Region: A
Video: Enhanced Widescreen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
Audio: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel
Language: English, French, Spanish
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
Weight factor: 1 item(s)

Plot Synopsis

A scrawny rat named Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) finds his dreams of culinary superstardom stirring up sizable controversy in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant in director Brad Bird's madcap computer-animated comedy. It's hard being a rat with culinary aspirations, but Remy is convinced he has what it takes to break the stereotypes and follow in the footsteps of star chef Auguste Gusteau (voice of Brad Garrett). As fate would have it, Remy is currently situated in the sewers directly beneath Gusteau's elegant restaurant. Soon Remy teams up with a young chef with little talent named Linguini (voice of Lou Romano). Together they are able to create some fabulous dishes, but they live in fear that someone will discover their secret and object strenuously to a rat being in a kitchen. When Remy's passion for cooking turns the haughty world of French cuisine upside down, the rat who would be king of the kitchen learns important lessons about life, friends, and family while questioning whether he should pursue his culinary calling or simply go back underground and return to his life as a sewer rat. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Editorial Reviews:

Pixar's Parisian-set Ratatouille tells the delightful story of Remy (Patton Oswalt), a sewer rat with sophisticated taste buds who wants desperately to become a gourmet chef. Artistically employing state-of-the-art CG animation, director Brad Bird uses colorful imagery to create a visual metaphor for what this rat with a highly refined palette experiences whenever he eats good food. The bright, playful splashes of color that symbolize Remy's exploding taste buds have the same effect for the audience as they do for the rat, pleasurably tickling the senses of audience members of any age. If Ratatouille accomplished nothing else, it would still be a very good movie, but the film goes even farther. Remy is such a likeable, sympathetic character that his story translates to anyone's calling or interest, from cooking to filmmaking to sculpture. Without doubt, Ratatouille is a heartwarming story, but its subtext expresses why art matters so deeply to those who make it, as well as to those who appreciate it.

Bird knows how to orchestrate a frantic chase through a kitchen with the precision of the old Warner Bros. Looney Tunes team, and the timing of Buster Keaton. Like Remy, Bird knows how to utilize a variety of elements that play off each other to create something new and memorable that's greater than the sum of its parts. As with all Pixar films, the animation is exquisite. Watching wine pour from a bottle into a glass is almost sensory overload, as attention is paid to every instant of the liquid's movement, and the way different lighting affects its burgundy hue. Bird also paces his story with masterful skill, inspiring the audience to care for his characters and understand their desires. There's always a reminder of what's at stake for Remy and the other characters before Bird plunges us into another brilliantly enthralling set piece. Bird even portrays the fearsome restaurant critic Ego (gloriously voiced by Peter O'Toole) with just as much respect as he does the film's hero. Perhaps this helps explain why the film opened to such rapturous reviews from critics, but there is so much more to Ratatouille than simple flattery. The film reflects the fact that Bird understands the way cuisine, film, or any art form can trigger the senses -- which in turn trigger our emotions, inspiring our own warm memories. From beginning to end, Brad Bird's Ratatouille offers as pure a statement of purpose for an artist as one could imagine. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide