Ratatouille (film)

Ratatouille
Directed by	Brad Bird Jan Pinkava (Credited as co-director)
Written by	Brad Bird Story: Jan Pinkava Jim Capobianco Brad Bird Emily Cook Kathy Greenberg
Produced by	Brad Lewis
Starring	Patton Oswalt Lou Romano Peter Sohn Brad Garrett Janeane Garofalo Ian Holm Brian Dennehy
Edited by	Darren T. Holmes
Music by	Michael Giacchino
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release dates	June 28, 2007 June 29, 2007 August 30, 2007 October 5, 2007
Running time	111 min
Language	English
Budget	US$92 million[1]

Ratatouille (IPA pronunciation: [ræt.ə.ˈtu.i]^[2]) is a 2007 animated feature film produced by Pixar. It tells the story of Rémy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), a rat living in Paris who wants to be a chef. The film was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005, and it was released on June 29, 2007 in the United States. It was rated G by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Rémy (Patton Oswalt) lives in a rat colony in the attic of a French country home with his brother Émile (Peter Sohn) and his father Django (Brian Dennehy). Unlike his kin, Rémy is a gourmet whose keen sense of smell is used by the colony only to detect rat poison in food. But Rémy yearns for more, sneaking into the kitchen to read the cookbook of his hero, Parisian chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), who appears to Rémy in visions throughout the film to expound on his motto that "anyone can cook." Rémy learns that Gusteau died after a harsh review from mean-spirited food critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole).

The rats flee the house when the resident, an old woman, discovers the colony. Rémy, separated from the others, floats in the storm drains to Paris on Gusteau's cookbook, following the chef's image to his namesake restaurant, now run by former sous-chef Skinner (Ian Holm). As Rémy watches from a kitchen skylight, Alfredo Linguini (Lou Romano), a young man with no culinary talent, arrives and is hired on at the request of his recently deceased mother to do janitorial duties. The boy, unknown to all but his mother, Renata, is in fact Gusteau's son. Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to cover up his mistake by adding nearby random ingredients. Horrified by Linguini's actions, Rémy falls into the kitchen and though desperately trying to escape, cannot help but stop and attempt to fix the ruined soup. Rémy is caught in the act by Linguini, who himself is caught by Skinner as he captures the rat, but not before some of the soup has been served. To everyone's surprise the soup is a success. The kitchen's sole woman cook, Colette (Janeane Garofalo), convinces Skinner not to fire Linguini provided he can recreate the soup. And thus begins an alliance, uneasy at first, by which Rémy secretly directs Linguini. The two perfect a marionette-like arrangement by which Rémy tugs at Linguini's hair to control his movements and stays hidden under Linguini's toque blanche.

Skinner discovers that Linguini is Gusteau's son, which he hides to prevent Linguini from inheriting the restaurant, which would thwart his ambitions of exploiting Gusteau's image to market prepared frozen dinners. Suspicious of Linguini, Skinner plies him with fine wine in an unsuccessful attempt to discover the secret of his unexpected talents. The next morning, hung over and disheveled, Linguini nearly confides his secret to Colette. Desperately trying to stop Linguini, Rémy pulls his hair, making him fall on Colette, leading the two to kiss. They begin dating, leaving Rémy feeling abandoned.

One night Rémy and his colony are reunited. Rémy argues with Emile and his father over his new career as a secret chef. In the process of scrounging food for the clan Rémy discovers Gusteau's will which, after a chase by Skinner, he presents to Linguini. Linguini now owns the restaurant, fires Skinner, and becomes a rising star in the culinary world, attracting renewed interest from Anton Ego, who had written off the restaurant for dead. Linguini and Rémy have a falling out, Linguini deciding he no longer needs Rémy, and Rémy retaliating to the snub by leading a kitchen raid for his rat colony.

Things come to a head the night of a planned review by Ego. Linguini, unable to cook without the rat's guidance, admits his ruse to the staff when Remy shows up, leading them all to walk out. Colette returns after thinking through Gusteau's motto. Django, inspired by his son's courage, returns with the entire rat colony to cook under Rémy's direction, while Linguini, discovering his true talent, waits tables on roller skates. Colette helps Rémy prepare ratatouille, a dish so good that, in the climax of the film, a bite of the dish leads Ego to relive childhood memories of his mother serving him the dish as comfort food. Ego asks to meet the chef, but Colette tells him he must wait until the rest of the diners have left. At the end of the service, Rémy and the rats are revealed. A changed man, Ego writes a glowing review, declaring that the chef at Gusteau's is the greatest chef in all of France.

In the denouement the restaurant is closed by a health inspector, who finds the rats after being tipped off by Skinner. Ego loses his credibility and job when the public discovers he has praised a rat-infested restaurant. Everything is for the best, however. With Ego as investor and regular patron, Linguini, Colette, and Rémy open a successful new bistro called "La Ratatouille," which includes a kitchen and dining facilities for both rats and humans.

Jan Pinkava came up with the concept and directed the film from 2000, creating the original design, sets and characters and core storyline.^[3] Pixar management replaced him with Bird in 2005.^[4][5] Bird was attracted to the film because of the outlandishness of the concept and the conflict that drove it: that kitchens feared rats, yet a rat wanted to work in one.^[6] Bird was also delighted that the film could be made a highly physical comedy,^[4] with the character of Linguini providing endless fun for the animators.^[7] Bird rewrote the story, with a change in emphasis. He killed off Gusteau and gave larger roles to Skinner and Collette,^[8] and also changed the appearance of the rats to be less anthropomorphic.^[9]

Because Ratatouille is intended to be a romantic, lush vision of Paris, giving it an identity distinct from previous Pixar films,^[4] director Brad Bird, producer Brad Lewis and some of the crew spent a week in the city to properly understand its environment, taking a motorcycle tour and eating at five top restaurants.^[10] There are also many water-based sequences in the film, one of which is set in the sewers and ten times more complex than the blue whale scene in Finding Nemo. One scene has Linguini wet after jumping into the Seine to fetch Rémy. A Pixar employee (Shade/Paint Dept Coordinator Kesten Migdal) wearing a chef uniform and apron jumped into Pixar's swimming pool to see which parts of the suit stuck to his body and which became translucent from water absorption.^[11]

A challenge for the filmmakers was creating computer-generated food animations that would appear delicious. Gourmet chefs in both the US and France were consulted,^[9] and animators attended cooking classes at San Francisco-area culinary schools,^[12] to understand the workings of a commercial kitchen. Sets/Layout Dept Manager Michael Warch, a culinary-academy trained professional chef prior to working at Pixar, helped teach and consult animators as they worked. He also prepared dishes used by the Art, Shade/Paint, Effects and Sets Modeling Departments.^[13][14] Celebrity chef Thomas Keller allowed producer Brad Lewis to intern in his French Laundry kitchen. For the film's climax Keller designed a fancy layered version of the title dish for the rat characters to cook, which he called "confit biyaldi" in honor of the original Turkish name.^[12] The same sub-surface light scattering technique that was used on skin in The Incredibles was used on fruits and vegetables,^[15] while new programs gave an organic texture and movement to the food.^[16] Completing the illusion was music, dialogue, and abstract imagery that represents the characters' mental sensations while appreciating food. The visual flavor metaphors were created by animator Michel Gagné.^[17] To create a realistic looking compost pile, the Art Department photographed fifteen different kinds of produce, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli and lettuce, in the process of rotting. ^[18]

According to Pixar designer Jason Deamer “Most of the characters were designed while Jan [Pinkava] was still directing,” “He has a real eye for sculpture.”^[19] For example, the critic Anton Ego was designed to resemble a vulture, according to Pinkava.^[20]

During the character-design process sculptor Greg Dykstra created handmade clay sculptures of the film's protagonist, Rémy.^{[citation needed]} Rat expert Debbie Ducommun (aka the "Rat Lady") was consulted on rat habits and characteristics.^[21] An aquarium of pet rats sat in a hallway for more than a year so animators could study the movement of the animals' noses, ears, paws and tails as they ran.^[15]

Bird chose Patton Oswalt to voice Rémy after hearing a comedy routine in which Oswalt ranted about Black Angus Steakhouse commercials.^[6] Other cast members strove to make their French accents authentic yet understandable. John Ratzenberger notes he often segued into an Italian accent.^[10]

• Patton Oswalt as Rémy: A rat who aspires to be a chef.
• Ian Holm as Skinner: The head chef at Gusteau's Restaurant, the film's main antagonist.
• Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini: The restaurant's garbage boy.
• Brian Dennehy as Django: Remy's father and leader of the rat clan.
• Peter Sohn as Emile: Rémy's brother, who loves to eat anything.
• Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego: The harshest food critic in Paris, one of the film's antagonists.
• Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau (deceased): A famous chef and Rémy's culinary hero.
• Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tatou: Meat and poultry chef; the toughest - and only female - chef at Gusteau's and love interest of Linguini.
• Will Arnett as Horst: Skinner's sous-chef.
• Julius Callahan as Lalo / François Dupuis: Fish chef / businessman.
• James Remar as Larousse: Salad and appetizer chef.
• John Ratzenberger as Mustafa: The head waiter
• Teddy Newton as Talon Labarthe: Skinner's lawyer
• Tony Fucile as Pompidou / Health Inspector: Pastry chef / health inspector.
• Jake Steinfield as Git: A beefed-up lab rat with an A113 tag in his left ear.
• Brad Bird as Ambrister Minion: Anton Ego's assistant.
• Thomas Keller as Dining patron^[12]

The French waiter in the trailer talking about the cheeses is voiced by the director, Brad Bird.^[22]

The first trailer for Ratatouille debuted with the theatrical release of its immediate predecessor, Cars. A second trailer was released on March 23 2007.^[23] The film's trailers say that the film's title is pronounced "rat-a-too-ee". This is a non-standard phonetic notation which has the effect of emphasizing the "rat" since the word is more usually represented as "ra-ta-touille" or "ra-ta-tou-ille".^[24] The same applies for the German title where the phonetic notation is "ratte-tuu-ii" (Note: "Ratte" means rat in German). Brad Bird said "Ratatouille" was a difficult word to pronounce, but there was no better title so they tried to turn it into a marketing strength.^[25]

A tour, The Ratatouille Big Cheese Tour, began on May 11 2007, with a sneak peek at the film and cooking demonstrations.^[26]

The Academy Award nominated short film Lifted and the teaser trailer for Pixar's next film WALL-E precede Ratatouille in theaters.^[27]

Ratatouille has opened to near-universal acclaim. As of July 8, 2007 it is 96% 'certified fresh' on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.4/10 on the Internet Movie Database with over 11,000 votes, placing it at #51 on IMDB's Top 250, and 95/100 on Metacritic (the sixth highest Metacritic film rating ever and highest for Pixar).

The film debuted at $47 million in actual domestic weekend sales, making it number one at the box office.^[28] Compared to other Pixar movies [[1]], the opening weekend was the lowest grossing since A Bug's Life. However, the film is compensating with exceptionally strong sustained business, most likely due to favorable word of mouth.^[29]After ten days it has made over $100 million at the US box office.

• Official site
• Ratatouille at IMDb
• Ratatouille at Rotten Tomatoes
• American Ratatouille Theatrical Trailer
• Japanese Ratatouille Theatrical Trailer
• New York Times recipe for the confit byaldi (ratatouille) dish featured in the climactic scene

Template:Box Office Leaders USA