Ratatouille - Cheap Thoughts

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgement. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defence of the *new*. The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations. The new needs friends. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook." But I realise, only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist; but a great artist *can* come from *anywhere*."

This might single-handedly be the most important paragraph that someone, anyone who wishes to critique, analyse or talk about their passion can read, if you want to be a critic of movies, music, food, anything, this is something you absolutely must remember. I recently rewatched Ratatouille for the first time in years, i always remembered it fondly as being that fun Pixar movie back in their prime, not the best, but still really fun. Now watching it again, I feel this may be one of their most important and insightful movies they've ever made. The film follows the story of Remy, a rat living in France (with an American accent, because reasons) who dreams of being a cook, naturally his family disdain from his dream because well, he's a rat, if he was anywhere near a restaurant they'd try to kill him no question. After he gets separated from his family, he ends up in the middle of Paris and ends up at his favourite chef's restaurant, he ends up discovering he can control one of the employees there who on his own, can't cook to save his life, so the two work together to become the best chef in all of France and hopefully impress Anton Ego, the most suck-up critic in the world (Imagine if Severus Snape was a critic).

What makes the film so strong is the underlying message behind it all, where a person comes from is not what decides who they are, it's their passion and experience that makes them what they want to be. It's a message that really doesn't get talked about very often in kids films, or atleast not this cleverly, it's never shoved down your throat and things aren't easy, life is always going to throw obstacles in front of your dream and sometimes you are going to have to make a compromise, but that doesn't mean you should give up all together. And it all comes together wonderfully with the critic finally giving his big review at the end, which honestly my just go down as one of my favourite scenes in history, definitely my favourite monologue of all time. The best kind of messages that a movie can give is one that everyone can relate too, like in The Lion King or Big Hero 6, those messages and ideas that even when you watch it as an adult, it can still be thought provoking.

The film was directed by Brad Bird and god is he a talent, the man is yet to make a bad film, but his best i still feel lie in the realm of animation. He never talks down to his audience, he never dumbs down the message or writing just to make it more marketable, he makes the films he want to make and they're always brilliantly written, even to the point where this film doesn't focus on the things i normally look for in movies. The thing that I make important above all else is characters, and a lot of them in this film are just archetypes, and the interesting ones (The other chefs) don't get much development and yet...i don't mind. No character is boring, none i feel were badly written, yet if you were to describe them to me then they would sound like the most plain characters possible, i don't know how Brad Bird does it but seriously, make more animated movies Brad. That is however, except for the critic, the critic is phenomenal, i love everything about this guy, I love his design, I love his dialogue, I love his voice (Voiced by none other that Peter O'-frickin-Toole) and he has the two best scenes in the movie, the flashback scene of him eating dinner (Because that's how we all feel when we have that heap of nostalgia) and the monologue which i've already said is amazing!

The film is also swimming with atmosphere, you fully believe like you are in this world, you feel like you're in France, you feel the elegance, style and suave feeling in every scene. Not to mention the food also looks really good, seriously, do not watch this movie on an empty stomach because you will want to go out to a 5 Star restaurant 10 minutes into the movie, it is really effective that way. And I know i don't have to say this but i'm still going to. The film-looks-beautiful. I know that's redundant to say a Pixar film looks great but it is, people worked hard on this film, it's important to acknowledge that. So many shots of Paris look like an artpiece, the glow of the city against the dark blue skies at dusk, it's a gorgeous looking film, but again, every Pixar film is gorgeous looking.

Rewatching this film, i realise just how good it is, this is one of my top 5 favourite Pixar films, everything about it works, the film looks amazing, the message is insightful and the critic is one of the best Pixar characters ever, it's a great film and definitely worth checking out 9/10.

-Danny