A rat cooking in a great Paris kitchen? Pixar pulls it off with panache

It’s a funny thing about Pixar, that revolutionary animation studio. Each time they start dropping hints about their newest project, I’m convinced I won’t like it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always been a huge fan of animation. Give me a cold six-pack of soda, a bowl full of popcorn and a marathon of Chuck Jones or Tex Avery shorts or maybe the Max Fleischer Superman cartoons from the ’40s, and I’m in toon heaven.

But something about Pixar has always rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it’s because some part of me still equates “computer animation” with plastic-looking geometric shapes twirling around on a screen while synthesized classical music blares.

Then there’s the subject matter. Fish. Monsters. Cars. Especially cars. I mean, how good can a movie be when the main characters are machines?

Well, as I admitted to a friend as we walked out of a screening of Cars last June, it can be pretty amazing. “Every time, I expect Pixar to strike out,” I told her, “and every time they hit it out of the park.” No more doubting. Pixar, I’m a true believer. Bring on your next feature. You know, the one with the talking rodent – Ratatouille.

There’s a bit of irony there, now that Pixar is a subsidiary of Disney – home of the world’s most famous talking rodent. But what’s Disney’s is still Disney’s, and Mickey isn’t about to become a Pixar player. If he had, this movie would have been set in Greece and called Moussaka.

But no, it’s set in France – Paris, to be precise – in the kitchen at Gusteau’s, the most formidable and fashionable of all the city’s restaurants. Into the bustling, bubbling chaos of the kitchen falls Remy, a wholly uncommon street rat. Unwilling to eat garbage like the other rats do, Remy has dreamed of being at Gusteau’s since stumbling upon one of the late chef’s cookbooks. So vivid are Remy’s dreams that he envisions a spectral Auguste Gusteau hovering over him, urging him to follow his dream of becoming a chef.

Remy’s chance is a risky one; he witnesses Gusteau’s hapless garbage boy, Linguini, fiddling with a bubbling stockpot, adding this and that, only to end up with a vile concoction. Spurred on by Gusteau’s ghost, Remy sneaks to the stovetop and puts his untested skills to work in an attempt to rescue the soup. He is nearly done when Linguini catches him in the act. Both would-be chefs stare at each other, terrified at being caught out, when Skinner, the new owner and head chef, tears into Linguini for his meddling. Linguini is just about to expose Remy when a server pours the soup into a tureen and heads to the dining room. Aghast, Skinner attempts to stop the service, but he’s too late. But to everyone’s surprise, the dish is outstanding. Skinner returns to Linguini, thinking he is the genius, but only Linguini knows the truth: The cook is a rat.

After some hesitation, Remy and Linguini form a quiet partnership: Remy handles the cooking; Linguini takes the credit. For his part, Linguini gets a steady job and the chance to get closer to the fierce but alluring Colette, the only woman in Gusteau’s kitchen. Remy, though frustrated that no one will ever know he is the one who has prepared these fabulous meals, takes satisfaction that he is, at last, a gourmet chef ... that is, as long as he and Linguini can keep the secret.

Ratatouille is an amazing film in many ways. The attention to detail is incredible; animators had all the food used in the movie prepared in a real kitchen and photographed to use as references (and then ate it). The result is a stunning, photo-realistic world, into which the very cartoon-like characters are placed. The juxtaposition is indescribable, giving the viewer the feeling of having one foot in vivid reality, the other in pure fantasy.

If you’ve enjoyed Pixar’s other fare, it’s virtually assured that you’ll love Ratatouille as well. Written and directed by Brad Bird (creator of The Incredibles and The Iron Giant), Ratatouille features voice work from a great collection of actors, including Ian Holm as the conniving Skinner, Peter O’Toole as the ruthless restaurant critic Anton Ego and Janeane Garofalo as the scowling Colette. Without question, take your kids when it opens June 29; this will be the best movie they’ll see all year.

And if they see that even a rat can learn how to cook, perhaps they’ll become interested in picking up some kitchen skills of their own. What better way to nurture your junior James Beards than by sending them to cooking camp? The Kitchen Conservatory has special classes for kids and teens nearly every week this summer; topics range from cooking and baking to desserts and grilling. In most classes, kids work side by side with Kitchen Conservatory instructors to prepare a wide range of dishes – and then they get to gobble ’em up. Get your kids in the kitchen now, and one day they, too, may find themselves the culinary toast of Paris ... or at least St. Louis.