Ratatouille (2007)

Let's continue with another film from Pixar, Ratatouille.

The Movie:

Ratatouille is the 8th film from Pixar, and the first of their three critically acclaimed yet more experimental films, along with WALL-E and Up.  It is also Brad Bird's second Pixar movie as director and writer, and it was based on an idea by Jan Pinkava, who Bird replaced as director.  Ratatouille was critically praised and performed well at the box-office.  It won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for four other Oscars (Score, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Screenplay).

The main character in Ratatouille is the rat Remy, who lives with a colony of rats in a French farmhouse.  Remy's strong sense of smell has helped him develop and more discerning taste than other rats, and he enjoys cooking.  When the rats are forced to flee, Remy gets separated from his family, and finds himself in the kitchen of the famous Parisian restaurant Gusteau's.  There he sees Linguini, who has just been hired as a garbage boy, mess up a pot of soup, and Remy decides to fix the soup.  Much to everyone's surprise, the soup is a success, and Linguini is given a chance to prove himself as a cook.  However, he can't cook, but Remy can, so the two decide to work as a team.

Ratatouille is a charming yet quirky movie.  The characters are fun, especially the interactions between Remy (Patton Oswald) and Linguini (Lou Romano).  Peter O'Toole brings a nice sense of smug sophistication to the aptly named character of Anton Ego, the food critic.  The movie puts an interesting twist on the trope of anyone can do anything - as Ego concludes, "Not everyone can be a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere."  The animation is nice, but the shots of Paris are exceptionally gorgeous.

Ratatouille is scored by frequent Brad Bird collaborator Michael Giacchino.  His score here is playful at times, at other times filled with a French-inspired charm.  He also wrote the song "Le Festin" for the movie, and it is sung by the singer Camille.  Ratatouille gave Giacchino his first Oscar nomination and his first Grammy Award.

Presence in the Parks:

Though there's not currently a Ratatouille ride at Disney World, one has been announced.  This ride is set to be located in the France Pavilion at Epcot, and it will be similar to Ratatouille: The Adventure, a 4-D ride at Walt Disney Studios Park in Paris.  Also, Remy has been known to appear at the France Pavilion at times, but he hasn't been spotted lately.