Linguini and his hidden rat companion Remy about to be discovered by chef Skinner. Submitted Photo
A few weeks ago I was rotating a compost bin, one that happens to be situated next to an open field. As usual, I called my kids over to see whatever creepy crawlers we might unearth in the dark and decaying lower layers. This time, to our surprise, we uncovered a litter of four baby rats so new their eyes were still closed. The mother abandoned her nest in a split second after I opened the bin by scampering up the sides and taking a flying leap onto my neck where she dug her tiny claws into my bare skin before jumping the distance to the fence and disappearing out into the field. In a state of horrified shock, I was left with four newborn rats and a hard decision to make. What could I do in the presence of my young and impressionable witnesses? Finally, I put the babies back. I warned them, “One false move!” before replacing the lid.
Don’t get me wrong. I was totally grossed out.
Rats and human domesticity are a vile combination, even if a rat has a nose for gourmet cooking. But if you never thought you could endure watching an hour and 50 minutes of rats in the kitchen, you haven’t seen “Ratatouille,” Pixar’s eighth feature-length animated film. Written and directed by Brad Bird of “The Incredibles,” “Ratatouille” is much more than an entertaining feature-length animated family movie. It is a great film. Period.
The story begins with Remy, a “rongeur gourmand” and cooking-channel addict living unhappily in the rural outskirts of Paris, where he works as the rat clan’s poison-sniffer under the critical eye of his father. After Remy and his kind are discovered in the attic by the matronly owner of the farmhouse, they flee under fire. Remy follows his clan in their desperate escape through underground sewers, but when he loses them in the tunnels, he soon finds himself alone for the first time in his life. Under the guidance of his guardian angel, recently deceased chef August Gusteau, Remy meets up with the talentless and awkward young Linguini, who needs a job and a chance in life. The pair team up in an unusual culinary partnership that is quickly complicated by Gusteau’s former sous chef, the immoral and paranoid Skinner. (Coincidentally or not, British film and stage actor Sir Ian Holm, who delivers a hilarious performance as Skinner, also played an equally immoral restaurateur in the 1996 foodie classic “Big Night.”) Linguini and his hidden rat companion wreak havoc on Skinner in much the same way Inspector Clouseau’s bumbling, haphazard methods unnerve Chief Inspector Dreyfus in the early “Pink Panther” films.
As usual, Bird manages to strike several notes at once, maintaining emotionally complex characters and never resorting to sentimentality – something he managed to accomplish in both “The Incredibles” as well as in his earlier film, “The Iron Giant.” There are positive messages in the film, to be sure, conveyed through Remy’s struggle to fulfill his creative destiny in a place where he, as a rat, is universally scorned. Several ideas persist throughout that make it an inspiring underdog story. First, creative genius is classless and anyone can break through the glass ceiling (which Remy does metaphorically through a farmhouse window in the beginning) with determination and some encouragement from your friends and family. Second, one does not have to forget where they came from to achieve artistic greatness.
As a further nod to the film’s integrity, the character designs do not reflect the movie-to-merchandising-schemes that are so typically built in to most feature length animated films. (Who really wants a rat in their Happy Meal, no matter how charming?) At all times the rats appear, for lack of a better word, “ratty” and Bird never lets the audience forget this distinction. When they crawl about the compost heap and scamper through the restaurant kitchen and city streets, they look and move like rats, with the sole exception of Remy, who is the only bipedal rodent of the “clan.”
The “foodie” themes in the film will appeal to food and wine connoisseurs of all ages. Writers and animators who worked on “Ratatouille” were required to attend cooking classes at various schools and commercial kitchens in the San Francisco Bay Area, including Napa’s French Laundry. The homework paid off.
And, as in many great films set in Paris, there is a thrilling high-speed Vespa chase scene as well as a femme fatale love interest. The cityscapes and the roiling turbulence of the underground sewers are visually stunning and realistic and create moments of intense physical and psychological peril for Remy. The film has a more sophisticated plot than most G-rated films and runs a little long for the very, very young. As for the rest of the story, you’ll have to see for yourself.
The film opened last week and is now playing at the Sebastiani Theatre. For show times call 707.996.2020 or check the Web site: www.sebastianitheatre.com. Raffle tickets are on sale for an original piece of “Ratatouille” artwork on display in the lobby, that was designed and donated by Kenwood artist and longtime Sebastiani Theatre supporter Darryl Bellach. Proceeds will go towards improvements for the historic theater (where there may or may not be rats in the attic).
