Ratatouille 720p - (2007 Lang: English)

Excellent movie!

Tonight I went to see Ratatouille during a preview offered to Myspace users in Boston. Overall the movie was GREAT! It was really funny, often in unexpected places, the storyline kept you engaged the entire time and the overall mood was lighthearted and inspiring. A real "feel-good" movie. I admit I was a bit skeptical going in, I mean the idea of a rat in a kitchen kind of left me queasy, but I left the theater excited to see it again when it is released. The voice actors are excellent and the animation is amazing. I've been to Paris before and the overall views were very accurate. At times I could tell exactly where in the city the events were taking place. Overall a fabulous movie, I highly recommend it!

Ratatouille (/rætəˈtuːiː/; French pronunciation: ​[ʁatatuj]) is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar and released by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar and was co-written and directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005. The title refers to a French dish, "ratatouille", which is served at the end of the film and is also a play on words about the species of the main character. The film stars the voices of Patton Oswalt as Remy, an anthropomorphic rat who is interested in cooking; Lou Romano as Linguini, a young garbage boy who befriends Remy; Ian Holm as Skinner, the head chef of Auguste Gusteau's restaurant; Janeane Garofalo as Colette, a rôtisseur at Gusteau's restaurant; Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a restaurant critic; Brian Dennehy as Django, Remy's father and leader of his clan; Peter Sohn as Emile, Remy's older brother; and Brad Garrett as Auguste Gusteau, a recently deceased chef. The plot follows Remy, who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy.

Development of Ratatouille began in 2000 when Pinkava wrote the original concepts of the film. In 2005, 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. Bird also interned at Thomas Keller's French Laundry restaurant, where Keller developed the confit byaldi, a dish used in the film.

Ratatouille premiered on June 22, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California, with its general release June 29, 2007, in the United States. The film grossed US$620.7 million at the box office and received universal acclaim. The film later won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, among other honors.

Remy is an idealistic and ambitious young rat, gifted with highly developed senses of taste and smell. Inspired by his idol, the recently deceased chef Auguste Gusteau, Remy dreams of becoming a cook himself. When an old French woman discovers Remy's colony in her house and attempts to exterminate them, they are forced to flee, and Remy becomes separated from his family in the panic. He ends up in the sewers of Paris and eventually finds himself at a skylight overlooking the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant.

As Remy watches through the window, a young man named Alfredo Linguini is hired as a garbage boy by Skinner, the restaurant's devious current owner and Gusteau's former sous-chef. When Linguini spills a pot of soup and attempts to recreate it, Remy recognizes that he is ruining it instead, and repairs Linguini's mistakes. Linguini catches Remy but hides him when he is then confronted by Skinner for tampering with the soup. As the two argue, the soup is accidentally served and proves to be a success. Colette Tatou, the staff's only female chef, convinces Skinner to retain Linguini, who is assumed to be the soup's creator. When Skinner catches Remy trying to escape, he orders Linguini to kill the rat, but Linguini discovers Remy's intelligence and decides to keep him instead.

On Linguini's first day as a chef, he and Remy find a way to communicate: Remy guides Linguini like a marionette by pulling on his hair while hidden under Linguini's toque, while Skinner assigns Colette to train his new cook.

Suspicious, Skinner learns that Linguini is Gusteau's illegitimate son and the rightful heir to the restaurant, which jeopardizes Skinner's control of the restaurant and the lucrative packaged food enterprise he formed using the restaurant's reputation after Gusteau's death. Remy discovers the evidence of Linguini's inheritance and, after eluding Skinner, gives it to Linguini, who deposes Skinner as owner. The restaurant continues to thrive, and Linguini and Colette develop a budding romance, leaving Remy feeling left out. Remy finds that his clan has come to Paris as well, and is taken to their new lair, but despite his father Django's attempts to rid his son of his admiration of humans, Remy leaves.

France's top restaurant critic, Anton Ego, whose previous negative review cost Gusteau's one of its stars, announces he will be re-reviewing the restaurant the following evening. After a disagreement with Linguini, Remy leads his clan to raid the restaurant's pantries in retaliation, but Linguini catches them and sends them out. Having now discovered Remy's skills, Skinner captures him in an attempt to use him to create a new line of frozen foods. However, Remy is freed by his brother Emile and Django. He returns to the restaurant, only to find Linguini is unable to cook without him. Linguini apologizes and reveals the truth to the staff, but they leave in disbelief. Colette later returns after recalling Gusteau's motto, "Anyone can cook."

Django arrives with the rest of the clan, offering to help after seeing his son's determination. Remy has the rats cook, while Linguini waits tables. For Ego and Skinner, Remy and Colette create a variation of ratatouille, which reminds an astonished Ego of his mother's cooking. During the meal, the rats are forced to tie up Skinner and a health inspector to prevent them from revealing their involvement in the cooking. When Ego requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette make him wait until the rest of the diners have left before introducing Remy. Ego is stunned and leaves the restaurant, deep in thought. He writes a positive and thoughtful review for the newspaper the next day, stating that Gusteau's chef (Remy) is "nothing less than the finest chef in France."

Despite the positive review, Gusteau's is shut down, since Linguini and Remy had to release Skinner and the health inspector. Ego loses credibility as a critic but funds a popular new bistro, "La Ratatouille", created and run by Remy, Linguini, and Colette; Ego frequents the bistro for Remy's cooking. The rats settle into their new home in the bistro's roof.

The combination of Disney and Pixar never ceases to amaze, but with Ratatouille, their newest effort, animated features are brought to new heights with the best one to date. Ratatouille is stunning, surreal while at the same time realistic, and a joy to watch. The writing is, in one word, just amazing, and the voice acting is sensational. The characters are poetic and real, and the rats are some of Disney/Pixar's cutest creations. Ratatouille is written and directed by Brad Bird (The Incredibles), and features stellar voice acting from Peter O'Toole, Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy, Lou Romano, Brad Garrett, and Janeane Garofalo.

Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is a little rat who dreams of becoming a chef just like his idol, the human Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett). After a mishap, Remy loses his family in the sewers and comes upon a fading restaurant that had previously been owned by Gusteau before his untimely death. He comes upon a lowly garbage boy, Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano), and together they set out to revive the once-legendary restaurant.

Ratatouille is filled with loads of surprises and lots of twists and turns. The animation is even more stunning here than in some of the other Disney/Pixar productions, and the breathtaking landscape of Paris, France, really adds a layer of realism to the film. The food looks so real and delicious, and the humans and rats look incredibly realistic. Remy and Linguini are both lovable characters, and the audience is rooting for them the entire way. Surprisingly enough, this movie is the funniest of the Disney/Pixar films, with very subtle and unique humor.

As previously stated, the voice acting really makes the film different, and each actor is perfectly suited to his or her role. The best among the bunch happens to be Lou Romano, as he deals with his character extremely well and is incredibly believable. There are times when the acting and animation is so excellent that you forget you are watching an animated film altogether. Brad Garrett is actually tolerable for once, and is excellent in his role as Gusteau, who acts as Remy's conscience for the majority of the film. Some of the funniest scenes in the movie are rooted from Gusteau's chats with Remy and many others come from the relationship between Linguini and Remy. On another note, Patton Oswalt does a magnificent job voicing Remy, and Peter O' Toole is very memorable as Anton Ego, the food critic for 'The Grim Eater'.

Overall, you can't ask for a better film than Ratatouille, a new classic from Disney/Pixar that is filled with humor, amazing animation, and, most importantly, lots of heart. Some of the scenes are so poetic and perfect that they just bring tears to your eyes. It may be hard to believe, but Ratatouille is far better than any other animated films you will see this year, or perhaps that you will ever see. It manages to be better than Toy Story, better than Finding Nemo, even better than the fantastic Meet the Robinsons. I saw a pre-screening of the film on Saturday, June 16, but I cannot wait to see it again once it hits theaters everywhere on June 29. See Ratatouille—it is highly original, heartwarming, uplifting, and a very thrilling movie that has to be the best animated feature of the last few decades.

Best Animated Film in Creation!