Rats have been all over animated films recently, from “Flushed Away” to “Charlotte’s Web.” But the rat pantheon has arrived.
It’s “Ratatouille,” a hilarious new movie from the Pixar studio, the people whose run from “Toy Story” through “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles” has been an astonishing burst of creative energy.
In “Ratatouille,” even yucky, revolting rats are elevated to heroic status. This movie manages to make a restaurant kitchen swarming with rats look like the most normal thing in the world.
Well, almost.
Center stage is Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat who dreams of being a great chef. Like many young rats, his dreams are difficult to achieve, mostly because of society’s absurd prejudice against hairy, disease-bearing rodents preparing food.
But when Remy leaves his little French farmhouse and ends up in the Paris sewers, a new star on the culinary scene is born. With help from the ghost of a famous French chef (Brad Garrett), Remy takes over the kitchen of a once-famous Paris restaurant.
To do this, he needs a “front,” a human stooge to enact his recipes – this is Linguini (Lou Romano), a hapless busboy. But head chef Skinner (Ian Holm) smells a … well, you know. (Skinner appears to be patterned after the much-abused Herbert Lom in the “Pink Panther” sequels.)
Director Brad Bird (who did “The Incredibles”) has a deft hand with manic action, but he also has the right amount of suspense going: Will Remy be able to perfect a recipe for the approval of legendary food critic Anton Ego (unmistakably Peter O’Toole)? And furthermore (this is a cartoon, after all) will Remy reconcile with his skeptical family?
Just about everything clicks in this movie, from the slapstick in the kitchen to the rapturous views of nighttime Paris. A romance between Linguini and a fellow chef (Janeane Garofalo) is half-baked, but Remy is more important, anyway.
The only sour note, and it’s only sour to critics, is Anton Ego’s confessional review, in which he admits how parasitical and soulless critics are. Gee, Pixar, what did we ever do to you, except praise your movies through the roof?
Whatever – this movie is good fun, with a new joke every 10 seconds or so. It even takes the time to show Remy washing his hands before preparing food. That’s one hygienic rodent.
Remy struggles to flip an omelet.
Remy directs the action from his perch on Luigi’s head.
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