Review of Ratatouille (2007) by Chads. — 16 Dec 2007

There are moments in "Ratatouille" that works on us in a primal way, like Ego who remembers the titular dish that his mother served him as a child. The pompous critic remembers why he loves food, as this dazzling comedy(you forget you're watching an animated picture) reminds us why we love the movies.

"Ratatouille" is so sophisticated, there's an extra tier of sophistication that will fly under the radar of most moviegoers. "Ratatouille", to my utter disbelief, has references to the Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and his film "Felicia's Journey".

Ian Holm, who voices the role of Skinner, the chef in exile, was in Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter". This is such tremendous fun for cineastes because we can't understand why it's there in the first place.

This piece of trivia is irrelevant to enjoying "Ratatouille", but the references are there, nevertheless. In an ordinary film, it's Linguini(voiced by Lou Romano) who'd be delusional(that a rat is actually doing the cooking), but in "Ratatouille", it's the delusion(from Skinner's point-of-view(he's the first person to see the rat); Skinner, who reminds me of that single person who sees the duck in those Aflac commercials) who has delusions(Chef Gusteau is Remy's muse).

"Ratatouille" also has references to Carol Emschwiller's novel "The Mount" and Gary Larson's "The Far Side". And if you remember Ralph Fiennes' wine cellar speech to Embeth Davidtz in "Schindler's List", "Ratatouille" can be interpreted as a fantastical parable that sutures the rift between Jews and Germans.

"Ratatouille" is a truly extraordinary movie that makes you laugh, cry, and most importantly, think. This is Pixar's high-water mark, and that's really saying something.