Ratatouille
Remy and Linguini in the triumphant Ratatouille
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Friday, 12, Oct 2007 10:46
Directed by Brad Bird, out now in cinemas, starring Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, and Lou Romano running time 110 minutes .
In a nutshell...
Fun-for-all-the-family flick with breath taking animation.
What's it all about?
From the creators of The Incredibles, It's A Bugs Life and Monsters Inc, Ratatouille is a heart-warming coming of age film about finding out who you really are.
The tale focuses on young Remy, who was born in the gutter being fed on scraps, whose family don't like it when he takes a shine to the high life. With a passion for gourmet food Remy boycotts family meals, becoming a voyeur of other people's kitchens.
However when one day he is separated from his family Remy winds up in Paris right outside the restaurant of his idol, the legendary chef Auguste Gusteau, where he befriends the aptly-named kitchen porter Linguini.
Linguini is a stuttering mess, as tangled and limp as the pasta he is named after, and is also a hopeless cook who faces losing his job unless he can deliver a master meal when a critic turns up at the restaurant. Remy's expertise finally comes to good use and he starts cooking meals that earn the restaurant rave reviews, passing them off as his friend's work.
Oh yes, and Remy is a rat.
Who's in it?
There are no big celebrity voices in this film as such, but it loses nothing for this and is supported by a cast of quality actors.
Remy is played by Patton Oswalt, an American actor and comedian who has previously starred in Magnolia and The King of Queens. Although with animation around 50 per cent of the job - in terms of facial expression and movement - is done for the actor, Oswalt's comic delivery and understanding of the part really brings Remy to life and makes him a rat the audience can invest in.
Lou Romano provides the voice for Remy's partner in cuisine Linguini. Previously in animated blockbusters Cars and The Incredibles, Romano portrays Linguini with a good mixture of strength and vulnerability.
British actor Ian Holm is also on hand to play baddie Skinner with Peter O'Toole as the impossible critic Anton Ego.
As an example.
"He is your son!" - Remy
"I have a son?" - Gusteau
"You didn't know that?" - Remy
"Hey! I'm a figment of your imagination!" - Gusteau
Likelihood of a trip to the Oscars
Animation flicks are widely overlooked at the Academy Awards and this film doesn't break any new ground in the way that Shrek or Toy Story might have done.
What the others say
"Pixar simply don't make bad movies. Cars may have been pedestrian in places, but it still had a lot to admire. And Ratatouille takes things to a different level yet again. " - Indie London.
So is it any good?
Pixar is seemingly on a one studio mission to make the human race love the things it was told to hate - bugs, rats and monsters. And at this rate they are doing well.
By the end of this film your heart will be aching from the inequality of the animal kingdom and you will be spurring Remy the rat on in his culinary aspirations. Though I'm still not sure it would convince me to eat a meal prepared by a rodent.
This film just has all of the right ingredients - an unlikely friendship that blossoms between Linguini and Remy and a burgeoning romance for shy Linguini and the tempestuous female chef Colette.
Moral tales of the importance of family, friendship and love underline the film which as well as being heart warming is also incredibly funny.
Adult humour in kid flick rating - 7/10
Warms the cockles of your hearts - 9/10
Actual film rating - 9/10
Jenni Marsh