thought to have made the soup. With Remy’s help, Linguini recreates the soup and Remy becomes Linguini’s muse, living in his chef’s hat and tugging on his hair to control his cooking.
In all of its predictability, there is a plot by the short, nasty, snaggled toothed head chef to sell out the restaurant. Linguini even manages to find a little love (there is a love/cooking story between the restaurant’s girl chef and Linguini).
Like the film, the DVD is a treat thanks to its special features. It is loaded with goodies including an all-new animated short called "Remy & Emile In: Your Friend The Rat"; an animated short film called “Lifted;” deleted scenes; and the featurette "Fine Food & Film" – where we get a behind-the-scenes look with director Brad Bird and acclaimed Chef Thomas Keller.
The cooking aspect is a great hook, and kids will also learn a little about Paris in the bargain. It’s a fun movie, wrapped in culinary culture, and it just might get a few kids to eat some grilled vegetables!
Ratatouille is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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