Ratatouille

 

3 Stars – Wholesome

 

 

What happens in your life when no one around you believes in you?  How do you feel when you know you are born with a gift, or talent, and your immediate family laughs at you as a dreamer?  Such is the story of Remy the rat in the very creative new film, “Ratatouille,” by Disney Pictures and Pixar Entertainment.

 

Remy (voice by Patton Oswalt) lives under a home in the French countryside along with his father, brothers, and hundreds of cousins.  While the entire clan scavenges daily for scraps of food, Remy possesses a remarkably well trained sense of smell that drives him to search for the best food he can find.  Each day he marvels at the spices he tastes, and looks beyond the mundane for gourmet cuisine.  Remy’s father is impressed with his son’s ability, but sees his talent in a parochial way and only wants to use him to determine if there is any rat poison on the garbage that they consume.

 

Remy’s life is changed when he observes a television show in the house above his rat’s nest featuring the “great Gusteau,” the master chef of French television fame.  Gusteau becomes Remy’s hero, bringing an almost spiritual presence to the food he prepares.  Here is someone who understands food in the same way that excites Remy.  Unfortunately, just as Remy discovers Gusteau and his famous restaurant in Paris, the famous chef dies of a heart attack.

 

Remy’s life is not an easy one, since rats in France are dreaded and hated like rats everywhere.  When his family is scattered after the woman in the home above their rat’s nest tries to kill them all, Remy finds himself thrust through the sewers of Paris.  Then, after being separated from his family, Remy finds that a twist of fate delivers him to the sewer underneath Gusteau’s famous restaurant.  How could something so traumatizing turn out to have an unseen benefit?  Unfortunately, as Remy is about to find out, the restaurant has fallen prey to chefs of lesser quality than the great Gusteau, and the reputation and quality are about to end up in the sewer along with the rats.

 

Without giving the story away, Remy becomes an unlikely hero to Gusteau’s famous restaurant.  The restaurant’s garbage boy, the least likely person in the kitchen to have any prestige or respect, befriends Remy.  Their friendship allows provides an opportunity for a partnership, with Skinner, the garbage boy, providing the hands and leg’s, and Remy giving him direction from under Skinner’s chef’s hat.  Through stories of jealousy, intrigue, moral challenges, comedy, and love, “Ratatouille” reveals what it takes to overcome a lack of self esteem and to become the person you were meant to be.

 

“Ratatouille” is a film filled with life’s lessons.  How do you deal with family members who don’t see the potential in you?  How do you handle people who are emotionally close to you who want you to bend the law for their benefit?  Do you need to become something bigger than you are, or can you achieve the same results by just being honest?

 

Like any great story, this one operates at many levels.  Children will love the simplicity of the message, adults will love the complexity of the relationships, and everyone will marvel at the state of animation available to artists today.  “Ratatouille” is the name of a simple peasant food that if prepared with care, will rival anything you can serve in the best restaurants of the world.  It is also symbolic of our own lives.