Ratatouille (2007)

In Paris, a highly intelligent, idealistic young rat named Remy dreams of becoming a world-class chef like his late idol, the legendary French chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett).

Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is possessed of a genius-level sense of smell and taste, unlike his garbage-eating clan, led by his pragmatic father, Django (Brian Dennehy),

After becoming separated from his family, Remy finds himself beneath Gusteau’s famed restaurant where he crosses paths with Alfredo Linguini, a clumsy, well-meaning garbage boy (voiced by Lou Romano) who has no culinary talent but desperately needs to keep his job.

When he discovers he can control Linguini’s movements like a marionette by pulling his hair, Remy hides under Linguini’s chef’s hat, and together, they form an extraordinary culinary partnership.

Remy provides the genius recipes while Linguini acts as his public face, taking the Parisian culinary world by storm.

Meanwhile, Linguini tries to win over the stern, talented chef Colette Tatou (voiced by Janeane Garofalo) and evade the suspicious, aggressive head chef, Skinner (Ian Holm).

Skinner later discovers that Linguini is actually Auguste Gusteau’s biological son, meaning he should legally inherit the restaurant. As this would ruin his plans to sell frozen food, Skinner plots to hide the inheritance papers, but Remy spots them.

Following a chaotic chase across Paris, Remy successfully delivers the papers to Linguini, and Skinner is fired.

Linguini then takes over the restaurant as the rightful owner.

Sadly, success goes to his head, and he stops responding to Remy’s subtle hair pulls, takes all the credit during a press conference, and flirts heavily with Colette.

Heartbroken and insulted, Remy retaliates by inviting his entire rat clan to raid the restaurant’s food pantries at night. Linguini catches them, feels utterly betrayed, and throws Remy out into the street.

Paris’s most terrifying and cynical food critic, Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole), announces he’ll review the restaurant the following evening – a review that could permanently save or destroy Gusteau’s legacy.

Skinner kidnaps Remy to force him to build a frozen-food empire, but Django and Remy’s brother, Emile (voiced by Peter Sohn), launch a rescue mission to free him.

Remy and the rest of the rat colony save the day for Linguini, who confesses the truth. Anton Ego is overwhelmed by the exquisite flavour of Remy’s ratatouille and declares the rat the finest chef in France.

The health inspector inevitably shuts Gusteau’s down because of the rat infestation, and Ego happily loses his job as a food critic and funds a brand-new bistro called “La Ratatouille.”

The film ends with a bustling, highly successful restaurant featuring a dining area for humans, a secret ceiling kitchen for Remy, and a tiny dining space for his happy rat family.

The film was struggling significantly in development under original director Jan Pinkava.

Brad Bird was brought in with just 18 months left before release to completely rewrite the script and salvage the project.

Ratatouille was a massive global success, grossing over $623 million worldwide during its theatrical run.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for four other Oscars, including Best Original Screenplay.

Remy (voice)
Patton Oswalt
Alfredo Linguini (voice)
Lou Romano
Skinner (voice)
Ian Holm
Colette Tatou (voice)
Janeane Garofalo
Anton Ego (voice)
Peter O’Toole
Django (voice)
Brian Dennehy
Emile (voice)
Peter Sohn
Auguste Gusteau (voice)
Brad Garrett
Horst (voice)
Will Arnett
Lalo/Francois (voice)
Julius Callahan
Larousse (voice)
James Remar
Mustafa (voice)
John Ratzenberger
Talon Labarthe (voice)
Teddy Newton
Pompidou the Health Inspector (voice)
Tony Fucile
Git the Lab Rat (voice)
Jake Steinfeld
Ambrister Minion (voice)
Brad Bird
TV Narrator (voice)
Stéphane Roux

Director
Brad Bird
Jan Pinkava

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