Ratatouille (2007) is a critically acclaimed computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios about a talented rat who dreams of becoming a chef in Paris, which he achieves through an unlikely partnership with a young human kitchen worker. The film was a major commercial success, won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and is celebrated for its stunning animation, heartwarming story, and universal themes.
Plot Summary
Remy, a rat with an extraordinary sense of smell and taste, lives with his colony in the French countryside but dreams of becoming a gourmet chef, inspired by the cookbook of the late, famous Chef Auguste Gusteau. After being separated from his family during an escape from an elderly woman’s house, he ends up in the sewers beneath Gusteau’s now-failing restaurant in Paris.
At the restaurant, Remy encounters Alfredo Linguini, a new, inept garbage boy who has just ruined a soup. Remy secretly fixes the soup, which earns rave reviews from customers. Linguini and Remy form a secret alliance: Remy hides under Linguini’s chef hat and controls his movements by pulling his hair, effectively becoming the “ghost chef” behind Linguini’s sudden culinary success.
Their bond is tested by the restaurant’s suspicious, short-statured head chef, Skinner, who wants to exploit Gusteau’s name for a line of frozen foods and discovers that Linguini is Gusteau’s illegitimate son and the true heir to the restaurant. After Linguini fires Skinner, the restaurant gains immense popularity and attracts the attention of Anton Ego, a feared and cynical food critic who once downgraded Gusteau’s restaurant from five stars to four.
When the human staff abandons Linguini after learning about Remy, the entire rat colony steps in to help cook for Ego’s review, with Colette Tatou, the restaurant’s only female chef, returning to help direct. Remy prepares a simple dish of confit byaldi (a variation of ratatouille) which transports Ego back to a cherished childhood memory of his mother’s cooking.
Ego writes a glowing review, calling the chef “nothing less than the finest chef in France,” but the restaurant is shut down by a health inspector whom the rats had tied up and locked in the pantry. The story ends with the group opening a new, successful bistro called “La Ratatouille,” funded by a now-happier Anton Ego, who has lost his credibility as a critic.