Ratatouille Film
Yvone Samiento
Ratatouille (/ˌrtəˈtuːi/ RAT-ə-TOO-ee) is a 2007 American animated comedy-drama film[3] produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. The eighth film produced by Pixar, it was written and directed by Brad Bird and produced by Brad Lewis, from an original idea by Jan Pinkava,[4] who was credited for conceiving the film's story with Bird and Jim Capobianco. The film stars the voices of Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Ian Holm, Janeane Garofalo, Peter O'Toole, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn and Brad Garrett. The title refers to the French dish ratatouille, and also references the species of the main character, a rat. Set mostly in Paris, the plot follows a young rat Remy (Oswalt) who dreams of becoming a chef at Auguste Gusteau's (Garrett) restaurant and tries to achieve his goal by forming an unlikely alliance with the restaurant's garbage boy Alfredo Linguini (Romano).
Development for Ratatouille began in 2000 when Pinkava wrote the original concepts of the film, although he was never formally named the director of the film. In 2005, following Pinkava's departure from Pixar for lacking confidence in the story development, Bird was approached to direct the film and revise the story. Bird and some of the film's crew members also visited Paris for inspiration. To create the food animation used in the film, the crew consulted chefs from both France and the United States. Lewis interned at Thomas Keller's The French Laundry restaurant, where Keller developed the confit byaldi, a dish used in the film. Michael Giacchino composed the Paris-inspired music for the film.
Ratatouille premiered on June 22, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California, with its general release on June 29, in the United States. The film became a critical and commercial success, grossing $623.7 million worldwide. It finished its theatrical run as the sixth highest-grossing film of 2007 and the year's second highest-grossing animated film (behind Shrek the Third). The film received widespread critical acclaim for its screenplay, animation, humor, voice acting, and Michael Giacchino's score. It also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and was nominated for several more, including Best Original Screenplay. Ratatouille was later voted one of the 100 greatest motion pictures of the 21st century by a 2016 poll of international critics conducted by the BBC.[5]
Remy, a young rat with heightened senses of taste and smell, dreams of becoming a chef like his human idol, the late Auguste Gusteau, but the rest of his colony, including his older brother mile and his father, the clan leader Django, only eat for sustenance and are wary of humans. The rats live in an elderly woman's attic outside Paris, but when the woman discovers them, they are forced to evacuate, and Remy is separated from the others. Encouraged by an imaginary Gusteau, he explores until he finds himself on the roof of Gusteau's eponymous restaurant.
Remy notices the restaurant's new garbage boy, Alfredo Linguini, attempting to fix a soup he ruined, and jumps in to fix Linguini's mistakes. Linguini catches Remy in the act, but does not reveal him to Skinner, Gusteau's former sous-chef and the new owner and chef of the restaurant. Skinner confronts Linguini over the soup, but when the soup is accidentally served and proves to be a success, Colette Tatou, the restaurant's only female chef, convinces Skinner to retain Linguini and uphold Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook". After demanding that Linguini replicate the soup, Skinner spots Remy and orders Linguini to take him outside and kill him. Once they are alone, Linguini discovers that Remy can understand him, and he convinces Remy to help him cook.
Remy controls Linguini's movements like a marionette by pulling on his hair while hiding under his toque. They recreate the soup, and continue cooking at the restaurant. Colette begrudgingly trains Linguini, but steadily comes to appreciate him heeding her advice. Later, Remy finds mile and reunites with the clan. After Remy tells Django that he intends to stay at the restaurant, Django shows him a group of exterminated rats in an attempt to convince him that humans are dangerous, but Remy ignores his warnings and leaves.
Meanwhile, Skinner discovers a letter from Linguini's late mother stating that Linguini is Gusteau's illegitimate son, and the rightful owner of the restaurant. Skinner is shocked and enraged about this revelation, as Gusteau's will stated that he would inherit ownership of the restaurant only if no biological heir appeared two years after the latter's death. After his lawyer verifies that Linguini is Gusteau's heir, Skinner hides the evidence in an envelope, but Remy finds it, escapes, and shows it to Linguini, who then sacks Skinner and discontinues a line of frozen food that Skinner had started. The restaurant thrives as Remy's recipes become popular, and Linguini's life improves as he develops a romantic relationship with Colette. Food critic Anton Ego, whose previous negative review of the restaurant indirectly led to Gusteau's death, announces to Linguini that he will review the restaurant again the following day. After Linguini takes credit for Remy's cooking at a press conference, he and Remy have a falling out. As revenge, Remy leads his clan to raid the restaurant's pantries. Linguini arrives to apologize, but upon discovering the raid, he furiously expels Remy and his clan from the restaurant.
After Skinner and the health inspector are released, they inform the authorities and Gusteau's is shut down, stripping Ego of his job and credibility. Remy, Linguini and Colette open a bistro, called La Ratatouille, which a now-happier Ego invests in and frequents; the rat colony settles into the bistro's attic as their new home.
Jan Pinkava came up with the concept in 2000, creating the original design, sets and characters and core storyline, but he was never formally named the director of the film.[16] By 2004, Pixar added Bob Peterson as a co-director and he was given exclusive control of the story.[17] After three months and lacking confidence in the story development,[18] Pixar management turned to The Incredibles director Brad Bird to direct the film, just as Pinkava departed Pixar in 2005 while Peterson left the film to return to work on Up.[19][20][21][22][23] Bird was attracted to the film because of the outlandishness concept and the conflict that drove it: that rats feared kitchens, yet a rat wanted to work in one.[6] Bird was also delighted that the film could be made a highly physical comedy,[20] with the character of Linguini providing endless fun for the animators.[24] Bird rewrote the story, with a change in emphasis. He killed off Gusteau, gave larger roles to Skinner and Colette,[25] and also changed the appearance of the rats to be less anthropomorphic.[26]
Because Ratatouille is intended to be a romantic, lush vision of Paris, giving it an identity distinct from the studio's previous films,[20] director Brad Bird, producer Brad Lewis and some of the crew spent a week in the city to properly understand its environment, taking a motorcycle tour and eating at five top restaurants.[12] There are also many water-based sequences in the film, one of which is set in the sewers and is more complex than the blue whale scene in Finding Nemo. One scene has Linguini wet after jumping into the Seine to fetch Remy. A Pixar employee (Shade/Paint department coordinator Kesten Migdal) jumped into Pixar's swimming pool wearing a chef's uniform and apron to see which parts of the suit stuck to his body and which became translucent from water absorption.[27]
A challenge for the filmmakers was creating computer-generated images of food that would appear delicious. Gourmet chefs in both the U.S. and France were consulted,[26] and animators attended cooking classes at San Francisco-area culinary schools to understand the workings of a commercial kitchen.[15] Sets/Layout department manager Michael Warch, a culinary-academy-trained professional chef before working at Pixar, helped teach and consult animators as they worked. He also prepared dishes used by the Art, Shade/Paint, Effects and Sets Modeling departments.[28][29] Renowned chef Thomas Keller allowed producer Brad Lewis to intern in his French Laundry kitchen. For the film's climax, Keller designed a fancy, layered version of the title dish for the rat characters to cook, which he called "confit byaldi" in honor of the original Turkish name.[15] The same sub-surface light scattering technique that was used on the skin in The Incredibles was used on fruits and vegetables,[30] while new programs gave an organic texture and movement to the food.[31] Completing the illusion were music, dialogue, and abstract imagery representing the characters' mental sensations while appreciating food. The visual flavor metaphors were created by animator Michel Gagn inspired by the work of Oscar Fischinger and Norman McLaren.[32]To create a realistic compost pile, the Art Department photographed fifteen different kinds of produce, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli, and lettuce, in the process of rotting.[33]
Rat expert Debbie Ducommun (a.k.a. the "Rat Lady") was consulted on rat habits and characteristics.[38] Along with Ducommun's insight a vivarium containing pet rats sat in a hallway for more than a year so animators could study the movement of the animals' fur, noses, ears, paws, and tails as they ran.[30]
The film was animated with traditional techniques rather than motion capture. Bird noted this in the credits because he felt there was a trend of using real-time performance capture in animated films instead of the frame by frame methodology he "love[s] & was proud that we had used" on the movie.[41]
Ratatouille is the second Pixar film to be scored by Michael Giacchino after The Incredibles. It is also the second Pixar film not to be scored by Randy or Thomas Newman. The scores feature a wide range of instrumentation and are influenced by various music genres. Giacchino wrote two themes for Remy, one about him with the rat colony and the other about his hopes and dreams. He also wrote a buddy theme for both Remy and Linguini that plays when they are together. In addition to the score, Giacchino wrote the main theme song, "Le Festin", about Remy and his dream to be a chef. French artist Camille (who was 29 at the time of the film's release) was hired to perform "Le Festin" after Giacchino listened to her music and realized she was perfect for the song; as a result, the song is sung in French in almost all versions of the film.[42] The soundtrack album was released by Walt Disney Records on June 26, 2007.