BACKGROUND
The 2000s saw changes in the animation sector. With technology advancing, movie studios were turning their back on 2D animation and setting their sights on computer animation.
DreamWorks hit the jackpot with their computer-animated film Shrek in 2001 and managed to outdo themselves with its sequel in 2004, but Pixar arguably was the studio ahead of the game in this space as they made the first feature-length fully computer-animated movie in 1995, which was Toy Story.
Since that point, Pixar had had hit after hit. They continued to exceed expectations – until 2006, when they released Cars. Cars was financially successful but it was seen as a misstep by the usually consistently brilliant Pixar. Their next film had to make up for that.
This film, released in 2007, was Ratatouille, a story about a rat who wants to be a chef in a high-end restaurant in Paris. Despite the strange, and kind of gross, premise of rats cooking for humans in a professional kitchen, Ratatouille did receive higher praise from audiences than that of Cars. It has been named as one of the best “food films” in existence and has been mentioned in TV shows and films, such as Breaking Bad (2008-13), The Simpsons (1989-present), Ted Lasso (2020-23), and The Five-Year Engagement (2012).
I watched Ratatouille at the cinema when it came out and I enjoyed it then. I was 14 at that time, and I distinctly remember much younger kids, probably about 4 or 5, who were sitting in the row in front of me and my family, and were quite clearly getting very bored during the last thirty minutes or so. Ratatouille is one of Pixar’s longer movies and it is less colourful, less funny, and less action-packed than their previous ones, which always had something to keep the children entertained alongside the adults. Ratatouille seems to focus on realism and emotional moments rather than zany adventures with odd characters.
I didn’t mind though and my enjoyment of Ratatouille has only increased as I’ve gotten older, particularly as I have some interest in cookery shows that focus on gourmet food. Ratatouille was the first time I felt that Pixar’s films were growing with their audience, combining elements that appealed to small children with those that appealed to teenagers and adults. This was an opinion I felt also matched their next two films WALL-E (2008) and Up (2009), although by the time Cars 2 was released in 2011, I wasn’t so sure that was factual anymore!
PLOT
Ratatouille begins by showing a television programme on the history of Paris restaurant Gusteau’s. It states that the restaurant, run by Chef Gusteau, had a five-star rating and Chef Gusteau became more and more popular with the general public thanks to the publishing of his book, “Anyone Can Cook”, which was panned by food critic Anton Ego.
We then see a rat breaking through a window with this book, after being shot at by an old lady in a farmhouse. This rat, Remy, narrates his story. Remy has highly defined taste and smell, which makes him very different from the other rats in his colony. Remy refuses to eat food from the garbage, and his father frequently becomes irritated by his behaviour. Remy’s brother Emile just finds it fascinating, especially as Remy walks on only two feet instead of four a lot of the time, as it is more hygienic. After a rat in the colony is almost poisoned, but thanks to Remy’s sense of smell he detects it, Remy becomes the pack’s poison checker, which he finds really boring, but it’s the only time he’s ever made his father proud. Outside of that task, Remy frequently steals real food from a nearby farmhouse.
One day, Remy finds a mushroom outside and wants to cook it. He sees that Emile has found a nice piece of cheese, so Remy suggests trying to melt the cheese onto the mushroom. They head up to the roof of the farmhouse to use the residual heat from the chimney, and Remy starts to roast the mushroom. Suddenly, a lightning strike hits the roof and the pair are electrocuted, being tossed to the ground. Remy takes a bite of the cheesy mushroom and loves it – although he’d like some saffron to go along with it to make it even better. Remy takes Emile into the farmhouse kitchen to find it. Emile is concerned, but Remy says as long as the TV is on, the old lady won’t wake up.
Remy begins going through all the kitchen cupboards, but soon becomes distracted by a news report saying that Gusteau’s restaurant lost a star in its rating after a particularly bad review from Anton Ego. The restaurant and the chef never bounced back. Gusteau later died, and as per tradition, Gusteau’s lost another star, leaving it on three. Remy is horrified by this news and to make it worse, the old lady has now woken up and seen two rats in her kitchen! The lady picks up her shotgun and starts shooting at Remy and Emile. Remy tries to lead Emile outside, by Emile heads towards the ceiling, leading right to the colony. Sure enough, a gunshot hits the ceiling, as the woman aims at Emile, and the whole ceiling comes down, revealing the entire colony. The rats run out of the farmhouse and head to the river, where they have boats on standby; that was handy. But Remy wants the copy of “Anyone Can Cook”, so he goes back inside to retrieve it, dodging a bullet as he jumps out the window, going back to the movie’s opening shot of Remy. Remy tries to catch up with the others, using the book as a floatation device, but he falls further and further behind.
Lost and alone, Remy almost drowns in the sewer system. He finally gets out of the water, finding a step to sit on. He starts leafing through the book, when Gusteau comes to life and starts talking to Remy, encouraging him to explore where he is. Remy heads up to the surface, and goes around various apartments, before finding some bread. As he is about to take a bite, Gusteau appears again as a small angel-like figure, conjured up by Remy’s imagination. He tells Remy he is not a thief, so Remy keeps searching. Eventually, he finds himself on top of a roof, looking out at the skyline of Paris. Remy is thrilled to have found his way to Paris, and he discovers that he is right by Gusteau’s restaurant. Remy goes to the restaurant’s skylight and looks down at all the chefs at work.
Inside Gusteau’s, a skinny young man called Linguini has come to the restaurant looking for a job. He tells the head chef, Chef Skinner, that his mother, Renata, a former flame of Gusteau’s, hoped that Skinner might be able to get him a job at the restaurant, leaving him with a letter from her. Renata has since died. Skinner hires Linguini as a “garbage boy”, not seeing him as a chef. Up above, Remy talks to his imaginary Gusteau about all the jobs of the workers in the restaurant, not thinking much of Linguini, although Gusteau reminds him that Linguini could be a great chef, since anyone can cook. Remy then sees Linguini experimenting with a simmering soup nearby. Remy is distraught and, in his rage, he falls through the skylight into a Gusteau’s sink. Remy finds his way out of the sink and dashes about the kitchen, looking for an escape route. He sees an open window over by the soup and heads for it. As he passes the soup, Remy thinks it smells awful and tries to fix it by adding a couple of ingredients, but he just can’t help himself and starts creating a masterpiece. Lost in thought, Remy doesn’t notice Linguini watching him. When he comes to his senses, Remy tries to dash out the window but he is stopped by Linguini. Chef Skinner then accuses Linguini of trying to cook, and scolds him, however, the soup is served up to a customer, despite Linguini’s pleas to stop them as he knows his soup tasted terrible. Skinner tries to stop the order going out but it is too late. He sees the customer call back the head waiter, presumably to complain, and immediately fires Linguini, however, the waiter returns to the kitchen to say the customer wants to speak to the chef. The others wait for the verdict.
Chef Skinner returns to the kitchen stunned. It turns out the customer was food critic Solene LeClaire and she actually liked the soup. Female chef Colette says Skinner can’t possibly fire Linguini now. As Skinner debates what to do with Linguini, not believing he could possibly be a good chef, Skinner spots Remy trying to leave the kitchen. He orders Linguini to catch the rat and kill it away from here. So, Linguini puts Remy in a jar and takes him on his bicycle to the River Seine. As Linguini is about to drown Remy in the river, he sees the pleading in Remy’s eyes and can’t do it. Linguini starts talking to Remy about the soup, trying to figure out how this rat knows how to cook, and sees that Remy can understand Linguini, although he can’t talk back to him. Linguini says he’ll release Remy if he helps him recreate the soup and keep his job at Gusteau’s. As Linguini opens the jar, Remy runs off, leaving Linguini feeling hopeless. Seeing this, Remy feels guilty and returns. He is taken to Linguini’s apartment, which is tiny and cramped but has a great view of Paris.
The next morning, Linguini wakes up and sees Remy has vanished and much of his food has gone, however, it turns out Remy was actually just making them omelettes. Linguini sees herbs inside them and asks Remy where he got them. Remy suggests he took them from plants nearby, but Linguini tells him not to steal anymore. He then sees they are late for work and they head off to Gusteau’s together. Once they arrive, they see all the chefs reading LeClaire’s review of her dinner the night before. Chef Skinner tells Linguini that his first task as a new “chef” here is to recreate the soup, saying he can take as long as he wants on it, because he doesn’t believe he’ll ever be able to do it. Linguini hides Remy in his chef whites, with Remy biting Linguini and occasionally appearing from the sleeve to guide Linguini on what to do and what to put in the soup. After this makes Linguini uncomfortable and causes him to act strangely in front of everyone, he goes to the pantry and tells Remy they need a new system. Chef Skinner then opens the door and thinks he sees Linguini talking to the same rat from last night, but Linguini hides Remy under his hat – his toque – quickly. As they leave the pantry, the two discover that if Remy pulls on Linguini’s hair, it can make him act without thinking. Remy and Linguini practise their new system together, as it perfectly disguises Remy and makes Linguini almost appear normal!
After a couple of days, the soup is recreated successfully and Skinner tells Colette to train Linguini up to be a full-time chef at Gusteau’s, much to his annoyance. Skinner goes to his office and starts thinking of ideas to continue his Chef Gusteau-branded frozen foods, with corn dogs being his next idea. Skinner also reads the letter from Linguini’s mother, where it is revealed that Linguini is Gusteau’s son, although he does not know that. Skinner contacts his lawyer, saying that the two-year deadline to find an heir to Gusteau’s fortune after his death has almost expired, and Skinner needs this not to be true so he can inherit it instead. His lawyer tells Skinner to get some hair from Linguini and he’ll check if the two are actually related. He tells Skinner not to worry as he doesn’t think the claim is real.
Linguini, and Remy, for that matter, struggle to adjust to the quick-paced cooking required to survive as a chef at Gusteau’s. Colette gives numerous tips and advice on how to deal with it, although she is quite annoyed that she is now responsible for Linguini’s success here, not wanting to jeopardise her own career which she fought hard for. During one dinner service, customers start asking for something new, and off the menu. Seeing an opportunity for Linguini to fail, Skinner tells him and Colette to make an old Gusteau recipe which never worked: sweetbreads á la Gusteau. Colette finds the recipe and starts to follow it, this being key to success at Gusteau’s, as they are not there to invent and create. Remy, however, wants to be creative and starts amending the recipe. Linguini tries to get Remy to listen to Colette, but it doesn’t work and Remy forces Linguini to pour his own version of the dish’s sauce on the plate, just as it is taken away and served. Skinner is furious to find that Linguini changed the dish and even worse, the customers actually like it and more and more order it through the course of the dinner service.
After dinner service is over, Skinner sees a silhouette of the rat in Linguini’s toque and decides to talk to him in his office, getting him drunk on expensive wine in the hopes he might let slip that he is working with the rat. However, Linguini lets Remy outside so Skinner does not find any concrete evidence in the toque that Remy is there or has been there. Despite getting drunk, Linguini also does not reveal anything so it was all a waste. He leaves Linguini to clean up the kitchen and lock up. Meanwhile, Remy is in the alley, eating some food that Linguini gave him as a reward, when he hears noises nearby. It turns out it is his brother Emile and the two are reunited at last. Remy gets some food from Gusteau’s and tries to get Emile to appreciate this type of food but it falls on deaf ears, and Emile is quite happy eating out of the trash of high-end restaurants instead! Emile takes Remy back to the colony to see their father, where they have a party to celebrate his return, however, Remy accidentally reveals that he’s been working with a human, and will not return to the colony. Remy’s father takes Remy to a shop filled with traps and poison, warning him that humans will always hate rats, so there is no point getting close to them.
Remy ignores the warning and returns to Gusteau’s the next day, and finds Linguini sleeping, having not left from the night before. Remy tries to wake him, but nothing works. Colette arrives soon after so Remy gets under the toque and tries to force Linguini to start cooking and prepping for the day. However, Colette wants to talk to Linguini about his meeting with Chef Skinner, but with Linguini not being awake, and Remy not being able to talk, Colette doesn’t get any responses from him, making her more and more angry, to the point she slaps Linguini around the face. That certainly wakes him up – though he has no idea what he’s done to deserve the slap! Linguini runs out to Colette to stop her from leaving, and apologises for not listening to her. He wants to reveal what is making him act so weird, namely that he has a rat helping him cook. As Linguini lifts the toque from his head, Remy pushes Linguini to Colette and the two kiss, ending that conversation.
Whilst all this is going on at Gusteau’s, the restaurant is becoming popular again, leading Anton Ego to want to revisit the restaurant soon, thinking it is still as mediocre as when he last went. Chef Skinner also learns that Linguini is in fact Gusteau’s son, and wants to hide this from him for a few more days, so the deadline can expire. Skinner later discovers that his paranoia about the rat has been warranted as the initial hair given to his lawyer for the DNA sample was in fact rodent hair. A little while later, as Colette and Linguini become closer, Remy starts to feel like Linguini is forgetting about him, causing some tension between the two. Emile keeps returning to Gusteau’s as well, wanting Remy to steal some food for him and his friends from the restaurant. This time, the pantry is locked so Remy goes to Skinner’s office to retrieve the key. Whilst searching for the key, he stumbles upon all these documents and learns that Linguini is Gusteau’s son. Remy steals the papers, in a bid to show Linguini, but he is chased through the streets of Paris by Skinner. He loses him by the river as Skinner falls in attempting to jump between boats. When Skinner returns to Gusteau’s, he finds Linguini and Colette in “his” office. With Linguini now in charge of the restaurant, Skinner is fired, and all the chefs burn the collection of Gusteau-branded frozen foods! In retaliation, and knowing there really is a rat in the kitchen, Skinner calls the health inspector, asking for them to inspect Gusteau’s, but he is told there will likely be a long wait.
A press conference is soon held with Linguini. He is asked a question about where he finds his inspiration, but now Remy wants some credit for all his hard work, Linguini actually gives the credit to Colette, not his “tiny chef”. Ego then interrupts the press conference to say he will be critiquing Gusteau’s the following day, warning Linguini not to disappoint him. Linguini dumps Remy outside after the press conference, angry that he tried to ruin everything. Emile and his friends laugh at Remy as they see him being treated like a human’s pet. Remy decides to let Emile and the others go through the pantry themselves that evening, wanting to punish Linguini for his poor treatment of him. When Linguini sees Remy has not returned to the apartment that night, he comes to the restaurant to apologise, but he quickly shuns Remy when he discovers that him and his rat colony have been stealing food from the restaurant.
On the day of Ego’s visit, Linguini is told to make a motivational speech to the chefs, but it isn’t very inspirational, thanks to his nerves and general awkwardness. Remy returns to Gusteau’s to watch the evening unfold, with Emile questioning why he’d want to do that. Emile sniffs out some cheese and is about to get caught in a trap when Remy pushes him out and takes his place. The trap is picked up by Skinner and put in his car. Remy is told he’ll now make a new line of frozen foods for him. Skinner goes into the restaurant to see the Ego visit. Ego arrives and tells the waiter that Linguini should serve whatever he dares to serve him, refusing to order. Skinner asks for the same as Ego. Linguini is a mess, as he doesn’t have any recipes or knowledge of what customers are ordering and hides in the office!
Remy is rescued from the trap and Skinner’s car by his brother, father, and the rest of the colony. He immediately returns to Gusteau’s. The other chefs see Remy and try to kill him, but Linguini rushes out of the office, and says that Remy is the one who can cook, not him. Hearing this craziness, all the chefs, including Colette, quit and leave right there and then. Linguini fears the restaurant will close now, as nobody can cook tonight, and returns to the office, feeling hopeless. Colette drives home on her moped, crying and almost getting herself killed in a crash. However, she stops at one point and sees Gusteau’s book “Anyone Can Cook” in a nearby shop window. She has a change of heart and turns around.
Remy wonders what he can do to help Linguini now, when his dad comes over, saying he was wrong, not just about the cooking, but about his “human friend”. He asks what the colony can do to help. Encouraged by this, Remy sticks all the rats under the commercial dishwasher and splits them into groups to deal with different elements, whilst Remy oversees everything. Linguini tasks himself with being the head waiter for the evening. The health inspector then arrives and looks shocked at seeing all these rats in the kitchen. He rushes back to his car, with Remy ordering a group of rats to return him. They do, and he is tied up and thrown in the pantry! Colette also returns and asks Remy what it is he wants to cook for Ego; she’ll handle that. Remy hands Colette the recipe for ratatouille. She can’t believe he’d want to serve something so simple, but she goes along with it, making the dish in the way Remy wants it done. Linguini serves the ratatouille to Ego and Skinner. Ego initially seems bemused by this dish but after tasting it, it takes him back to his childhood and he loves it. Skinner also loves it and goes to the kitchen, demanding to know who cooked it. Having seen all the rats in the kitchen, he too is tied up and thrown in the pantry.
Ego goes to thank Linguini for the meal, but Linguini says he was just the waiter today. Ego asks who he needs to speak to. Linguini asks Colette what to do. She comes out and says if he wants to speak to the chef, he’ll have to wait until everyone else is gone. He agrees to do that. At closing time, Ego is introduced to Remy, and Linguini explains how he helped him cook at Gusteau’s. Ego doesn’t say much and after the explanation is done, he simply thanks them for the meal and leaves.
The next day, his review comes out. It states that he never understood Gusteau’s famous motto of “anyone can cook”, until his evening at Gusteau’s, now understanding what he meant: that a great artist can come from anywhere, and this definitely applies to the new “chef” at Gusteau’s. He looks forward to seeing more from them in future visits. However, with Skinner and the health inspector having to be released from the pantry eventually, word got out about there being rats in the kitchen and Gusteau’s was promptly closed down. Ego also lost his credibility and job for praising Gusteau’s. But there is a happy ending, as we see Remy telling this story to his rat colony in what appears to be the terrace of a restaurant. This restaurant is in fact his, and Linguini’s, I suppose, called La Ratatouille, having been backed by Ego, who is now a small business investor. The movie ends as Remy comes in to the kitchen to help Colette with Ego’s order of ratatouille.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Not wanting to be, or not feeling like, a normal rat sets Remy apart from every other member of his colony. Unfortunately, Remy being different isn’t considered to be a good thing, and his love of food and rejection of stealing junk from bins creates tension between him and his father. When Remy becomes separated from his family and colony, he finds himself alone – but he’s alone in Paris, a city of culture and haute cuisine. This is the perfect place for Remy to find himself, especially as he ends up at Gusteau’s restaurant, his favourite restaurant. Here, Remy finds himself in an unusual position of being not human enough to be a chef, and not rat-like enough to fit in back home. Because of Linguini’s human body, Remy is able to finally fulfil his dream of becoming a chef, despite all the obstacles. With Linguini’s support, Remy finds he can achieve anything, even being accepted as a chef amongst other humans – although it’s probably still a good idea for most of his customers at his new restaurant not to know that their food is being cooked by a rat!
Patton Oswalt voiced Remy. Oswalt has had a long career as an actor, a voice actor, and a stand-up comedian, winning an Emmy award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special for his comedy show Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping in 2016. In film, Oswalt has had roles including as Matt Freehauf in Young Adult (2011), which starred Charlize Theron; as Tom Stenton in Netflix’s The Circle (2017); and as Dr. Hubert Wartzki in Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). He also took over the voice role of Max from Louis C.K. in The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) and is set to voice a character in Sony Pictures’ 2026 animated film Goat. Oswalt is also known for his longstanding roles on sitcoms, such as being cast as Spence Olchin in The King of Queens (1998-2007) with Kevin James and Leah Remini, and the narrator, also known as present-day Adam, for ABC’s The Goldbergs (2013-23).
Linguini starts as a garbage boy at Gusteau’s, purely thanks to his recently deceased mother, who was a former girlfriend of Chef Gusteau and had assumed Chef Skinner would be able to find a job for Linguini. Linguini doesn’t seem to know how to keep his head down and deal with the job he’s got because he can’t help but try and cook, by messing about with the soup that was on the stove next to him. He would certainly have been fired had Remy not come in a decided to save the day, only because the sight of someone ruining a beautiful soup was painful to him! After this, Linguini wants to work with Remy, even though he’s a rat, so that Linguini gets to keep his job at Gusteau’s, not having another path to follow in life. Linguini later discovers that he is Gusteau’s son, thanks to Remy, and despite a brief falling out between the two, as Linguini spends more time with his love interest Colette, and leaves Remy to fend for himself, Linguini protects Remy from the chefs after he returns to Gusteau’s on the evening Anton Ego visits the restaurant, and Remy helps Linguini save the reputation of the restaurant. They later go into business together, remaining unlikely friends.
Linguini was voiced by former Pixar employee Lou Romano. In animation, Romano has worked in areas like visual development and production design. For Pixar, he worked on movies including Monsters, Inc. (2001); The Incredibles (2004), and voiced Bernie Kropp; and Up (2009). Romano voiced Snot Rod in Cars (2006) too. After Pixar, Romano chose to work at animation studio LAIKA, helping to make stop-motion films The Boxtrolls (2014) and Kubo and the Two Strings (2016).
Chef Skinner becomes the new head chef of Gusteau’s after the death of Gusteau. Although Skinner clearly wants to run a high-end establishment in the heart of Paris, and has precise expectations of his chefs, Skinner has spent much of the time since Gusteau’s death using his image to create a brand of cheap frozen foods for the masses, that have nothing to do with high-quality food, or even French cuisine; they are for things like burritos and fried chicken. It’s unclear why this is considered necessary. Whether it is just Skinner being greedy and wanting some additional financial revenue, or whether these frozen products are actually keeping the Gusteau restaurant afloat, I don’t know, although the restaurant seems to have a decent flow of customers throughout the movie, even at the start when Gusteau’s only has three stars. Once Skinner believes that Linguini is colluding with the rat from dinner service, he starts to get very paranoid, seeing Remy everywhere. Skinner is later fired for concealing the fact that Linguini is Gusteau’s son, so he could inherit everything instead. Skinner is the first to figure out that Linguini cannot cook and that the rat is the chef, even going so far as to capture Remy so that he can produce new foods for a new frozen food line! He also contacts the health inspector to get Gusteau’s closed. We don’t know what happens to Skinner after Gusteau’s closed down, but hopefully he could finally get some peace – or even some therapy to deal with all these strange events!
Ian Holm voiced Skinner. Sir Ian Holm began his career with the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in productions such as Twelfth Night, King Lear, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Holm moved into movie roles after that, being nominated at the Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire (1981), later winning a BAFTA for his performance. His other roles include King John in Robin and Marian (1976); Ash in Alien (1979); Fluellen in Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V (1989); Francis Willis in The Madness of King George (1994); and Terry Rapson in The Day After Tomorrow (2004). He also played Bilbo Baggins in the original The Lord of the Rings trilogy, before reprising the role in The Hobbit trilogy, with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) being his last film role. Holm died in June 2020. He won the Annie Award for Outstanding Voice Acting for his role as Chef Skinner in Ratatouille.
For Remy’s family, he has his father, Django, and his brother, Emile. Emile is quite close to Remy, although he does not understand Remy’s love of cooking, or the need to eat “only the good stuff”. Emile is happy to eat anything and everything, whether that is from the trash, or from a high-end restaurant’s food store; it all tastes the same to him! Emile does encourage Remy to steal food from Gusteau’s for him and his friends, leading to Remy being shunned by Linguini when this is discovered, but Emile doesn’t ever mean to hurt Remy, getting help when Remy is caught in a trap by Skinner, and joining the rats in finishing dinner service at Gusteau’s when Anton Ego is there. Pixar animator Peter Sohn voiced Emile. Sohn is a Pixar animator and voice actor, having directed and written the short film Partly Cloudy (2009) and voiced Squishy in Monsters University (2013). Sohn had also worked as a story artist on Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), and Up (2009). He later directed The Good Dinosaur (2015) and Elemental (2023), and voiced Sox in Lightyear (2022) and Ciccio in Luca (2021). Sohn is set to direct Incredibles 3.
Django, Remy’s father, is not at all understanding of Remy’s desire to be a chef, or his pickiness over food. The only time Django initially seems to be proud of Remy is when he sniffs out rat poison, but after that, he thinks Remy is just fussy. When Remy is finally reunited with Emile and his father, after a long period of time working as a chef with Linguini, he is even more different that he was at the start of the film. Django attempts to show Remy just how dangerous humans are, by taking him to a pest control shop, but this doesn’t dissuade Remy. Even when Remy is trapped by Skinner, once he is released by Django and the colony, he immediately returns to Gusteau’s to help Linguini. Django then sees how important this dream is to Remy, and mobilises the colony to help him out in the kitchen. By the end of Ratatouille, it is quite clear that Django has accepted his son and is very proud of him. Django was voiced by Brian Dennehy. Dennehy had previously been cast as Cobb in the Western film Silverado (1985) and went on to play Ted Montague in Romeo + Juliet (1996) which starred Leonardo di Caprio and Claire Danes in the title roles. In television, Dennehy also starred as serial killer John Wayne Gacy in the Fox TV movie To Catch a Killer (1992), with Dennehy being nominated for an Emmy Award in the Lead Actor category for his performance. Dennehy also won awards for his role as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, both in the TV adaptation in 2000, where he won the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award in the equivalent of the Best Actor category, and on stage, receiving a Tony Award for his role in the 1999 production of the play. More recently, Dennehy was cast in the recurring role of Dominic Wilkinson in NBC’s Blacklist (2013-23) from Season 3 to Season 7. He passed away in April 2020.
Moving on, we have the stern food critic Anton Ego. Ego’s name strikes fear into the hearts of all chefs across Paris, as his criticism can make or break a restaurant. In the case of Gusteau’s, he actually did both. Initially, his harsh critique of the restaurant causes it to lose a star, and could be a cause of the death of Chef Gusteau, as his five-star restaurant quickly lost its good name and reputation, thanks to Ego, and he lost hope. This then led to another star being lost, as per tradition that if a head chef dies, a restaurant must lose a star from its rating. Ego says himself at the end of Ratatouille that negative criticism is both fun to read and write, so this review of Gusteau’s may’ve been unnecessarily unfair. I personally like to sit more on the side of being compassionate alongside my criticism, whereas Ego clearly doesn’t! Ego seems to have quite a problem with Gusteau’s, as he only returns to the restaurant when he learns it is becoming popular again, wanting to crush the dreams of new head chef Linguini before it can rise again. However, that is not what happens, and despite being served a basic dish of ratatouille, Ego finds himself transported back to his childhood with the plate of food and devours it. When Ego learns that Remy, a rat, was in fact the chef that evening, he slowly takes in what this means, and writes a very positive review – without mentioning the rat part! Once Gusteau’s shuts down from a rat infestation, Ego loses his job as a critic, but joins up with Linguini and Remy to fund a new restaurant so this new artist, as Ego called him, can flourish in Paris once more.
Peter O’Toole voiced Anton Ego. O’Toole is well-known for his role as T.E. Lawrence in the epic drama film Lawrence of Arabia (1962), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, and won the BAFTA, amongst others. After that, he portrayed King Henry II of England in Becket (1964), with Richard Burton in the title role. O’Toole won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his performance, also being nominated for an Oscar and others once again. O’Toole also portrayed Henry II in The Lion in Winter (1968), which also starred Katharine Hepburn and Anthony Hopkins, winning a Golden Globe for the role. He won another Golden Globe when he was then cast as Arthur “Chips” Chipping in the musical film adaptation Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969). Later in his career, O’Toole was cast as Priam in Troy (2004) and as Pope Paul III in Season 2 of The Tudors (2007-10), also playing Maurice Russell in the movie Venus (2006). O’Toole died in 2013.
Chef Gusteau only appears as himself in Ratatouille in archive television footage, shown in a documentary and a news report about him and his restaurant. However, throughout Ratatouille, a small, imaginary Gusteau appears to speak with Remy from time to time, guiding him on his journey. Gusteau also speaks to Remy through the cardboard advertising cut-outs for the frozen foods, which all show Gusteau in whatever stereotypical dress may match the cuisine being sold! This is only when Remy is in Skinner’s office and learns that Gusteau is Linguini’s father – where the various Gusteau’s are shocked at this discovery, naturally, because Remy didn’t know so how could they? Brad Garrett voiced Gusteau. Garrett starred as Robert Barone in Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005), alongside Ray Romano, for which he won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor. Garrett has voiced other characters for Disney and Pixar, including Dim in A Bug’s Life (1998), Bloat in Finding Nemo (2003), Hook Hand in Tangled (2010) and Eeyore in Christopher Robin (2018).
There are numerous other chefs who work at Gusteau’s, alongside Skinner, Linguini, and Remy. One of these, and the one most important to the plot of Ratatouille, is Colette, the only female chef in the kitchen. She isn’t convinced by Linguini at the start of their training together, although she does tell Skinner he can’t fire Linguini if he cooked a dish that was liked by a renowned food critic, ensuring Linguini keeps his job. During the sessions of Colette training Linguini, Linguini quickly falls for her, though Remy isn’t so happy about the fact he has to speed up his techniques to suit a high-paced professional kitchen, and “cannot be mummy”, as Colette so eloquently puts it! Remy also learns he can’t be creative here, so when Colette and Linguini are tasked with recreating an old dish of Gusteau’s that was apparently terrible, Linguini tries to stop Remy from going against Colette’s advice to follow the recipe to the letter, but this is ignored. That same evening Linguini talks with Chef Skinner, and the next morning, because he is asleep and Remy is trying to hide that fact, Colette gets frustrated that Linguini seems to think he’s better than her, even though she had to work very hard to get to this position as a woman in a male-dominated industry, something many women can relate to. Linguini and Colette later become an item, and Colette even accepts that Remy is a chef, after a brief time of being disgusted by this and the betrayal, continuing to work with Remy in his new restaurant. Janeane Garofalo voiced Colette. Garofalo began her career in comedy in stand-up before moving in to movie and television roles. Some of these include being a cast member in the 1994-95 season of Saturday Night Live (1975-present), playing Louise Thornton in Season 7 of The West Wing (1999-2006), and voicing Bridget the giraffe in Disney’s The Wild (2006), amongst many others.
The other chefs at Gusteau’s don’t have many lines and are not given much character development, but they are important to the kitchen, so I’ll list them here anyway. Horst is the German sous-chef at Gusteau’s, who has been to prison, but nobody knows why as he changes his story all the time, saying he created the hole in the ozone or that he killed a man with his thumb! He was voiced by Will Arnett. Arnett is known for roles like George Oscar Bluth II in Arrested Development (2003-06, 2013-19) and voicing the title role in BoJack Horseman (2014-20). He also voiced the role of Lego Batman in the Lego movie franchise. Recently, Arnett wrote, produced and starred as Alex Novak in the movie Is This Thing On? (2025) opposite Laura Dern.
Lalo supposedly ran away from home at the age of 12, and joined the circus initially. He is the saucier chef. Lalo was voiced by Julius Callahan. Pompidou is the pastry chef, and was a cheat at cards, having been banned from numerous casinos in Las Vegas and Monte Carlo. Pompidou was voiced by animator Tony Fucile, who worked on other Pixar films like Brave (2012), Inside Out (2015), and Soul (2020). Larousse worked for the Resistance, but he never said which resistance, only that they didn’t win. Larousse is the chef garde manger, meaning he deals with the cold dishes. He was voiced by James Remar, who is well-known for playing Harry Morgan in the crime drama Dexter (2006-13), reprising the role in the continuing series Dexter: Resurrection (2025-present). He also was cast as Peter Gambi in The CW’s superhero series Black Lightning (2018-21) and recently played Francis Shaw in HBO’s It – Welcome to Derry (2025-present).
Finally, Mustafa, the easily stressed maître d’, was voiced by John Ratzenberger, Pixar’s “good luck charm”, who had a voice role in every Pixar movie, starting with Hamm in Toy Story (1995), up to construction worker Fennwick in Onward (2020). He later returned to Pixar to reprise his voice role as Fritz, one of the mind workers, in Inside Out 2 (2024) and will reprise his role as Hamm in Toy Story 5 (2026).
Although the voice cast do a brilliant job with their roles in Ratatouille, it is quite strange that no French actors were cast in the main roles, despite many of them putting on French accents! There is also another random voice casting that may only interest those in the UK. The health inspector was voiced by chef Jamie Oliver in the UK release of the film.
PRODUCTION
Quite a lot of films have stories of directors changing, sometimes multiple times over the course of a movie’s production, due to story issues or clashes of personalities. Animated movies are no different.
For Ratatouille, it was meant to be the first Pixar feature assignment for Jan Pinkava, who had previously directed the short Geri’s Game (1997) for Pixar, which accompanied the release of A Bug’s Life. Pinkava had also worked as a story artist on Toy Story 2 (1999) and Monsters, Inc. prior to starting work on Ratatouille. However, John Lasseter, then Chief Creative Officer of Pixar, didn’t like how the story was going, not feeling that it was progressing sufficiently, so he and producer Brad Lewis tasked Brad Bird, who had just finished directing The Incredibles, with fixing the story for Ratatouille. Bird later took over from Pinkava as director, with Pinkava leaving the company around 2006. He did, however, still receive story credit[1].
Brad Bird had just enjoyed the incredible success of The Incredibles, his first movie for Pixar, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and goes down as one of Pixar’s best films to this day. Bird was not an original employee of Pixar, having also worked on The Simpsons (1989-present) beforehand, and rose to prominence after directing the technically impressive The Iron Giant (1999) for Warner Bros. Feature Animation, although it underperformed at the box office. Bird then joined up with Pixar, where he became part of the creative team. After directing Ratatouille, Bird directed two live-actions films, one being Disney’s live-action film Tomorrowland (2015), and the other being Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011). He later returned to Pixar to direct and write Incredibles 2 (2018), the first sequel in The Incredibles franchise, and will return to write and executive produce Incredibles 3, set for release in 2028. Bird also wrote and directed the animated movie Ray Gunn, which is due to be released on Netflix in 2026, for Skydance.
It is unclear just what the original concept for Ratatouille under Pinkava was meant to be, although it was always meant to be about a rat in Paris who loves to cook, so the basic idea was there from the beginning, as was the title “Ratatouille”. Pinkava’s idea was more focused on Remy leading a double life, so cooking in the kitchen with Linguini and then returning home to his life as a rat. An element of this may be evident in the deleted scene “Heist/Fantasy”, although it is not obvious whether Ratatouille’s deleted scenes came after or during Pinkava’s involvement in the movie. In the scene “Heist/Fantasy”, Remy’s rat family was shown to be thieves who targeted restaurants’ trash cans like robbers target bank vaults; when they stole food, it was like a heist. Remy volunteers to be the lookout on one of these heists, watching over the restaurant, which happens to be Gusteau’s, from the skylight. However, instead of focusing on whether or not any human is heading for the trash cans, Remy starts to daydream about working there as a chef in this kitchen. Remy is pulled out of his daydream by Chef Skinner shouting, but it is too late for Remy to signal to the colony and they all rush home to the sewer, angry at Remy for not doing his job. An early version of the story also included Chef Gusteau, the real human being Chef Gusteau, not Remy’s imaginary version. In a cut scene, Gusteau is shown in his office telling Skinner how he is against all the frozen food lines that they are selling. This idea was not used, as it included too many storylines, so living Gusteau had to go[2].
Another necessary of aspect of creating Ratatouille, along with building the story, was to build the environment for it. Ratatouille was to be set in Paris, so naturally, the team had to visit Paris for research trips. This involved researching and studying the architecture and the cuisine, both of which had to look authentic. Everyone knows some of the key landmarks of Paris, like Notre-Dame Cathedral and the Eiffel Tower, and they both appear in Ratatouille, however, it was not only these obvious elements of the city that had to be included. Essential parts of city planning like manhole covers, gutters, and edgings also had to be photographed and studied up close, especially as the rats go in and out of the sewers and pipework in this film. The Pixar animators also had to capture just what Paris would look like from a rat’s perspective, so that meant lots of photographs taken from the ground. The team also observed how this centuries-old city looked, with stonework eroding and limestone degradation, to ensure they captured the age of Paris. You’ll also notice that Ratatouille’s Paris seems to be a less modern-day one, as there are no skyscrapers in the skyline.
As Bird came on to the project quite late, he was only able to go on one research trip to Paris, but he was inspired by one specific moment for one specific sequence in the film. This is the sequence of Linguini and Remy down by the Seine, when Linguini is meant to drown Remy in the river, as instructed by Chef Skinner, but he can’t bring himself to do it. Bird said this was inspired by a walk along the Seine by Notre-Dame Cathedral one night. It had a spooky quality to it, with drifting fog and fading light, and it was decided they had to have a scene at this spot, in that atmosphere, within the film[3].
A further area of research was looking at restaurants and their kitchens, where the Pixar team noticed a huge contrast between the atmosphere and look of the main dining room versus the kitchen. For the interior dining room and exterior façade of Gusteau’s restaurant, using their knowledge of high-end restaurants, they created stone pillars and a large stately building to host the restaurant, with lots of fabrics and red hues for the main dining room, embellished with plenty of gilt. The kitchen, on the other hand, is mostly white tile and brass or copper details, and plenty of expensive cookware.
There was more studying of chefs themselves at The French Laundry restaurant in Yountville, California, in Napa Valley, during an evening dinner service. Here, they learnt that each chef knows precisely what they are doing and where they are going in the kitchen, making their seamless movements look almost choreographed. They also discovered that chefs use a lot of spoons and not too many other utensils, knowing it would therefore be inaccurate to see them cooking with anything else, for the most part. This study of chefs even went to the characters being created, who have burn marks and scars on their arms and hands if you look closely, as many professionals do. The interior dining room is meant to symbolise serenity and relaxation, despite the back kitchen being loud, busy, and hot[4].
Speaking of The French Laundry restaurant, which is a three-Michelin-star restaurant, it is owned by head chef Thomas Keller, who had a hand in Ratatouille as well. He was tasked with updating the simple ratatouille dish for a Michelin-star-worthy restaurant, so we have him to thank for making something so simple look so good. Keller was also a food consultant on this film, and was also studied by the animators when cooking[5].
Back at the Pixar studio in Emeryville, now they had the research, they just had to get animating. It was soon discovered that food digitally created by a computer doesn’t look right. It struggles to look organic and fresh. This was immediately an obstacle for the animators because they couldn’t make Ratatouille without showing high-quality menu items. The only way to do this was to continuously work on making the food look tasty. Therefore, more than 270 pieces of food were created, with help from Michael Warch, Pixar’s sets and layout manager, who had been to culinary school. These meals were cooked for the animators to photograph and use as reference material for their animation. Warch served as the production’s “sous-chef”[6]. You also couldn’t animate Ratatouille without looking up close at rats, where many of the Pixar animators learnt to like rats, finding them quite sweet. They focused on areas of the rat that were the most appealing, such as their fuzzy fur and their little eyes and ears. They avoided focusing too much on other less cute areas, like their tails. The rats were brought in by animators who had pet rats, and they focused on their movements and how their fur moved or changed in different environments[7].
Finally, I’ll mention a few Easter eggs that Pixar are known for placing in their films. One is the Pizza Planet truck which is a constant in Pixar films. In Ratatouille, the truck is travelling on a bridge over the Seine during Skinner and Remy’s chase through Paris when Remy has stolen documents about Gusteau. A113, the classroom number where many of Pixar’s animators studied at CalArts, is printed onto the tough rat’s ear on a tag. You can also see references to other Pixar movies within Ratatouille, such as Dug’s shadow being seen as Remy is running through the apartments when he first arrives in Paris, and Hal the cockroach from WALL-E is in Linguini’s apartment when we first see inside it. Both WALL-E and Dug’s film Up were upcoming movie releases for Pixar. The character Bomb Voyage from Brad Bird’s previous film The Incredibles is also seen a couple of times, like on the front of the paper Colette is reading as she reads out the critic’s review, and as a mime when Colette and Linguini are roller skating. For any food fans out there, you’ll also have discovered that the rating system for Gusteau’s does not comply with the Michelin Guide, where a restaurant can only have three stars. Gusteau’s has five only because Pixar didn’t want to waste story time explaining those who didn’t know to the audience; a five-star rating is globally understood as something good.
MUSIC
Michael Giacchino was the composer of the music in Pixar’s Ratatouille, and the reason he was chosen is simple: because Brad Bird liked collaborating with him on The Incredibles.
Pixar seem to have longstanding collaborations with various people including composers, with Giacchino being just one of those who has worked on numerous other Pixar films. Giacchino’s musical credits for Pixar include composing the score for Up (2009), Inside Out (2015), Coco (2017), and Lightyear (2022). He has also composed the music for Disney Animation’s Zootopia (2016) and Zootopia 2 (2025). Away from animation, Giacchino was nominated for Primetime Emmy awards for his work on the series Lost (2004-10), winning one for his underscore of its pilot episode, and composed the music for the Jurassic World trilogy, ending with Jurassic World: Dominion (2022).
Giacchino spoke about creating two themes for Remy for this film. One follows his rat life, where he is running through the apartments in Paris, looking for food, like in the track “Wall Rat”, and a second which is the theme of his hopes, which can be heard when Remy first sees the Paris skyline and Gusteau’s restaurant, like in “Ratatouille Main Theme”. I also like “Souped Up”, which plays as Remy fixes the soup that Linguini has messed up because it becomes very jazzy, and high-spirited, as we see Remy in his happy place, creating food. “Remy Drives a Linguini” shows Remy and Linguini’s “buddy theme” as they learn how to work together to get Linguini to come across as brilliant chef, with Remy moving him like a puppet via his hair. The score was recorded on the same scoring stage at Sony Pictures Studio as that of Jurassic Park (1993)[8].
The song “Le Festin” was written to reflect the story of Remy achieving his dream. It plays during the ending sequence where we see Remy happy cooking at his restaurant, but it also appears after Linguini takes control of Gusteau’s in that montage. It was performed by French singer Camille, who was proud to perform a song for a film set in France, as well as being able to perform it in French[9]. It is a beautiful song, which perfectly captures the setting of Ratatouille, transporting you to the streets of Paris. Camille recently co-composed the score and songs for the movie Emilia Pérez (2024) with Clément Ducol. Camille also performed on the song “El Mal” as background vocals. “El Mal” won the Academy Award, the Critics’ Choice Award, and the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. Another song from this film, “Mi Camino”, was nominated in this same category. The soundtrack as a whole won the Cannes Soundtrack Album at the Cannes Film Festival.
In terms of awards, Giacchino was nominated at the Academy Awards in the category of Best Original Score, but lost out to Dario Marianelli’s music for Atonement (2007). He was also nominated at the Satellite Awards for Best Original Score, this time losing to Alberto Iglesias and The Kite Runner (2007). The only song in the soundtrack, “Le Festin”, was nominated at the World Soundtrack Awards and the Online Film & Television Association Awards for Best Original Song. Giacchino did win the Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production, and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack Album for his work on Ratatouille. He also won the International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for an Animated Film.
In October 2015, the Royal Albert Hall held an event titled Ratatouille Live in Concert, where the movie was screened with a live orchestra playing the score.
RECEPTION
Ratatouille was released in the US on 29th June 2007, having apparently originally been set for release in 2006; Pixar’s Cars took the 2006 date instead.
Due to the potentially unfamiliar word with non-French-speaking audiences, it was decided that all the movie posters should show phonetically how to pronounce the film title “ratatouille”, to ensure there was no confusion!
In theatres, Ratatouille was accompanied by a Pixar short film, as is tradition. In this case, the short film was titled Lifted. It had previously debuted at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2006 before being paired with Ratatouille a year later. Lifted sees a young alien being tested on abducting humans, like we’d be examined for a driving test. The young alien, named Stu, struggles with the pressure and the various switches on the control panel, not being able to get the sleeping human through his bedroom window and beamed up to the ship. Instead, the alien hits all the switches, causing chaos in the human’s bedroom. Eventually, the alien works out what to do, and beams the human up to the entrance to the ship but in all the excitement, the human is dropped. The examiner alien takes over, returning all the items and human back to their rightful place in the room, before taking the controls to return home. Seeing the young alien sad, the examiner hands the controls to the alien to steer them home, but the spaceship crashes onto the human’s house, destroying all of it, apart from the human’s bed, which he is still asleep in. The ship leaves behind a huge crater, which the human accidentally falls into when he wakes up.
The short was written and directed by Gary Rydstrom, a sound designer and film director, having also won awards for his sound work on the likes of Titanic (1997), Jurassic Park (1993), and Saving Private Ryan (1998), as well as animated movies like Hercules (1997), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), and A Bug’s Life (1998). Lifted was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards, losing to The Danish Poet (2006).
There were initial concerns about Ratatouille at the box office, despite being No. 1 at the domestic box office on its opening weekend, having sold $47.2 million worth of tickets in its first three days, way ahead of second-place Live Free or Die Hard (2007) with $33.2 million. But it was the lowest opening result for a Pixar movie since A Bug’s Life, which made $33.3 million in its first few days in 1998. It also continued a trend of each Pixar movie failing to surpass its predecessor, as Cars had made $60.1 million in 2006. Ratatouille was said to have struggled due to competition from Transformers (2007)[10].
However, I don’t particularly care about how a movie does in only America, as it’s the worldwide box office figures that give the best overall picture of a film’s financial success in my opinion. Ratatouille did well in European markets, for example, setting record results in countries like Germany and Austria, as well as becoming the No. 1 film for six weeks in Summer 2007 in France, the country where Ratatouille is set[11]. Ratatouille didn’t even open in the UK until October 2007, so for the US media to be condemning Ratatouille to being a financial disappointment for Pixar back in June was a bit premature.
Overall, Ratatouille made just over $623 million from its initial release, ending the year in the No. 6 spot at the worldwide box office; it made just over $200 million domestically, and it surpassed Cars, which made $462 million in total. The Top 5 movies of 2007 were made up by Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Spider-Man 3; DreamWorks’ Shrek the Third; and Transformers, so sure, Pixar didn’t match up to DreamWorks’ third Shrek film, but they did much better critically, which would matter most to me. Elsewhere in animation, Ratatouille surpassed The Simpsons Movie; DreamWorks’ Bee Movie; and Disney’s Meet the Robinsons.
In terms of audience reception, most reviews were positive. Many felt Ratatouille was a great addition to the Pixar catalogue, and recovered Pixar’s reputation after the lacklustre Cars. The animation was once again seen to be amazing, and it was decided the story was both funny and endearing, with a great voice cast. Some even say that Ratatouille is one of the best animated movies ever made.
On the other side, some felt Ratatouille wasn’t particularly funny, unlike some of Pixar’s earlier movies, and that it was less child-friendly, due to the length of the film and the emotional depth of the story. I would have to agree on both of these comments, not that it bothers me, but it did feel like Pixar hadn’t made a film directly aimed at children for the first time. Some also commented on the fact some characters were ignored, such as the chefs at Gusteau’s, who barely get any lines themselves and whose backstories are delivered in one three-minute scene between Colette and Linguini. Others simply couldn’t get past the idea of rats being in the kitchen, finding it too hygienic to get on board with!
During awards season, Ratatouille did very well, picking up many awards and nominations. For example, at the Academy Awards, Ratatouille was nominated, not only for Best Animated Feature and Best Original Score, but also for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Original Screenplay. Pixar only went home with the award for Best Animated Feature, but it was still a success for them nonetheless, despite the fact only two other animated films were nominated in this category: Persepolis and Surf’s Up.
At the Annie Awards, Ratatouille received 13 nominations, going on to win nine awards, in categories including Best Animated Feature, which also saw The Simpsons Movie and Bee Movie being nominated alongside Persepolis and Surf’s Up; Character Animation; Directing; Production Design; Storyboarding; and Writing. Pixar lost the Animated Effects award to Deborah Carlson’s work on Surf’s Up though, and could only win once in the Voice Acting category, with the win going to Ian Holm as Skinner; Patton Oswalt and Janeane Garofalo were also nominated for their roles as Remy and Colette respectively.
Other awards Ratatouille won in the Best Animated Film category include the Critics’ Choice Award, the Golden Globe, the Kids’ Choice Award, the Satellite Award, and the Saturn Award. The People’s Choice Awards handed out the Favorite Family Movie award to Shrek the Third for some reason. Brad Bird was also nominated in some other ceremonies for Best Original Screenplay, winning the award at the Boston Society of Film Critics Awards and the Saturn Awards, where it was in the category of Best Writing.
LEGACY
As with most Pixar, and quite a few Disney movies, when they are released on DVD or Blu-Ray, usually they are released with a new short film, sometimes related to the movie, like an exceptionally small sequel of sorts.
In the case of Ratatouille, this short film was titled Your Friend the Rat. This short saw Remy and Emile take the audience on a journey through the history of rats, trying to get us humans to change our opinion on them by showing that rats can be cool and should be able to live in peace and harmony with humans. If you’re concerned this short film has made light of the dangers that rats can pose to humans in terms of diseases, don’t worry because Pixar added a disclaimer at the end, saying that we should be careful around rats! This short uses a combination of both computer-generated and traditional hand-drawn animation sequences, with 2D animation also being used in the end credits of Ratatouille.
At the Disney Parks, Ratatouille has increasingly become an addition by way of attractions. Disneyland Paris was actually the first to reference Ratatouille, which is perhaps surprising because the US Disney Parks tend to get the biggest, newest attractions first, but then again Ratatouille is set in Paris so it makes complete sense! The 4D trackless attraction Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy opened at the Walt Disney Studios Park in July 2014, alongside an area dedicated to Ratatouille, which also included the restaurant Bistrot Chez Rémy, and Chez Marianne, a souvenir shop. The restaurant serves French foods, like soup and steak frites, but the menu is not inaccessible to the majority of park-goers. The interior consists of larger-than-life decorations, to resemble that terrace where Remy and other members of the rat colony are sitting at the end of the film, and to make guests feel as though they are the size of rats. These are all still at the secondary park of Disneyland Paris, however, after a refurbishment, the ride will reopen in Spring 2026 with an updated video which will not be in 3D, reverting to a 2D video instead. Walt Disney Studios Park will also be renamed to Disney Adventure World in 2026; however, this area should remain untouched during renovations and refurbishments of the park. Emile and Remy have both been seen at Disneyland Paris as meet-and-greet characters, however, they have not been seen for a few years.
In 2021, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida recreated the Ratatouille-themed attraction in their Epcot Park, specifically in the World Showcase’s France Pavilion. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure opened on 1st October 2021, to coincide with Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary date and the celebrations that followed on from that. It had previously been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure recently underwent a minor refurbishment – only a few days long – to change the video portion of the ride from 3D to 2D, reopening in mid-November 2025. The construction of this attraction led to a new area at the back of the France pavilion being opened up, where a restaurant was also added. This is La Crêperie de Paris, technically a table-service restaurant, serving savoury and sweet crepes, naturally, however, this is a kiosk attached to it, which sells certain items from the restaurant from its walk-up window. Also in Epcot, for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, an annual event, a scavenger hunt allows for guests to spot different figures of Remy throughout the pavilions of World Showcase; it is called Remy’s Ratatouille Hide & Squeak. Technically it is a paid-for addition, however, if you don’t want the map or need the prize at the end of it, you can just spot the Remys without paying. Remy may also be featured on merchandise sold for this event, due to his culinary skills.
In terms of meet-and-greet characters here, at the time the film was released in 2007, Remy was meeting guests at the former The Magic of Disney Animation pavilion at the previously named Disney-MGM Studios Park, now known as Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Remy and Emile also were both seen during the Limited Time Magic event, where rare characters came out to meet guests, in January 2019. An animatronic Remy was also seen at Les Chefs de France for a limited time from 2009 to 2013; his last appearance was in October 2013. Remy would visit guests by their tables, sitting on a cart on a plate. Here, he would interact with guests. This event was called Bon Appétit from Chef Remy and was a pre-booked dining experience. Animatronic Remy was also seen at Disneyland Paris around this time, at the Rendez-Vous des Stars, or Restaurant des Stars, in Walt Disney Studios Park. It is unclear when Remy the animatronic disappeared from here, but it may’ve been when the attraction and its accompanying restaurant were built.
At Disneyland in California, at the Pixar Place Hotel, many references to Pixar movies can be spotted around the location, including ones to Ratatouille. Figurines of both Remy and Emile, and Chef Skinner have been seen at the Creators Club Concierge Lounge here. Other references may be seen in artwork and décor. At Pixar Pier, there may be similar nods to Ratatouille, specifically at the Lamplight Lounge dining location. During Pixar Fest from April 2024 until August 2024, there was a food both named Gusteau’s To-Go at Disney California Adventure’s Pixar Fest Marketplace, which served a ratatouille mini-pizza and a Gusteau-themed macaron, and some specialty drinks. Some limited-edition merchandise items themed to the movie were also available at this time. Ratatouille was strangely absent from any of the live entertainment offerings at Pixar Fest 2024 though, despite Emile and Remy both appearing during the Pixar Pals Dance Party at Pixar Fest in 2018. It would seem that Pixar Fest 2024 was really just an advertisement for Pixar’s newer film releases that hadn’t had as much coverage due to the pandemic, rather than a true celebration of all of their films. Pixar Fest has not returned to Disney California Park since 2024.
In the Disney Parks in Asia, there are less references to Ratatouille, but there are still a few. For example, Remy’s Patisserie, a bakery themed to Remy and the film, selling French-inspired goods opened at Shanghai Disneyland on 16th June 2016, the same opening date as the park. It is situated on Mickey Avenue. Remy’s Patisserie doesn’t seem to be listed on Shanghai Disneyland’s website for some reason; I don’t know if it has since closed. Remy is also used for the Rat in the Garden of the Twelve Friends, where Disney and Pixar characters resemble the signs of the Chinese zodiac. Outside of Remy and Emile meeting guests at Hong Kong Disneyland back in 2018, Ratatouille doesn’t appear to be a popular property for the Disney Parks on this continent.
On the Disney Cruise Line, there is more luck as the restaurant Remy exists on the Disney Fantasy and Disney Dream ships. Remy is an upscale restaurant, for adults only and with a strict dress code, lightly themed to Ratatouille. Its private Chef’s Table dining room is called Chez Gusteau’s. There is also likely to be some reference to the film at the Pixar Market Restaurant on the Disney Adventure ship when that sails in 2026.
Disney allegedly had been planning on producing a Ratatouille wine, with Remy featured on the label, to be sold at Costco in 2007, no doubt as promotion for the movie. However, Disney quickly cancelled their plans when the California Wine Institute pressured them not to release it, reminding them of advertising codes, where alcohol labels cannot be seen to be appealing to children. Due to having Remy on the label, who would become a recognisable icon of a movie aimed at children, this wine was deemed unsellable and the project was cancelled[12]. This led to other food and drink tie-ins being a struggle to promote, however, standard merchandise items like homeware, bags, plush toys, and pins themed to Ratatouille and Remy are readily available at some Disney Parks and Disney Stores. There was also the usual video games released, following the film’s storyline. I had Ratatouille the game on PlayStation 2, but never finished it.
Finally, back in 2020 when everyone was bored at home during lockdowns, the social media app TikTok exploded in popularity, particularly in the US, and one viral moment to come from it that year was the Ratatouille TikTok musical. The musical all began with Emily Jacobson, a teacher, who posted a video to TikTok in August 2020 with a song written about Remy. This video later was seen by Daniel Mertzlufft, an orchestrator, who arranged the song as a Broadway musical-style song. Other TikTok users and musicians began adding to this idea for “Ratatouille the Musical” and it became a complete show, directed by Lucy Moss, the co-creator of musical Six, and streamed to the world on 1st January 2021. Some big names appeared in this show including singer Adam Lambert, comedian Wayne Brady, and actor Tituss Burgess, known for playing Titus Andromedon in sitcom Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015-19). The show raised $1 million for The Actors Fund[13].
Disney and Pixar didn’t have a problem with this unofficial remake of their work, but don’t think this means that Pixar movies will start getting the Disney “live-action remake” treatment, because it has been stated by Pete Docter, Pixar’s Chief Creative Officer, that there is no live-action Ratatouille, or any other live-action remake coming from Pixar[14].
FINAL THOUGHTS
Who would’ve ever thought that a film about a little rat wanting to cook could become such an iconic piece of animation history for so many?
I like Ratatouille for its animation and the scenes of cooking. I like the romanticism of Paris that the movie captures. And I particularly like Anton Ego’s final critique of Gusteau’s with its quiet reflection of just what being an artist can mean and how art touches people. Those at Pixar are experts at creating art that means so much to people themselves.
Ratatouille continues to be remembered by audiences even if perhaps its popularity has been overtaken by newer films that might be more fun and colourful. Ratatouille felt like it was aimed at a slightly older audience unlike its predecessors but that suited me as a teen. I haven’t really considered what my personal ranking of Pixar movies would be, however, I know that Ratatouille would easily fit in my Top 5.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Richard Corliss, ‘Savoring Pixar’s Ratatouille’, Time.com, 7th June 2007.
[2] Credit: Pixar, “Deleted Scenes”, from Ratatouille (2007), Disney+.
[3] Credit: Pixar, “Building Paris”, Special Features YouTube Channel, 29th March 2021.
[4] Credit: Pixar, “Behind the Swinging Doors”, Special Features YouTube Channel, 29th March 2021.
[5] Credit: Harvey Steiman, ‘Animation, Cooking and Rats’, WineSpectator.com, 15th November 2007.
[6] Credit: Disney, ‘Five Facts about Ratatouille That Every Fan Should Know’, Disney Official YouTube Channel, 25th February 2021.
[7] Credit: Pixar, “Care and Feeding of Your CG Rat”, Special Features YouTube Channel, 29th March 2021.
[8] Credit: Pixar, “My Dad the Composer”, Special Features YouTube Channel, 29th March 2021.
[9] Credit: Pixar, “Ratatouille – Behind the music with Michael Giacchino”, from antcornfield YouTube Channel, 5th April 2009.
[10] Credit: Dean Goodman, ‘‘Ratatouille’ cooks up lukewarm box office win’, Reuters.com, 9th August 2007.
[11] Credit: The Guardian, ‘Ratatouille races to top of global box office’, TheGuardian.com, 9th October 2007.
[12] Credit: Jim Korkis, ‘More Disney Dream Dining’, MousePlanet.com, 19th Aprul 2017.
[13] Credit: BBC, ‘Ratatouille musical: TikTok phenomenon raises $1m for actors’ charity’, BBC.co.uk, 4th January 2021.
[14] Credit: Zoe G. Phillips, ‘Pixar CCO Says Live-Action Remakes Bother Him: “I Like Making Movies That Are Original’, HollywoodReporter.com, 11th June 2024.
The Disney Purist 