Friday Film Noir
Ratatoullie (2007) is an animated comedy written and directed by Brad Bird. The film follows Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat born with an extraordinary sense of taste and smell who dreams of becoming a chef in Paris. After being separated from his colony, Remy ends up inside the kitchen of a once-great restaurant made famous by the late chef Auguste Gusteau. He forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini (Lou Romano), a clumsy garbage boy who cannot cook, secretly controlling him during service. As the restaurant’s reputation begins to recover, attention arrives in the form of the feared critic Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole). With scrutiny tightening and secrets harder to contain, Remy and Linguini are forced to risk everything on one decisive service.
Produced at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California, the film was originally developed under director Jan Pinkava before Brad Bird took over mid-production. Pinkava departed the project after creative disagreements about story structure. Brad Bird rewrote the screenplay extensively after joining, reshaping the film’s tone and narrative momentum. Pixar staff conducted research trips to Paris to study kitchens, markets, and restaurant layouts. Thomas Keller, chef of The French Laundry, served as a culinary consultant and inspired the fictional restaurant Gusteau’s. Patton Oswalt was cast as Remy after earlier voice tests failed to balance warmth and comic timing. The studio initially questioned whether audiences would accept a rat as a food protagonist. Marketing discussions focused heavily on positioning the film for adults as well as children. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, a rare move for an animated feature at the time.
2007 • G • 1h 51m
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Holy Unknown Grade: A
Worldwide Gross: 623M
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