RATATOUILLE - DVD review

"Ra·ta·touille, n. A vegetable stew of Provence, typically consisting of eggplant, zucchini, onions, green peppers, tomatoes, and garlic, served hot or cold."
--Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary

Note: In the following joint review, John and Jason both wrote up their comments on the film, and John also wrote up the Video, Audio, Extras, and Parting Thoughts.

The Film According to John:
It seems a little ironic to me that among the first collaborations between the Disney and Pixar studios is a film about a rat. After all, Disney is the house the mouse built. Substituting a full-fledged, French rat named Remy for the cutesy-poo, All-American Mickey is quite a change of image for the Disney folks. In this case, it's a much-needed change of pace and a decided improvement.

No doubt the first thing a viewer figures on in a Pixar animated movie is the CGI artwork, and 2007's "Ratatouille" does not disappoint. It seems as though the animation just gets better with every picture Pixar produces. Here, we not only get photorealistic backgrounds, we get some of the most thoroughly minute character depictions ever, although, to be sure, the characters are still recognizably cartoonish. It's a small step beyond what we got in "Monsters Inc.," but it represents the same general idea. And those backgrounds! They are three dimensional in their realism, photographs come to life, while still retaining a proper make-believe aura. Oh, and remember when water used to be one of the most-difficult things for animators to reproduce effectively? Not here. You'd swear the water was, uh, well, water. Quite an accomplishment, actually.

More important, the story line is worthy of the artwork and quite thoughtful for a cartoon. It's all about a rat named Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) with a highly developed sense of taste and smell, who dreams of becoming a chef. But, you know, he's a rat, which pretty much limits his opportunities. Until fate comes along in the form of the great Gusteau (Brad Garrett), the recently deceased chef of one of Paris's most-famous restaurants. It was Gusteau's motto that "Anyone can cook," and Remy takes it to heart, with Gusteau as his newfound inspiration. Through a curious set of circumstances, Remy learns to read, learns to cook, and winds up in Gusteau's old restaurant. Then, of all things, he begins mentoring a young garbage boy, Linguini (Lou Romano), in the art of cooking. Under Remy's direction, Linguini becomes a success. Sort of. Because, you see, the plot reveals a load of complications along the way, including Remy's demanding father, Django (Brian Dennehy); his undemanding brother, Emile (Peter Sohn); an unscrupulous and tyrannical new boss of Gusteau's old restaurant, Mr. Skinner (Ian Holm); a lovely, young, rising cook at Gusteau's, Colette (Janeane Garofalo); and an incredibly snobbish and influential Parisian food critic, Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole, who steals the show).

In many ways "Ratatouille" is probably a little too sophisticated for many younger children, yet the film makes up for it by offering a compensating number of thrills and adventures to keep everyone entertained. All the talk about gourmet food and five-star restaurants, for example, will go over the heads of most youngsters, as will the subplot involving Skinner's machinations to take over the ownership of the restaurant, and maybe even the romance between Linguini and Colette. Then, too, a window full of dead rats may be unsettling for kids of any age.

What the film will do is give audiences a new perspective on rats. I daresay it will make a lot of moppets beg to own a pet rat. I wonder how many kids petitioned their parents for just such a thing, and I wonder how much it must have delighted pet store owners.

Above all, however, there is an abundance of sweet moral values in "Ratatouille"--messages about family, friendship, love, sharing, and understanding--that tower over the rest of the proceedings. The movie's final twenty minutes are triumphant, delivering a climax that is as moving and meaningful as anything you'll see in films of any sort.

Besides, can a movie be bad that has at least two characters in it who resemble Mr. Creosote from Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life," or a critic who drives a classic Facel Vega automobile? I think not.

John's film rating: 8/10.

The Film According to Jason:
It's my personal belief the Best Animated Film Oscar should be renamed the Disney-Pixar Excellence in Animation Award. Why? No studio or production house has, with any regularity, managed to climb to the heights of the Walt Disney Company, nor have they met the extraordinarily ambitious standards set by Pixar. There are pretenders and contenders to the throne, but one fact is undeniable: Pixar continues to set the bar by which all other animated films are judged. Their latest, "Ratatouille," takes the bar set by the recent outings of "The Incredibles" and "Cars," smashes it, and sets it even higher. This is notice that Pixar wants the Oscar back from "Happy Feet."

In the French country, Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) spends his spare time away from his clan, watching a gourmet cooking show hosted by Gusteau (Brad Garrett), a morbidly obese chef with a once-renowned restaurant in the city of lights. His motto of "Anyone can cook" inspires Remy to watch the show every day, dreaming of a time he can combine ingredients in the same way Gusteau does. He is separated from the clan and he finds himself in Paris, right underneath Gusteau's restaurant, now run by the maniacal Skinner (Ian Holm), more concerned with slapping Gusteau's likeness on frozen food than about recapturing former glory. At the restaurant, a new garbage boy (Linguini, voiced by Lou Romano) is mistaken for a gourmet chef, and Remy and he combine forces to create succulent dishes.

If you stop to think about what is on the screen--rats crawling in and out of the holes in Swiss Cheese, for instance--it's likely you'll be repulsed. After all, who wants any kind of animal touching their food? But put that thought aside and look at Remy and his friends as more than rats. If it helps, pretend they're people. Just small, furry, squeaky people. And then all will be forgotten.

"Ratatouille" is better looking than all the $200+ million blockbusters put together, and it's happily accompanied by a very simple message: Give credit where credit is due. The laughs start instantly, culminating early in a wild woman with a shotgun taking potshots at the swarm of rats living in her attic. When the ceiling collapses due to her scattershot shooting and the fuzzy creatures of all shapes and sizes (and colors) swarm through the kitchen and out of the house, we can't help but think two disparate thoughts: First, how can this woman not have heard the pitter-patter of all those little feet above her and, second, dear lord, do that many rats live in my attic? All the while, we're laughing our collective asses off.

Pixar has always strived for the closest approximation of real life they could get. The "Toy Story" films had a couple issues in rendering humans--perhaps on purpose--while the inanimate objects and animals have always been spot on. And as wondrous as "Finding Nemo" was, "Ratatouille" combines what the studio learned from their previous releases and makes us nearly believe what we're watching is real. Look no further than an early shot of Remy with a chunk of bread torn off from a loaf. It's impossible to explain in words, but that piece of food so detailed and nuanced it could easily be mistaken for the real thing. And the first time Remy gazes out at the Paris skyline is as if a painting by one of the masters was scanned into the computer and used for the backdrop. Astonishing, jaw dropping, mesmerizing. Absolutely wondrous work.

As with previous Pixar films (well, aside from "Toy Story" and "Cars"), there are no songs in the film. Disney films, being the reigning champs of the animated musical, never quite come off as taking place in any reality aside from their own because characters burst into seemingly spontaneous song at the drop of a hat. What Pixar has continued here is a tradition of making the audience work just a little for the emotional beats of the story. There's no need for Remy to break into song when he is scorned by Linguini, nor do chef Colette (Janeane Garofalo) and Linguini feel the need to declare their love for each other by swinging from light posts or from Paris rooftops. We get it the first time they awkwardly kiss.

"Ratatouille" is such a triumph in every conceivable way, I don't want to delve too deeply into the plot for fear of ruining the ride audiences will be on. The plot is straightforward enough for the little tykes who are fans of animation and involving enough for their parents blackmailed into bringing them to the theater. To be sure, an understanding of cooking helps, for the film revolves around that profession and at least 80% of the film takes place in a kitchen. Whatever you don't know, however, is explained easily enough by one of the characters. Check out Remy's first look inside the kitchen, where he explains the various roles of the people working below to an imaginary Gusteau. It's education that doesn't feel like education.

The voice talent combines tried-and-true names from the Pixar stable (John Ratzenberger, for instance) with Garofalo, Brian Dennehy, and then Peter O'Toole as restaurant critic Anton Ego (get it? A Ton Ego?). He's the single most-enthralling character in the film, based in no small part on O'Toole's talent. Icy cold with an air of supremacy and arrogance any real life chef would be terrified of, he steals the movie from a cast of wonderfully talented artists. Special note to Ian Holm, also, who, in his role as head chef Skinner, does nothing but rant and scream for the duration of the film. With a wonderful French accent, you'd never know Bilbo Baggins was doing the voice. One last note about the voice talent: At times, the dialogue can be hard to understand since the some of the characters speak in heavy French accents. It shouldn't be tough for an older crowd, but children may wonder what's going on.

I can't praise "Ratatouille" enough. Even the romantic subplot, which feels shoehorned in at times, hits all the notes its supposed to from start to finish. The sometimes-slapstick comedy ever lets up for a minute, and thus the movie doesn't slow down for a breath very often. We're never given the chance to become bored with the story because we're fully invested in it from start to finish.

"Ratatouille" is one the best films to hit cinema screens in 2007, deftly combining charm, wit, story, and heart with visual punch to spare.

Jason's film rating: 8/10.

Video:
Nothing short of perfection (as we may now apply that term to standard definition) would do justice to the artwork in "Ratatouille," and nothing short of perfection is what we get. The Disney/Pixar transfer engineers provide the film's full scope, 2.35:1, on the disc, using high-bit-rate, anamorphic reproduction. The results are just as precise and just as beautiful as we expect from this source. Colors are dead on, rich and full and vibrant, yet as in the original print, they are never garish or bright. Definition almost reaches high-def standards, with an astonishing amount of crystal-clear detail. And, needless to say, noise, grain, and digital artifacts are nonexistent.

Audio:
The first thing you'll probably notice about the Dolby Digital 5.1 EX audio processing is how dynamic it is. There is a serious impact here, the type of punch you usually depend upon from a summer action blockbuster. There is a also a wide front-channel stereo spread, a midrange clarity that renders every word distinctly intelligible, and a decent if not elaborate response from the surrounds, with most of the action in the rear speakers devoted primarily to environmental noises, crowds, diners, and musical bloom. If I had to find fault of any kind (OK, Mr. Ego), I'd say the upper midrange seems a tad forward, but I can understand the need for projecting voices in this range of the audio spectrum, so it is not much to criticize.

Extras:
Actually, the best thing about the bonus items is the five-minute animated Pixar short subject that originally preceded the movie in theaters. It's called "Lifted," and it's quite clever in its own quiet way. Then, there's an all-new, eleven-minute animated short, "Your Friend the Rat," in which Remy and Emile furnish a brief history of rats and various tidbits of information about them. Naturally, it's slanted in favor of the rodents. After that, there are three deleted scenes, totaling about fifteen minutes and done up in rough-sketch form. The longest extra, though, is the fourteen-minute featurette "Fine Food and Film: A Conversation with Brad Bird and Thomas Keller." Bird is the film's co-director, and Keller is the renowned owner and chef of The French Laundry restaurant in California's Napa Valley, so you know what they're going to be talking about.

Among the other extras are an Audio/Video setup, similar to THX's Optimizer but a little more thorough; a generous thirty-one scene selections and a chapter insert; promos at start-up for several other Buena Vista products; English as the only spoken language; and English subtitles.

Fans of the film might want to read what Bird had to say in a one-hour interview with a room full of journalists.

Parting Thoughts:
The filmmakers at Pixar keep topping themselves with each new release. I loved their previous film, "Cars," but I think "Ratatouille" has even more heart. Parts of it might be too intellectual for young children, but the movie has enough other things going for it, as I've said before, to entertain almost anyone of any age. It's a terrific family treat.