What do you get when you combine a mouse with a clumsy restaurant garbage boy and a 5-star French restaurant? The best chef in Paris! Rats aren’t known for their cooking skills in the kitchen, only their mischievous hunt for food, but the talented and innovative minds of the animators at Disney and Pixar Animation studios, have created an unconventional story with a more than unlikely little hero.

Ratatouille is the tale of Remy, an ambitious little mouse with a knack for cooking. His ability to smell ingredients in food sets him apart from the rest of his fellow rat kin, and his love for tastes and flavors make him a connoisseur of fine cuisine; only the crème de la crème. But his talent is under-appreciated by his father, Django, who puts his son to good use as a poison sniffer. Unhappy with his new post, Remy sneaks into a nearby kitchen and reads the cookbook of Paris’ most famous chef, Auguste Gusteau. In a wild turn of events, Remy actually finds himself underneath Gusteau’s 5-star bistro. His dream of becoming a great chef might become a reality, but he faces many twists and turns in order to make his dream come true.

Finding himself in a rodent-phobic profession, it is almost impossible for Remy to actualize his dream. Thankfully, fate is on his side, and so is Linguini, Gusteau’s new garbage boy. Linguini, clumsy and absolutely clueless about cooking, ends up ruining one of the dishes about to be served to customers. After watching the disaster occur in the kitchen, Remy makes it his mission to clean up Linguini’s mess. Skinner, the senior chef in charge, catches Remy in his kitchen. Frantic, Skinner orders Linguini to get rid of the rat. Linguini, on the other hand, discovers that Remy can understand him and can cook! Instead of following Skinner’s dire orders, Linguini has an idea that can help save his job and spare Remy’s life. Linguini tells Remy that he can cook through him, as long as he tells him how to put the ingredients together. Remy jumps at the idea and agrees to become Linguini’s “little chef” in the kitchen. Thanks to Remy’s cooking skills, Linguini becomes the talk of the town, as Remy helps him whip up dishes that patrons of Gusteau’s cannot resist.

A sure-to-please, entertaining treat for the whole family, Ratatouille is a story that caters to both children and adults alike. Throughout the movie, kids along with their parents were sporadically laughing, as Remy and his friends were found in not so favorable predicaments. The humor is easily understood by young audiences and the story is sophisticated enough for their parents to enjoy. The plot is very well-developed and the characters are so cute (especially Remy), that you can’t help but cheer for them.

For you movie-goers who do not favor rats, this film will make you look at them differently. Perhaps the next time you see one you might just chuckle a bit, instead of screaming and jumping on the couch.

*For more information on the film, visit http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/ratatouille/
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DID YOU KNOW?

• During the character design process, the sculptor created nine handmade clay sculpts of Remy. Six of the sculptures were different design concepts. The last three were different poses of the final design.


• The filmmakers created over 270 pieces of food in the computer. Every food item was prepared and placed in a real kitchen, then photographed for reference and then eaten.


• When conducting research in Paris, the filmmakers took over 4,500 reference photographs.


• When recording lines for the scene in which Remy hugs his father Django, Patton Oswalt (voice of Remy) actually hugged director Brad Bird to create a realistic sound.


• The character Skinner, head chef at Gusteau’s, is 3′ 6″ tall and has a bit of a Napoleon complex. Sir Ian Holm, the voice of Skinner, is two feet taller than Skinner and has played Napoleon Bonaparte three times in his acting career.


• Skinner’s name is attributed to behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner, famous for his experiments with rats.


• To create a realistic-looking compost pile, artists photographed and researched the way real produce rots. Fifteen different kinds of produce were left to rot and then photographed, such as apples, berries, bananas, mushrooms, oranges, broccoli and lettuce.


• A bottle of wine from John Lasseter’s actual winery in the Sonoma Valley can be seen in the film - Lasseter Cabernet Sauvignon.


• Ratatouille is Brad Garrett’s third Pixar film. He has voiced a beetle named Dim (A Bug’s Life), a blowfish named Bloat (Finding Nemo), and now is the voice of French chef Auguste Gusteau in Ratatouille.