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.
: Remy faces an internal struggle, doubting his place in a professional kitchen because of his "wrong" background. Symbolism and Social Commentary ratatouille.2007
The film's most enduring message, popularized by the fictional Chef Auguste Gusteau, is that a "great artist can come from anywhere". This is personified by Remy, a rat who possesses a refined palate and a dream of becoming a chef—a role fundamentally at odds with his biological identity. Meritocracy vs. Tradition Let’s talk about the villain
In the pantheon of Pixar Animation Studios, there are films that dazzle with high-octane adventure ( The Incredibles ), films that reduce grown adults to tears within the first ten minutes ( Up ), and films that redefine the possibilities of animation ( Toy Story ). Yet, standing quietly but confidently in the middle of this illustrious catalog is a film that many critics and cinephiles consider the studio’s most perfect work: . : Remy faces an internal struggle, doubting his
Remy is a rat with a superhuman sense of smell and a dangerous obsession: haute cuisine. Inspired by the late chef Auguste Gusteau ("Anyone can cook"), Remy finds himself separated from his colony and literally thrown into the sewers of Paris. He ends up above a failing restaurant once owned by his hero, where he meets Linguini—a garbage boy with the cooking skills of a garden gnome.
Most kids’ movies have a cackling villain. has Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O’Toole). He is a gaunt, skeletal food critic who writes in a tomb-like office shaped like a coffin. His opening monologue—"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy"—is one of the most sophisticated pieces of writing in Pixar history.