Fear not the rat in the kitchen
By Julie Brown-Micko

What if a rat (yes, disease-carrying vermin) prepared food in a restaurant kitchen? What if this rat not only touched the food with its pink little paws, but also cooked it well? What if the rat was the finest chef in the culinary capital of the world, Paris? Inconceivable! Incredibly, writer/director Brad Bird and the amazing technicians at Pixar make us believe. Haute cuisine, great story, and killer animation: three Michelin stars for Ratatouille.

Remy (voiced by Oswalt Patton) just doesn’t fit in with the other rats in the colony. His nose and palate are so refined that he can sniff out individual ingredients and craves fresh produce from the kitchen. Inspired by Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), a famous French chef, he dreams of mixing flavors and textures to create new dishes. Sadly, his family doesn’t understand his desire to make food rather than steal garbage. But circumstances and sewer water sweep Remy through Paris and straight to his idol’s restaurant. There he makes friends with Linguini (Lou Romano), a feckless youngster who desperately needs a job but can barely handle his duties as garbage boy. Skilled cooks staff the kitchen, but parsimonious Chef Skinner (Ian Holm) and brutal reviewer Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole), a.k.a. “The Grim Eater,” push Gusteau’s to the brink of collapse. Can the unlikely friends combine rat brains and human hands to turn things around?

Perhaps the most brilliant part of this foodie fairy tale is rat protagonist. One can’t help but shudder when the colony (literally hundreds of rodents!) squeezes underneath the cracks of doors and windows in an endless, undulating gray stream. The chunky, fast, fat-bodied climb of rats boiling up the speed racks also touches off a wave of primal nausea. And yet, Remy the rat, the modest, earnest, talented “little chef” somehow keeps us coming back for more.

Linguini and Remy are two of a kind: outsiders who need each other to overcome the obstacles of a judgmental world. But each also has his prejudices and self-sabotaging behavior to conquer before true friendship and success are possible. The supporting cast of endearingly quirky cooks, tough rats and luckless villains make their journey to self-discovery and, yes, fully realized humanity, a treat to watch.

While the food won’t make you drool, the animators have done a spectacular job bringing to life the movements, motion and flow of kitchen work. A casual tilt of a pan to flambé, the sound and speed of a cook’s knife, the quick, sure wipe of cloth on the edge of a plate, all surprisingly genuine. Chef Thomas Keller’s (of the famed French Laundry) consultation surely helped.

For a few moments the magic sputters and you may wonder how any human could allow a rat in his kitchen. Then you remember: it’s a cartoon! And all is well. Ratatouille makes a chef out of a pest: and we like it.