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#This is the plot of Ratatouille and I 100% support this
jasshandssssss · 3 months
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Disclaimer: I wrote this at 12 AM and the writing style is a joke I don’t actually talk like an old british man irl. but enjoy anyway if anyone ends up seeing this :)
I’ve watched the movie “Ratatouille” with my full attention only twice in my lifetime. Once in late 2022, and the other time being today, New Years’ Day in 2024. New year, new me, so I decided to see if my thoughts of the movie had changed over time. And indeed they did.
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When I first watched the movie, I thought it was mediocre. A tad bit disgusting, myself being ratphobic. I’m scared of any and all creatures, whether they be dogs, cats, rats, or humans. Some I find adorable from afar while others I straight up despise. Rats were the latter. It didn’t help that Remy wasn’t the most likable character. Of course, like any main character in a story, he went through development as the movie progressed, but right off the bat, I didn’t find him likable on a base level. Disliking the main character definitely didn’t help me like the movie more. I really didn’t find any of the characters very lovable, and for the first half of my rewatching of the movie, I was in a state of frustration. But we’ll talk about that a bit later. For now, let us tackle my original thoughts of the movie, starting around a year ago.
Apart from what I already said, I often had the shallow criticism of, “But rats are disgusting! I wouldn’t want one anywhere near my food, much less preparing it with its own grubby paws!” And while I still feel this way, I will not let this thought get in the way of my ‘enjoyment’ of this movie, because of course, that is all it is: a movie. The fact that it is a piece of fiction also allows me to excuse the fact that off the top of my head, I can recall the main cast causing at least 2 major car crashes within the movie, which is slightly alarming but it is there for exaggeration and comedic purposes, and no real harm was done.
However, there is a particular instance of ‘exaggeration’ done to advance the plot that did cause me quite a bit of emotional distress. This was near the end of the movie, when Remy had gathered his rat clan in the kitchen to help him. Or specifically, when the health inspector was captured.
Now, both Skinner and the inspector were captured during this sequence, but Skinner had already played a major antagonistic role in the movie that made it so the viewer didn’t really sympathize with him in his circumstances of being captured by rats. However, I felt terribly sad for the inspector. The poor man was just trying to do his job. He walked into the restaurant, expecting to be greeted by the sight of a normal, human staff, and expecting to just debrief them of the details of his inspection and get on with his work. However, as soon as he walked in, he was in for a fright. He saw at least 100 rats gathered in the kitchen area, and as any reasonable person would, immediately left the scene. He tried to get in his car, escape the frightening sight he had just witnessed, but then a team of rats covered his car as he was attempting to leave. I can’t imagine the amount of horror I would’ve felt if I were in similar circumstances. I don’t even think I would’ve lived! I would’ve died from fear at that point. But outside of camera view, more inevitable horrors happen to this health inspector. The rats eventually somehow make their way inside the car, and find a rope to tie him up. Being tied up against your will would already be an unpleasant sensation as it is, but by an army of rats? Oh, the horror! They tie him up, and drag him through the pavement, probably causing him pain, and throw him in the kitchen’s closet, unable to even cry for help! The only fellow humans he even sees during this entire sequence are supporters of the rats! Oh, the betrayal he must have felt! Anyway, the thought of what this poor health inspector might have felt made me feel distressed, which significantly lowered my enjoyment of the end of the movie.
Now that my thoughts of the health inspector’s misfortune have been covered, let us move on to my feelings of the characters as a whole. As I mentioned earlier, I did in fact feel frustration about the characters in the first half of the movie. Let’s talk about the most important one first: Remy.
One thing that annoyed me about Remy at the start of the movie was his view of rats and humans. He was bothered by his family’s ‘stealing’ of garbage, and proposed that if they were stealing anyway, why not steal more quality food? He also claims that unlike the rest of the rat clan, he doesn’t hate humans.
While he and his father are having an argument about the ‘stealing’ of food is wrong, his father’s argument is, “If it’s garbage, no one wants it! Why would it be stealing if no one wants it?” And I couldn’t have said it better myself! Why is Remy so agitated by the clan’s supposed thievery if they are not harming anyone with their actions. Garbage is food that has been thrown out, and forsaken by its owner. Forsaken, meaning that it no longer belongs to anyone. So if the rats take it, they aren’t even stealing from anyone. It really isn’t stealing Remy, if you’re smart enough to read books and be a master chef, maybe you should have a brain and understand that fact too.
Remy is supposed to sympathize with humans. He advocates for them, and believes they are not as bad as his family makes them out to be. But his actions don’t reflect that at all! In fact, he is going against humans compared to his family. His dad wants to continue life as it is, living in the ceiling and eating garbage, staying out of humans’ ways, just how they’d want it. Whether this is from a place of hatred for humans or not, it still keeps both parties happy, doesn’t it? It’s not as if rats dislike their lives either, the only unhappy person is Remy in his clan. Everyone else is content living away from humans, eating garbage scraps and doing nothing very productive. Humans are happy too, not having to see rats or deal with them trying to interfere in the human world.
But Remy wants to break this. He’s the one who sneaks into the old woman’s kitchen, and then causes the whole chandelier incident in which the ceiling falls through, and reveals the sight of the hundreds of rats to the old woman. I’m not on the woman’s side here, by all means, she was entirely irrational in resorting to shooting the rats with her guns, even when she thought she was just dealing with 2 rats. And she continued to chase the rats outside as they were obviously leaving and going far far away, still wanting to shoot them for whatever reason. I dislike the woman as well, but her life was much happier before Remy ruined it, and the same goes for the rest of the rats. They were able to relocate and go back to the same lifestyle as before, but it was a hassle for everyone. The peace of everyone’s life was ruined, simply because of Remy’s selfish desires.
This was my thought process during the first half of the movie. However, as the movie went on, I started to empathize with the rat, even growing to care for him just slightly. I realized that his desire might’ve ruined everyone’s lives, but he never had bad intentions. He just wanted to follow his dreams. And I guess that’s what any average person should take away from the movie, I was just a bit too negative to realize it at the start. But I still stand by my original frustration. Remy could’ve been more reasonable when it came to his whole “thieving” ideal, and I still believe his ideals were wrong.
I don’t have much to say about Linguini as a character. All his actions were understandable, and during his fight with Remy, I understood both sides. I understood his frustration with Remy, because despite Remy doing many helpful things to him, it is still Linguini’s life, and he should be able to control it. However, Remy was feeling neglected, and he felt his efforts to help Linguini weren’t being appreciated and repaid adequately, so I don’t blame him for his actions he took in the heat of the moment; his actions to invite his entire family to steal from the pantry. Any person feeling that amount of anger would make a rash, irresponsible decision in the heat of the moment. Well, maybe not any person, but I would, so I can empathize. I’m very petty like that.
Colette was likable as well, and although I thought it was kind of stupid of her to let Linguini kiss her despite him sounding like a total madman, I understand that love makes people crazy. Yknow, don’t blame me, love made me crazy if it doesn’t you ain’t doing it right. But Linguini acting like a madman before his kiss with Colette brings me to my next point.
The second hand embarrassment I felt during this movie was a lot to say the least. Linguini’s stumbling around while being controlled by Remy, his awkward speech before Ego’s arrival, his stuttering while trying to explain to Colette about “the little chef”. Skinner also gave me a lot of embarrassment, with his muttering about the rat, especially when he was talking to his lawyer. Of course, the viewer knows what both characters are going through, but the other characters don’t. And when you ponder that fact and try to imagine how they must’ve felt while interacting with Linguini, you can’t help but cringe at it.
Abruptly jumping topics again to my last point, I absolutely despise one character in this movie. It’s not Remy (surprisingly), since I have grown fond of him. It’s not Colette because I find her very attractive and I would in fact date her. It’s not even Linguini despite him being a talentless fool (I’m joking) (Or am I?). It is none other than…. Emile.
Emile? You know, Remy’s foolish, stupid, trouble causing, brother? I absolutely despise this rat. Remy’s actions are understandable. Remy’s father’s actions are understandable as well. Everyone is understandable… but Emile. He’s just… the most despicable character in this entire movie by far.
At the start of the movie, he even said: “Why do I do what you tell me to?” in relation to following Remy despite not wanting to do it. It’s already established that he’s stupid. If you don’t want to do it, just don’t do it, it’s that easy. Later, he’s unable to get off the chandelier in time which causes it to fall, bring the entire ceiling down, expose the rat clan’s spot, and ultimately force them to leave. I know I earlier blamed this event on Remy, but Emile is at fault as well.
Then for around 40 minutes, we don’t have to see Emile again for a while, and thank god for that! But he comes back, and he’s still stupid, too stupid to acknowledge Remy’s culinary genius. And of course, despite the fact he doesn’t care about Remy’s culinary abilities, he does the action that makes me despise him most: he starts bringing all his friends over to the restaurant so Remy can smuggle them food. Why, Emile, why? Why are you this stupid? He keeps bringing more and more people each time, and making Remy smuggle more food to them. If they’re content eating garbage anyway, why would you make Remy do it, huh? Emile frustrated me the entire movie and also significantly degraded my watching experience.
Now that I have vented my frustrations, I also have to compliment the movie. The art, the animation, the colors and the picturesque scenes are all quite lovely, and the style was very comforting and pleasing to the eye. Audio wise, I have to admit that “Le Festin,” the most recognizable song from the movie, is a masterpiece. I’m actually listening to it while writing this review, and I find it quite enjoyable.
If I had to rate the movie out of 10 as a whole, to me personally, “Ratatouille” achieved a 6.5/10.
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I really have changed between my first viewing of this movie and now. Before, although it was mostly in jest, my criticism was shallow and unreasonable for a fictional children’s movie. Now that I have seriously (or somewhat seriously) analyzed the movie, I realize that most of the characters (except Emile) are likable, and while the plot may not be to my taste, it was engaging enough. The music and the visuals of the movie are also cozy, and it is overall a nice story with an admirable moral. Anyone can cook, indeed.
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