Ratatouille

Title : Ratatouille

Genre : Animation, Comedy,Romance

Director : Brad Bird

Year : 12 October 2007

Duration : 98 minutes

Stars : Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm,Lou Romano, Janeane Garofolo,Peter O'Toole

Orientation : Brad Bird may be one of the few animated filmmakers working today who understands what the concept of a "family film" means. It's something that offers material to viewers of all ages and doesn't lose one group by catering too strongly to another. Bird has turned his attention to the sewers and kitchens of Paris with Ratatouille. Rats don't make for the most cuddly of animated creatures and the movie spends enough time developing plot that younger children may squirm.

Interpretative recount : In Ratatouille, Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) is a culinary wizard of a rat. His senses are so refined that he refuses to eat garbage and is used by others as a "poison detector" since he can tell if something is toxic by sniffing it. His desire, however, is to become a chef, and he gets a chance to achieve his dreams when he meets Linguini (Lou Romano), a janitor at Gusteau's, a famous Paris restaurant. Hiding under Linguini's chef's hat, Remy urges the young man to create dishes of amazing mastery. Like Cyrano de Bergerac, Remy pulls the strings and Linguini takes the credit. Soon, Gusteau's is the talk of the city and Linguini has captured the heart of the woman of his dreams, Colette (Janeane Garofalo). But trouble looms. The chef (Ian Holm) whose position Linguini usurped wants revenge. And powerful food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole) has decided to have a meal an Gusteau's; on the night of his arrival, Remy is nowhere to be found.

Evaluation : Bird has fashioned the movie as a parable about racism and tolerance. The conflict here is between rats and humans. While there are no song-and-dance numbers to enrapture kids, there are plenty of action sequences and a majority of the comedy is universal enough to tickle the funny bones of viewers of all ages.

Evaluative summation :  This is a wonderful, family friendly movie, but some scenes can be quite scary. In one of the beginning scenes, and old lady is trying to kill Remy with her gun, although she does not succeed. As a result of her shooting all over her house to get Remy, all the rats have to escape. Then later, Remy's dad takes him to a place where lots of dead rats are shown, and this could be quite disturbing to younger viewers. People in the dining place seem to be drinking wine.