He is also, at least implicitly, a severe critic of the laziness and mediocrity that characterize so much popular culture. He criticizes partly by example, by avoiding the usual kid-movie cliches and demonstrating that a clear, accessible story can also be thoughtful and unpredictable. Ratatouille features no annoying sidekick and no obtrusive celebrity voice-work, and while Remy is cute, he can also be prickly, demanding and insecure.
Moreover, his basic moral conflict - between family obligation and individual ambition - is handled with unusual subtlety and complexity, so that the reassurances and resolutions of the movie's end feel earned rather than predetermined.
And while the film buzzes with eye-pleasing action and incident - wild chases, hairbreadth escapes, the frenzied choreography of a busy kitchen - it does not try to overwhelm its audience with excessive noise and sensation. Instead Bird integrates story and spectacle with the light, sure touch that Vincente Minnelli brought to his best musicals and interweaves the tale of Remy's career with beguiling subplots and curious characters.
Since no Parisian restaurant will let a rat work in its kitchen, Remy strikes a deal with a hapless low-level worker named Linguini (Lou Romano), who executes Remy's recipes by means of an ingenious (and hilarious) form of under-the-toque puppetry. Linguini's second mentor is Colette (Janeane Garofalo), a tough sous-chef who unwittingly becomes the rodent's rival for Linguini's allegiance. Even minor figures - assistant cooks, waiters, a hapless health inspector - show remarkable individuality.
At stake in Ratatouille is not only Remy's ambition but also the hallowed legacy of Gusteau, whose ghost occasionally floats before Remy's eyes and whose restaurant is in decline. Part of the problem is Gusteau's successor, Skinner (Ian Holm), who is using the master's name and reputation to market a line of mass-produced frozen dinners.
Against him, Remy and Bird take a stand in defense of an artisanal approach that values both tradition and individual talent: classic recipes renewed by bold, creative execution. The movie's grand climax, and the source of its title, is the preparation of a rustic dish made of common vegetables - a dish made with ardor and inspiration and placed, as it happens, before a critic.
And what, faced with such a ratatouille, is a critic supposed to say? Sometimes the best response is the simplest. Sometimes "thank you" is enough.
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