Ratatouille (film)

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Ratatouille
US Poster
Directed by	Brad Bird Jan Pinkava (Credited as co-director)
Produced by	Darla K. Anderson John Lasseter Brad Lewis
Written by	Brad Bird Story: Jan Pinkava Jim Capobianco Brad Bird Emily Cook Kathy Greenberg
Starring	Patton Oswalt Lou Romano Peter Sohn Brad Garrett Janeane Garofalo Ian Holm Brian Dennehy Peter O'Toole
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Editing by	Darren T. Holmes
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	RUS June 28, 2007 NAJune 29, 2007 FRA August 1, 2007 AUS PHI August 28, 2007 September 6, 2007 UK October 12, 2007
Running time	111 min
Language	English
Budget	US$150 million[1]
Gross revenue	Worldwide: US$618,034,110
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Ratatouille (pronounced /ˌrætəˈtuːiː/, /-ˈtwiː/; French: /ʁatatuj/^[2]) is a 2007 animated feature film produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It tells the story of Rémy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat living in Paris who wants to be a chef. The film was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005, and it was released on June 29, 2007 in the United States, to both critical acclaim and box office success.

Plot

Rémy is a rat, who lives in the attic of a French country home with his brother, Émile, and his father, Django, who is the leader of a rat colony. Inspired by France's recently deceased top chef, Auguste Gusteau, Rémy does his best to live the life of a gourmet. Not appreciating his talents, his clan puts him to work sniffing for rat poison in their food. The rats flee the house when the resident, an old woman, discovers the colony. Rémy is separated from the others and floats through the storm sewers to Paris on a cookbook written by Gusteau, following the chef's image to his namesake restaurant, now run by former sous-chef Skinner. As Rémy looks into the kitchen from a skylight, a young man with no culinary talent, Alfredo Linguini, arrives with a letter of introduction from his recently deceased mother, and is hired to do janitorial duties. While cleaning, Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to cover up his mistake by adding nearby ingredients. Horrified, Rémy drops into the kitchen and attempts to fix the ruined soup rather than trying to escape. Linguini catches Rémy in the act, just as Skinner catches Linguini. In the confusion some of the soup has been served. To everyone's surprise, the soup is a success.

Rémy discovers that he can control Linguini's movements by pulling on his hair.

The kitchen's sole female cook, Colette, convinces Skinner not to fire Linguini, and Skinner agrees, provided Linguini can recreate the soup. Just as Skinner makes his decision, he sees Rémy trying to escape out the window and pandemonium breaks out in the kitchen. Linguini traps Rémy in a jar and Skinner orders Linguini to take Rémy away and dispose of him. Linguini cannot bring himself to kill Rémy, and begins to talk to him. As he tells Rémy about his problems, he notices that Rémy seems to understand him and responds with a series of nods and other gestures. The unlikely pair begin an alliance by which Rémy (now referred to by Linguini as "Little Chef") secretly controls Linguini's cooking in return for his protection. The two perfect a marionette-like arrangement by which Rémy tugs at Linguini's hair to direct his movements while hidden under Linguini's toque blanche. Skinner, suspicious of Linguini's success in recreating the soup, plies Linguini with vintage Château Latour in an unsuccessful attempt to discover the secret of his unexpected talents and of his knowledge of rats. The next morning, hung over and disheveled, Linguini nearly confides his secret to Colette. Desperately trying to stop Linguini, Rémy pulls his hair, making him fall on Colette and leading the two to kiss. They begin dating, leaving Rémy to feel abandoned. Meanwhile, Skinner learns from the letter of introduction that, unknown to everyone but his mother, Linguini is in fact Gusteau's son and stands to inherit the restaurant and imperil Skinner's ambition to exploit Gusteau's image to market prepared frozen foods. One night, Rémy and his colony are reunited. At the ensuing party, he surprises his father by saying that he is not going to stay with the colony, but instead continue to live near the humans. In response, Django shows Rémy the storefront of a rodent control business, which is filled with dead rats in traps. Rémy, horrified, does not believe that this is all the future can be, and leaves. While scrounging food Rémy discovers Gusteau's will, which, after a chase by Skinner, he presents to Linguini. Linguini now owns the restaurant, fires Skinner, and becomes a rising star in the culinary world. Later, Rémy and Linguini have a falling out, with Linguini deciding he no longer needs Rémy's help. Rémy retaliates by leading a kitchen raid for his rat colony. Linguini attempts to apologize to Rémy, only to discover and expel his colony. Rémy feels guilty about hurting his friend, and refuses to join them in resuming the raid. Things come to a head the night of a planned review by food critic Anton Ego, whose contemptuous earlier review of Gusteau's cooking reduced his five-star restaurant to four stars and eventually led to Gusteau's untimely death (which ended up dropping his restaurant's rating down to three stars). When asked what he would like for the evening, Ego challenges the staff to prepare whatever they dare serve him. Linguini, unable to cook without the rat's guidance, admits his ruse to the staff as Rémy has returned to help Linguini impress Ego, leading them all to walk out. Colette returns after thinking of Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook!" Django, inspired by his son's courage in continuing his dream to cook, returns with the entire rat colony to cook under Rémy's direction, while Linguini, discovering his true talent, waits tables at lightning speed on roller skates. Rémy decides to prepare ratatouille, a traditional dish that would not usually be considered haute cuisine, but does it so well that one bite of it leads Ego to relive childhood memories of his mother. Ego asks to meet the chef and after a frantic consultation with Colette, Linguini and Colette insist he must wait until the rest of the diners have left. At the end of the service, Rémy and the rats are revealed. A changed man, Ego writes a glowing review, declaring that the chef at Gusteau's is the greatest chef in all of France. In the dénouement Gusteau's is closed by a health inspector, who finds the rats after being tipped off by Skinner. Ego loses his credibility and job when the public discovers he has praised a rat-infested restaurant. Everything is for the best, however; with Ego as investor and regular patron, Linguini, Colette, and Rémy open a successful new bistro called "La Ratatouille," which includes a kitchen and dining facilities for both rats and humans.

Production

Jan Pinkava came up with the concept and directed the film from 2001, creating the original design, sets and characters and core storyline.^[3] Pixar management replaced him with Bird in 2005.^[4][5] Bird was attracted to the film because of the outlandishness of the concept and the conflict that drove it: that kitchens feared rats, yet a rat wanted to work in one.^[6] Bird was also delighted that the film could be made a highly physical comedy,^[4] with the character of Linguini providing endless fun for the animators.^[7] Bird rewrote the story, with a change in emphasis. He killed off Gusteau, gave larger roles to Skinner and Colette,^[8] and also changed the appearance of the rats to be less anthropomorphic.^[9] Because Ratatouille is intended to be a romantic, lush vision of Paris, giving it an identity distinct from previous Pixar films,^[4] director Brad Bird, producer Brad Lewis and some of the crew spent a week in the city to properly understand its environment, taking a motorcycle tour and eating at five top restaurants.^[10] There are also many water-based sequences in the film, one of which is set in the sewers and is more complex than the blue whale scene in Finding Nemo. One scene has Linguini wet after jumping into the Seine to fetch Rémy. A Pixar employee (Shade/Paint Dept Coordinator Kesten Migdal) wearing a chef uniform and apron jumped into Pixar's swimming pool to see which parts of the suit stuck to his body and which became translucent from water absorption.^[11]

Food design

A challenge for the filmmakers was creating computer-generated food animations that would appear delicious. Gourmet chefs in both the US and France were consulted,^[9] and animators attended cooking classes at San Francisco-area culinary schools,^[12] to understand the workings of a commercial kitchen. Sets/Layout Dept Manager Michael Warch, a culinary-academy trained professional chef prior to working at Pixar, helped teach and consult animators as they worked. He also prepared dishes used by the Art, Shade/Paint, Effects and Sets Modeling Departments.^[13][14] Celebrity chef Thomas Keller allowed producer Brad Lewis to intern in his French Laundry kitchen. For the film's climax, Keller designed a fancy, layered version of the title dish for the rat characters to cook, which he called "confit byaldi" in honor of the original Turkish name.^[12] The same sub-surface light scattering technique that was used on skin in The Incredibles was used on fruits and vegetables,^[15] while new programs gave an organic texture and movement to the food.^[16] Completing the illusion were music, dialogue, and abstract imagery representing the characters' mental sensations while appreciating food. The visual flavor metaphors were created by animator Michel Gagné inspired by the work of Oscar Fischinger and Norman McLaren.^[17] To create a realistic compost pile, the Art Department photographed fifteen different kinds of produce, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli, and lettuce, in the process of rotting.^[18]

Character design

According to Pixar designer Jason Deamer "Most of the characters were designed while Jan [Pinkava] was still directing," "He has a real eye for sculpture."^[19] For example, according to Pinkava, the critic Anton Ego was designed to resemble a vulture.^[20] Rat expert Debbie Ducommun (a.k.a. the "Rat Lady") was consulted on rat habits and characteristics.^[21] A vivarium containing pet rats sat in a hallway for more than a year so animators could study the movement of the animals' noses, ears, paws, and tails as they ran.^[15] The cast members strove to make their French accents authentic yet understandable. John Ratzenberger notes that he often segued into an Italian accent.^[10]

Cast

Main characters

• Patton Oswalt as Rémy, a country rat who winds up in Paris where he abandons his poison-checking occupation to fulfill his lifelong dream of cooking in a formerly great French restaurant. Director Brad Bird chose Patton Oswalt to voice Rémy after hearing his food-related comedy routine.^[6]
• Ian Holm as Skinner, the Napoleon-esque, Facel Vega driving, owner of "Gusteau's" (after Gusteau's demise) and the main antagonist of the film. He sells out Gusteau's image to market TV dinners and tries to undermine Linguini's abnormal success. Skinner's behaviour, diminutive size, and body language are loosely based on Louis de Funès.^[22]
• Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini, a timid and clumsy garbage boy who becomes a famous chef when Rémy takes the helm of his arm control nerve. However, he lets the success go to his head and strikes up a relationship with Colette (despite her intially curt behavior towards him) after an unexpected kiss caused by Rémy.
• Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a feared and loathed food critic whose harsh criticism drove Gusteau to depression and eventually death. He claims to love food and refuses to swallow any that does not match up to his lofty expectations. Anton Ego's appearance was modelled after Louis Jouvet.^[23]
• Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau, a deceased chef who inhabits Rémy's mind as a figment of the latter's imagination and tells him what to do in his time of need, as well as acting as a conscience against Rémy's initial inclination to steal food. Many reviewers drew upon similarities between Gusteau and the real-life chef Bernard Loiseau, who committed suicide after media speculation that his flagship restaurant was going to be downgraded from 3 Michelin stars to 2.^[24] Loiseau's restaurant La Côte d'Or was one of the restaurants visited when Brad Bird and others visited France ^[10].
• Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tatou, the only female chef in the kitchen. Linguini is charged to her care after claiming to have made a delicious soup, to be trained under her mentorship. She initially displays a curt and almost hostile front to him, due to her reluctance to jeopardize her career in the kitchen should Linguini fail as a chef under her. However, after an unexpected kiss caused by Rémy, she and Linguini start dating, leaving Rémy to feel left out.
• Brian Dennehy as Django, the father of Rémy and Emile. He wants nothing more than for his son to be just like the rest of the colony, and has a bias against humans. He leads Rémy to a store selling mousetraps to persuade him to leave the human world and rejoin the colony.
• Peter Sohn as Emile, a brother of Rémy's. He is loyal and good-hearted, though unimaginative, and is Rémy's confidante. He also indiscriminately wolfs down anything that seems remotely edible, much to Rémy's chagrin.

Other characters

• Will Arnett as Horst
• James Remar as Larousse
• John Ratzenberger as Mustafa
• Teddy Newton as Talon Labarthe
• Brad Bird as Ambrister Minion
• Thomas Keller as Dining patron^[12]

"Ratatouille" is the first full-length Pixar film without Joe Ranft following his death in August 2005.

Release

Ratatouille's world premiere was on June 22, 2007 at Los Angeles' Kodak Theater. ^[25] The commercial release was one week later, with the Academy Award nominated short film Lifted preceding Ratatouille in theaters.^[26]

Marketing

The trailer for Ratatouille debuted with the release of its immediate predecessor, Cars. It depicts an original scene where Rémy is caught on the cheese cart in the restaurant's dining area sampling the cheese and barely escaping the establishment, intercut with separate scenes of the rat explaining why he is taking such risks. Similar to most of Pixar's teaser trailers, the scene was not present in the final film release. A second trailer was released on March 23 2007.^[27] The Ratatouille Big Cheese Tour began on May 11 2007, with cooking demonstrations and a film preview.^[28] Voice actor Lou Romano attended the San Francisco leg of the tour for autograph signings.^[29]

The front label of the planned Ratatouille wine to have been promoted by Disney, Pixar, and Costco, and subsequently pulled for its use of a cartoon character.

Disney and Pixar were working to bring a French-produced Ratatouille-branded wine to Costco stores in August 2007, but abandoned plans because of complaints from the California Wine Institute, citing standards in labeling that restrict the use of cartoon characters to avoid attracting under-age drinkers.^[30] In the United Kingdom, in place of releasing a theatrical trailer, a theatrical commercial featuring Rémy and Émile was released in cinemas prior to its release to discourage obtaining pirated films.^[31] Also in the United Kingdom, the main characters were used for a theatrical commercial for the Nissan Note, with Rémy and Émile watching an original commercial for it made for the "Surprisingly Spacious" ad campaign and also parodying it respectively.^[32] Disney/Pixar were concerned that audiences, particularly children, would not be familiar with the word "ratatouille" and its pronunciation. The title was therefore also spelt phonetically within trailers and on posters.^[33][34]

Blu-ray Disc & DVD release

Ratatouille was released on high-definition Blu-ray Disc and standard DVD in North America on November 6, 2007.^[35] One of the special features on the disc is a new animated short film featuring Rémy and Emile entitled Your Friend the Rat, in which the two rats attempt to entreat the (human) viewer to welcome rats as their friends, demonstrating the benefits and misconceptions of rats towards humanity through several historical examples. The eleven minute short uses 3D animation, 2D animation, live action and even stop motion animation, a first for Pixar.^[36] Also included among the special features are Lifted, deleted scenes, a featurette featuring Brad Bird discussing filmmaking and Chef Thomas Keller discussing culinary creativity entitled "Fine Food and Film", and four easter eggs.

Reception

Box office

In its domestic opening weekend, Ratatouille opened in 3,940 theaters and debuted at #1 with $47 million,^[37] the lowest Pixar opening since A Bug's Life. However, in France, the location in which the film takes place, the film broke the record for the biggest debut for an animated film.^[38] In the UK, the film debuted at #1 with sales over £4million.^[39] As of December 2, 2007 the film has grossed $206,325,587 in North America and a total of $608,948,588 worldwide, making it the 3rd highest grossing Pixar film of all time just behind Finding Nemo and The Incredibles .^[40]

Critical reaction

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Critical reaction to the film was almost unanimously positive. On film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Ratatouille has a 97% rating from 195 reviews,^[41] while it has a Metacritic score of 96% based on 39 reviews, the sixth highest score of all on the website as of December 2007.^[42]

Awards & Nominations

References

External links

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Ratatouille

• Official site
• Ratatouille at the Internet Movie Database
• Ratatouille at Rotten Tomatoes
• Ratatouille at Metacritic
• Ratatouille at Box Office Mojo