Ratatouille

Name: Ratatouille

Written and Directed by: Brad Bird

Co-Directed by: Jan Pinkava

Original Story by: Brad Bird Jim Capobianco Jan Pinkava

Produced by: Brad Lewis

Executive Producers: John Lasseter Andrew Stanton

Music by: Michael Giacchino

Cinematography by: Robert Anderson (camera) Sharon Calahan (lighting)

Production Design by: Harley Jessup

Film Editing by: Darren Holmes

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures

Airdate: June 29, 2007

Length: 111 minutes

Budget: $150 million

Box Office: $620.7 million

Pixar Movie Number: 850

Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. It is the 850th film produced by Pixar, and was co-written and directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005. The title refers to a French dish, "ratatouille", which is served at the end of the film, and is also a play on words about the species of the main character. The film stars the voices of Patton Oswalt as Remy, an anthropomorphic rat who is interested in cooking; Lou Romano as Linguini, a young garbage boy who befriends Remy; Ian Holm as Skinner, the head chef of Auguste Gusteau's restaurant; Janeane Garofalo as Colette, a rôtisseur at Gusteau's restaurant; Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a restaurant critic; Brian Dennehy as Django, Remy's father and leader of his clan; Peter Sohn as Emile, Remy's older brother; and Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau, a recently deceased chef. The plot follows Remy, who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy.

Development of Ratatouille began in 2000 when Pinkava wrote the original concepts of the film. In 2005, Bird was approached to direct the film and revise the story. Bird and some of the film's crew members also visited Paris for inspiration. To create the food animation used in the film, the crew consulted chefs from both France and the United States. Bird also interned at Thomas Keller's French Laundry restaurant, where Keller developed the confit byaldi, a dish used in the film.

Ratatouille premiered on June 22, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California, with its general release June 29, 2007, in the United States. The film grossed US$620.7 million at the box office and received universal acclaim. The film later won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, among other honors.

Plot
Remy is an idealistic and ambitious young rat, gifted with highly developed senses of taste and smell. Inspired by his idol, the recently deceased chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy dreams of becoming a cook himself. When an old French woman discovers Remy's clan in her house, they are forced to flee, and Remy becomes separated from his family in the panic. He ends up in the sewers of Paris and eventually finds himself at a skylight overlooking the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant.

As Remy watches, a young man named Alfredo Linguini is hired as a garbage boy by Skinner, the restaurant's devious current owner and Gusteau's former sous-chef. When Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to recreate it, Remy recognizes that he is ruining it instead, and repairs Linguini's mistakes. Linguini catches Remy, but hides him when he is then confronted by Skinner for tampering with the soup. As the two argue, the soup is accidentally served and proves to be a success. Colette Tatou, the staff's only female chef, convinces Skinner to retain Linguini, who is assumed to be the soup's creator. When Skinner catches Remy trying to escape, he orders Linguini to kill the rat, but Linguini discovers Remy's intelligence, and decides to keep him instead.

On Linguini's first day as a chef, he and Remy find a way to communicate: Remy guides Linguini like a marionette by pulling on his hair while hidden under Linguini's toque, while Skinner assigns Colette to train his new cook.

Suspicious, Skinner learns that the boy is Gusteau's illegitimate son and the rightful heir to the restaurant, which jeopardizes Skinner's control of the restaurant and the lucrative packaged food enterprise he formed using the restaurant's reputation after Gusteau's death. Remy discovers the evidence of Linguini's inheritance and, after eluding Skinner, gives it to Linguini, who deposes Skinner as owner. The restaurant continues to thrive, and Linguini and Colette develop a budding romance, leaving Remy feeling left out. Remy finds that his clan has come to Paris as well, and is taken to their new lair, but despite his father Django's attempts to rid his son of his admiration of humans, Remy leaves.

France's top restaurant critic, Anton Ego, whose previous negative review cost Gusteau's one of its stars, announces he will be re-reviewing the restaurant the following evening. After a disagreement with Linguini, Remy leads his clan to raid the restaurant's pantries in retaliation, but Linguini catches them and throws them out. Having now discovered Remy's skills, Skinner captures him in an attempt to use him to create a new line of frozen foods. However, Remy is freed by his brother Emile and Django. He returns to the restaurant, only to find Linguini is unable to cook without him. Linguini apologizes and reveals the truth to the staff, but they leave in disbelief. Colette later returns after recalling Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook."

Django arrives with the rest of the clan, offering to help after seeing his son's determination. Remy has the rats cook, while Linguini waits tables. For Ego and Skinner, Remy and Colette create a variation of ratatouille, which reminds an astonished Ego of his mother's cooking. During the meal, the rats are forced to tie up Skinner and a health inspector to prevent them from revealing their involvement in the cooking. When Ego requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette make him wait until the rest of the diners have left before introducing Remy. Ego is stunned and leaves the restaurant, deep in thought. He writes a positive and thoughtful review for the newspaper the next day, stating that Gusteau's chef (Remy) is "nothing less than the finest chef in France."

Despite the positive review, Gusteau's is shut down, since Linguini and Remy had to release Skinner and the health inspector. Ego loses credibility as a critic but funds a popular new bistro, "La Ratatouille", created and run by Remy, Linguini, and Colette; Ego frequents the bistro for Remy's cooking. The rats settle into their new home in the bistro's roof.

Voice Cast

 * Patton Oswalt as Remy. Director Brad Bird chose Oswalt after hearing his food-related comedy routine.
 * Ian Holm as Skinner, a diminutive chef and owner of Auguste Gusteau's restaurant. Since Gusteau's death, Skinner has used the Gusteau name to market a line of cheap microwaveable meals. Skinner's behavior, diminutive size, and body language are loosely based on Louis de Funès.
 * Lou Romano as Alfredo Linguini, the son of Auguste Gusteau and Renata Linguini.
 * Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau (whose first and last names are anagrams of each other). Many reviewers believe that Gusteau is inspired by real-life chef Bernard Loiseau, who committed suicide after media speculation that his flagship restaurant, La Côte d'Or, was going to be downgraded from three Michelin stars to two. La Côte d'Or was one of the restaurants visited by Brad Bird and others in France.
 * Janeane Garofalo as Colette Tatou, Gusteau's rôtisseur, inspired by French chef Hélène Darroze.
 * Brian Dennehy as Django, Remy and Emile's father and the leader of the rats.
 * Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a restaurant critic. His appearance was modeled after Louis Jouvet.
 * Peter Sohn as Emile, Remy's older brother.
 * Will Arnett as Horst, Skinner's German sous chef.
 * Julius Callahan as Lalo, Gusteau's saucier and poissonnier. Callahan also voices François, Skinner's advertising executive.
 * James Remar as Larousse, Gusteau's garde manger.
 * John Ratzenberger as Mustafa, Gusteau's head waiter.
 * Teddy Newton as Talon Labarthe, Skinner's lawyer.
 * Tony Fucile as Pompidou, Gusteau's patissier. Fucile also voices Nadar Lessard, a health inspector employed by Skinner.
 * Jake Steinfeld as Git, a former lab rat and member of Django's colony.
 * Brad Bird as Ambrister Minion, Anton Ego's butler.
 * Stéphane Roux as the narrator of the cooking channel.
 * Thomas Keller as a dining patron who asks "what's new".

Media Release

 * Ratatouille is released on Disney DVD and Blu-Ray November 6, 2007.

Aspect Ratios

 * 2.35:1 (CinemaScope)
 * 1.85:1 (Widescreen / Full Open Matte)

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Selection
 * Bonus Features, Commentary with Brad Bird and Blooper Stuff
 * Audio and Set-Up
 * English
 * French
 * Latin American Spanish
 * Brazilian Portuguese
 * German
 * Hungarian
 * Swedish
 * Italian
 * Polish
 * Croatian
 * Czech

DVD Previews

 * There is Only One Disney Promo
 * Wall-E Trailer (In Theaters May 2008)
 * Disney Movie Rewards TV Commercial
 * 101 Dalmatians: Platinum Edition Trailer (On 2-Disc Disney DVD Spring 2008)
 * Snow Buddies Trailer (On Disney DVD February 2008)
 * Pixar Short Films Collection Trailer

Quotes

 * Ratatouille/Quotes