We no longer need to present this gem of the animated film which in its time consolidated the legend of the Pixar studios by once again supporting its favorite themes – animating a parallel world, telescoping it to ours, in an emancipatory and truant spirit. Consider the initiatory quest of Rémy, a crazy kitchen rat who, to satisfy his passion, is tempted to live on the fringes of his tribe to get closer to the human community. Problem: if his talent as a chef is not in doubt for the clumsy clerk Linguini who captures him one evening in the kitchen of a great Parisian restaurant, he remains in the eyes of all a vulgar nuisance.
The film carries a flood of adrenaline worthy of a Brian De Palma thriller
Directed by Brad Bird, a filmmaker trained and accomplished outside the walls of Disney’s small star industry (he distinguished himself with the beautiful “Iron Giant”), “Ratatouille” very quickly takes on the appearance of an ideal action film. Freed from all physical constraints, the camera twirls according to the arabesques of Rémy and his miniature congeners, weaving under the furniture, in the guts of the sewers. Not only does the film draw from this constant inventiveness an excitement like no other (the slightest sequence resembles a major discovery, the deposit of a precious metal), but it carries a flood of adrenaline worthy of a thriller by Brian De Palma – from an escape in the open countryside, a formidable opening, to the clandestine manufacture of soup in the restaurant, the first third crackles with pieces of bravery.
As its little rodent hero intends to win on all counts, “Ratatouille” does not stop at the stage of a technical tour de force. More subtle than its stamp of entertainment bulldozer suggests, it is a moving fable, dedicated to cranks of all stripes, to misunderstood little geniuses who, not content to bend the world to their desires, undertake to tie their personal ambitions to collective concerns. Like the connection found between Rémy and his clerk to operate in the kitchen: apparently very simple, this teamwork is infinitely refined, available in as many variations as a dish concocted by a candidate from ” Top chef “.
Friday December 30 at 9:10 p.m. on M6. American animated film by Brad Bird (2007). 1h30.
