My Favorite Movies: #22—Ratatouille

22. Ratatouille (2007)

Genre: Animated Comedy

Director: Brad Bird

Writer: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava

Stars: Patton Oswalt, Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O’Toole, Brian Dennehy

Awards: 1 Oscar—Animated Feature           

Metacritic score: 96

IMDB Ranking: n/a

This often-overlooked gem from Disney/Pixar is a love letter to the joy of food and the passion for cooking as an expression of true creativity. More than that, however, it is a profound statement on the nature of art and the ability of those who come from the most humble of backgrounds to create something truly extraordinary.

No chef could come from a more humble place than Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat from the French countryside whose love for cooking and desire to learn from his idol, Chef Gusteau (Brad Garrett), leads him to Gusteau's famous restaurant in Paris.

The restaurant has fallen on hard times, however; Gusteau has died, and in his place, Chef Skinner (Ian Holm) has allowed Gusteau's former reputation to decline into average, forgettable cuisine in the restaurant as a front for Skinner's profitable line of cheap frozen foods.

Remy ends up befriending the hapless garbage boy, Linguini (Lou Romano), whose complete ineptitude in the kitchen contrasts with Remy's genius. But because a rat can't cook in a human kitchen, Remy hides under Linguini's toque and manipulates his actions like a puppeteer by pulling on various strands of hair. Remy's new creations eventually attract the attention of Paris's most cruel and dismissive food critic, Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole).

What transpires from Ego's terrifying challenge ("Tell him I want whatever he dares serve me...tell him to 'hit me with his best shot'!") is one of the most heartwarming expressions of the true food lover and the reason why we have so many television show devoted to the art, craft, and science of cooking: food connects us to our past and reminds us of the people we love the most.

Food is about so much more than just eating or cooking. It's about the relationships we make both within the kitchen and around the dining table. It's recipes that are handed down in families through multiple generations and the love that we put into preparing meals for our families and friends. It was a big deal when Jesus ate meals with prostitutes and tax collectors—it meant he accepted them as friends and welcomed them into fellowship with him. Food is what binds us together in loving relationships.

Director Brad Bird is better known for the Pixar masterpiece The Incredibles (and rightly so), but this movie is another reason why Bird's work stands out even among the brilliant artists at Pixar. The supporting cast of voice artists is characteristically outstanding, as is usually the case with Pixar movies, most notably Janeane Garofalo (Collette) and Brian Dennehy (Django).

For me, every moment of this movie is joyful, but none more so than Anton Ego's review of his marvelous meal at Gusteau's. His commentary speaks to the heart of every creative soul as well as the critics who take easy shots at their work, and it is the theme at the heart of this wonderful, amazing movie.