- The Guardian,
- Friday February 8 2008
Another deft and delightful cartoon from Brad Bird, surely the industry's top man after The Iron Giant and The Incredibles - not to mention his key Simpsons role - along with John Lasseter, an executive producer here. Bird took this one over from Czech-born animator Jan Pinkava, who is credited as co-director, but it never feels like a job for hire. The plot is so supremely silly, you might think Pixar took it on for a bet. A dorky chef's son becomes a wow in a Parisian restaurant with the culinary help of a rat with a refined nose. Remy, our rat in the hat - he hides in the chef's headgear - is a marvel of Gallic gestures, quivering nostrils to rival Kenneth Williams, and hairs (more than a million of them, apparently). With his simpler rat friend Emile, Remy forms a charming pair reminiscent of the wino duo in Sideways - one appreciates the gastronomic subtlety, the other just wants to knock it back.
The final two-disc version will include a Remy and Emile short, which should be worth seeing. Thematically and in verbal comedy (though I liked Remy's dad's lunchtime demand: "Shut up and eat your garbage"), Ratatouille can't live up to Pixar's last two classics, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. But the loving care put into its characters and their surrounds is exemplary. One of the DVD extras features the animation team studying Paris and the film doesn"t settle for the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame cliches: back alleys, sidestreets and ancient buildings are lovingly brought back to life onscreen. The deleted scenes also offer an insight into the artistic process as they feature the original sketches, and Bird gives you the lowdown on why they didn't quite make the final cut.
I didn't care too much for Lou Romano's human lead, Lingiuini, but Peter O'Toole and Ian Holm are in top form as the tiny sous-chef and monstrous food writer, Anton Ego. But it's the rats you root for - and you can't get much more Toontowny than a rat hero directed by a Bird for the Mouse House - Disney being Pixar's bosses these days. I haven't had this much fun with a rodent in a restaurant since Fawlty Towers.
