Movie #199: Ratatouille

Movie #: 199
Movie Title: Ratatouille
Year Released: 2007

Director: Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
Notable Cast: Patton Oswalt, Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Ian Holm, Peter O’Toole, Janeane Garofalo

Short Description: With dreams of becoming a chef, a culinary genius in the form of a rat, makes and unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famed restaurant. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: #74
Empire.com: N/A
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 7/21/2013

What I Liked: Most (if not all) Disney movies have some sort of lesson to be learned and Ratatouille is no different. Remy was reminded throughout the movie that you can do whatever you want if you put your heart into it and one can rise above their status and condition to make a better life for themselves. Disney’s decision in 1995 to team with Pixar and move to CGI animation was brilliant. Given the fast paced action in sequences such as Remy’s fall through the sewers and his attempted escape from the kitchen, I’d wager that Ratatouille would have been impossible to make with standard hand-drawn animation and I don’t know if I would’ve wanted to see that.

What I Disliked: I get that Ratatouille was created in America for a largely American audience and you risk turning off your fan base by making something foreign, but come on Disney, stop playing safe. How can you base a movie in Paris, France and not give your characters at least a French accent? I maybe counted one that did, which is pathetic. I’m not asking for full out foreign language with subtitles; rather, not Americanizing characters in other countries would be nice.

Grade: 3 out of 5 (Good)
Rationale: While probably unfair to Ratatouille, it was hard not comparing it to other Disney/Pixar giants like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and WALL-E and seeing it fall short of their greatness.