Susan Granger’s review of “Ratatouille” (Buena Vista/Disney)
“Ratatouille” is delicious! Who would believe this rat-turned-chef gastronomical caper could capture the culinary heart of the City of Light?
Cultured, educated and blessed with acute sensibilities, Remy (voiced by comedian Patton Oswalt) is a thin blue rat who lives with his rodent relatives in the French countryside. But he’s different. Remy’s taste buds are more cultivated; he prefers haute cuisine to garbage. So when disaster strikes and the family is forced to flee through the sewers, it’s not surprising that Remy winds up in Paris near a restaurant that belonged to a legendary chef, Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), who proclaimed, “Anyone can cook!”
Intrigued and sensually intoxicated, Remy sneaks in and spices up a vat of soup ostensibly cooked by Linguini (Lou Romano), a garbage boy who’s ordered by the sous chef (Ian Holm) to reproduce it as a menu staple. Realizing his ineptitude, Linguini reluctantly teams up with Remy, forming an unlikely partnership (filled with slapstick shtick) that must be kept secret from everyone, including adorably coquettish Colette (Janeane Garofalo), the lone female cook, and a caustic restaurant critic, Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole – at his haughty nastiest).
Conceived and co-directed by Jan Pinkava (“A Bug’s Life”) with screenwriter/director Brad Bird (“The Incredibles”), it’s filled with perfectly paced yet subtle character humor and heart, emerging as another Oscar-tempting Disney/Pixar creation. The meticulously detailed animation is stunning, subtly shifting between the rodent and human perspectives – and the mouth-watering food is temptingly textured.
Historically, Disney has built much of its reputation on romping rodents – beginning with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and rollicking through “The Rescuers” and “Cinderella.” On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ratatouille” (pronounced by Pixar as “rat-a-too-ee”) is a captivating, inventive, soufflŽ-light 10. Family audiences will eat it up!
