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Ratatouille (2007)

★★★½ — Ratatouille (2007)

Brad Bird came to Ratatouille fresh from The Incredibles (2004), his Pixar debut, which had itself followed the cult favourite The Iron Giant (1999) at Warner Bros. Having proven he could handle both action and emotional weight, Bird was handed one of the studio's more conceptually risky premises, a story centred on a rat in a professional kitchen, set almost entirely in Paris. Jan Pinkava, who had conceived the original idea, was replaced by Bird as director mid-production, a not uncommon occurrence at Pixar when a project needs reshaping. The $150 million budget funded an unusually detailed recreation of French cuisine and Parisian architecture, with the production team making research trips to France and consulting with professional chefs. It arrived in the middle of Pixar's extraordinarily consistent mid-2000s run, sitting between Cars (2006) and WALL-E (2008).

A film so delicious you can almost smell the garlic and thyme. Pixar at their most imaginative. Turning a rat with a dream into one of the most unexpectedly moving stories in animation history. It’s clever, beautifully animated, and packed with humor that works for both kids and adults. The Parisian setting is lush, the food looks unreal (in the best way), and the bond between Remy and Linguini is oddly sweet. Plus, Anton Ego’s review scene ine of the greatest moments in any Pixar film, quiet, powerful and emotional. Sure, the plot follows a familiar underdog arc, and some of the slapstick stretches believability (even for a talking rat chef). But when a movie makes you care this much about cooking, it’s doing something right. Not quite a 5-star masterpiece… but close enough to taste greatness.

Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2007 | Watched: 2025-07-21

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Where to watch (UK)

Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Sky Store
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK

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