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Ratatouille (2007)

Director: Brad Bird

5

Time Out rating

Average user rating
115 reviews

Synopsis

There's a rat in the kitchen in this Disney film.

Movie review

From Time Out London

The title of Pixar’s fabulous latest animation gives you its three elegantly dovetailed elements: rodents, food and French. Co-director Jan Pinkava’s original idea was sweetly ridiculous – can a naive, ambitious rat (baby-eyed Remy, charmingly voiced by Patton Oswalt), long inspired by his reading of a famous French chef’s recipe book, realise his dream to become a chef? This has been turned by its final director, Brad ‘The Incredibles’ Bird, into one of the most witty, clever, gently moral, dramatically convincing and visually stimulating family entertainments of the year. The animation is extraordinary too, and occasionally breathtaking. It’s so enticing, in fact, that card-carrying anti-anthropomorphists like this reviewer can readily accept its ‘big ask’: not only
a talking rodent but one able to make a celebrity chef out of his hopeless human helpmeet (the docile, disaster-zone Linguini, voiced by Lou Romano) by jerking his hair from inside his hat, like a Pinocchio pulling his master’s strings. It’s a tribute to the film’s tonal and directorial control, not to mention its sympathy, detail, intelligence and lack of pretension, that such subtextual sub-currents and metaphors – be they the immigrant experience à la ‘American Tail’, digs at McBurger food ethics or the assignation of artistic credit – never obscure its pleasures. Those pleasures are found in its vivid characters (such as its frightening Snow White-style villain, the power-crazed Anton Ego, a food critic with the features of a Gothic Will Self and the voice of Peter O’Toole), richness of ideas and daring sense of fun. A test for tiny tots, a mite nostalgic and as male-dominated as a modern kitchen it may be, but these are mere quibbles about this delightful addition to the Pixar pantheon.

Author: Wally Hammond 2007-10-08 17:42:31

Time Out London Issue 1938: October 10-16 2007


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User reviews of this film

  • lj said...
    Posted on Nov 30 2007 13:47 i watched it ages ago!lol kept going on about it without realisin it weren't out here yet but i thought it was awesome! x x
    Report as inappropriate
  • ghghghgh said...
    Posted on Nov 26 2007 16:35 it was good
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  • jack said...
    Posted on Nov 24 2007 12:21 wat the hek
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  • Joe said...
    Posted on Nov 18 2007 16:11 'mazin'
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  • James said...
    Posted on Nov 18 2007 16:06 absolutely brillaint
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  • Amanda and Andrew said...
    Posted on Nov 17 2007 22:30 How do they do it? Even with all the available technology of the 21st C, how long must it take to put together all that first class animation. A fun storyline, thoroughly entertaining, very predictable and well worth the £8 or whatever it costs these days.
    Report as inappropriate
  • Tinkz said...
    Posted on Nov 14 2007 09:45 FANTASTIC, 10/10 FILM IT IS A MUST SEE FILM 4 ALL AGES! SO EVEN U CAN GO C IT GRANDPA JOSPEHINE!!!!
    Report as inappropriate
  • vicky said...
    Posted on Nov 13 2007 09:24 not seen it yet but it looks amazin' cant wait to see it might see it this weekend
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  • ~X~Lelu~X~ said...
    Posted on Nov 11 2007 11:52 ive nit seen it yet but it looks well gud
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  • phoebe said...
    Posted on Nov 11 2007 10:35 i might be seeing this film tonight - it sounds gd frm al these commets. I'm well excited!
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  • Just Mee = ] said...
    Posted on Nov 10 2007 13:29 This Movie Was Truly Amaziin I Would Watch It Again
    The Only Problem Was Tht Is was A Bit Slow
    But Apart From Tht It Was Rlly Funny
    I THINK U SHLD SEE IT
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  • marko said...
    Posted on Nov 09 2007 23:00 This film is FANTASTIC, im 40 and loved it, Brilliant little charicters, Superb storyline, Amazing graphic detail, youll never buy rat poision again after this film... the best film ive seen this year!
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  • Xx Hayley xX said...
    Posted on Nov 08 2007 18:40 it woz da best film eva u wil luv it
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  • gordon said...
    Posted on Nov 06 2007 23:27 the movie was kinda dull to be honest, i lost interest in the final 20 minutes, it annoys me that people are calling it Pixars Funniest Animated Movie because this movie tries hard and fails to pull off 90% of what seem like jokes, and to be honest again if you look at it as a whole, it's really mind boggling why someone would want to use the worlds greatest animation to date on such a film.
    But i had to give it four stars because my god, the dialogue is just wonderful, the evil critique, uh, just phenomenal, he gave me chills, and lets not forget the animation which is always incredible.
    so on the whole, a wonderful script and incredible CGI combined makes this years most overbloated feature but worth watching if you like to see a movie with a good script.
    One more thing, the animated short Lifted, GENIUS!
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  • kayleigh said...
    Posted on Nov 06 2007 14:28 AMAZING - Watch it - is my advice to those who havnt yet!!
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