Ratatouille.2007

Through a chaotic partnership (Remy hides under Linguini’s toque and pulls his hair like puppet strings), they produce the best food Paris has seen in years. But standing in their way is Anton Ego, a skeletal food critic whose reviews can shutter a restaurant overnight. Let’s talk about the villain. Most animated movies give you a cackling tyrant or a jealous rival. Ratatouille gives you a thin-lipped, black-clad intellectual who types on a coffin-shaped laptop.

It is also, quietly, a movie about death. Gusteau is a ghost, a memory, a conscience. The entire plot is driven by a longing for a past that no longer exists. ratatouille.2007

The climax—where a cynical critic takes a bite and sees his childhood—is a masterclass in "show, don’t tell." There are no flashbacks with dialogue. There is just the warm, golden light of a country kitchen, a smiling mother, and a bowl of vegetables. It is pure emotional alchemy. Ratatouille is not a movie about a rat. It is a movie about the fear of failure. It is about the immigrant experience (Linguini is a lost boy; Remy is a creature in a world that hates him). It is about the war between novelty and tradition. Through a chaotic partnership (Remy hides under Linguini’s

They don’t villainize the critic. They convert him. Most animated movies give you a cackling tyrant

Title: Ratatouille Year: 2007 Director: Brad Bird Distributor: Pixar Animation Studios / Walt Disney Pictures

His subsequent review is the most beautiful monologue ever written into an animated film: "In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment... But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new."

5/5 stars (or should I say, 5/5 Eiffel Towers). "Surprise me." — Anton Ego