French Cuisine From the Paws of a Rat - "Ratatouille" Movie Review

"Ratatouille" is the story of Remy the rat Leprosy his passion for fine cuisine. Despite his rat nature, Remy is unlike the rest of his family. He has a deep passion for food and desires to practice his culinary skills for his family. During one of these escapades to find his brother Emile some more refined foods, his family's hiding place is found out, and Remy and his family are forced to flee into the sewers. Remy is separated from his family, and ends up below the famous restaurant Gusteau's, which just happens to be the restaurant formerly owned to Remy's culinary idol.

Meanwhile, mesothelioma treatment Gusteau's restaurant, Linguini, a young boy, comes Maine Lemon Laws a letter from his mother in tow, in search of a job. Due to the contents of the letter, he is given a job as a garbage boy. While cleaning, he lets his desire to be a chef get the better of him and messes up the soup of the evening. Remy, seeing this, scampers down and fixes the soup. Linguini sees this and when Skinner (the main chef) forces Linguini to repeat Remy's newly created soup the next night, Linguini convinces Remy to help him.

Remy sits on Linguini's head under his chef's hat, and by pulling different strands of hair, can control Linguini's movements, thus controlling his cooking ability. Together, Remy and Linguini create a name for Linguini at Gusteau's and create a strong bond with the sous-chef Colette. Trouble arises when Linguini's ego and Remy's allegiances get the better of them at the unfortunate time of having to cook for one of the toughest critics in France. Remy and Linguini must try and set aside their differences for the sake of the food.

Pixar did a great job with "Ratatouille". It's a multi-leveled story that everyone can relate to. Linguini is a boy full of dreams but no skills. As the viewer, you want him to succeed, and when he does, you're excited. When he gets into trouble, you hope everything turns out for the better. You root for the hero, because deep down there is something about Linguini that reminds you of yourself. Linguini's character is created for the viewer to love, and Skinner for the viewer to hate.

Alongside the story of success, there is also a story about family and egos. Even though Remy wants to do his own thing in life and doesn't believe his family when they say that humans are evil, there is also a sense of loyalty towards his family that Remy needs to follow. When he is reunited with his family and discovers they are still eating poorly, he has to decide between his loyalty to Linguini and his loyalty to his family. For Linguini, he takes for granted the help he has in Remy, and when the spotlight shines Linguini's way, Linguini is willing to throw Remy under the bus to promote his own career. It is only fitting that the ultimate nemesis of the movie, the food critic, is named Ego.

Although the movie is packed with serious storylines, it is also filled with comedic moments to lighten the mood. From scenes such as Remy controlling a sleeping Linguini to a crazy old woman shooting holes in her own wall to try and hit a single rat, the seriousness of the movie is nicely broken up with the comedy, creating a quality family movie that everyone can enjoy.

Grade: B

Kolin Kasten is a graduate of St. Norbert College with a Bachelor's Degree in English. He is a freelance writer who also works part-time for Monumental Films, a Wisconsin-based video business whose goal is to capture the important events in one's life on film. To learn more, please go to: monumentalfilms.netmonumentalfilms.net