THE RATATOUILLE RECIPE:
BRAD BIRD BLENDS TOGETHER A UNIVERSAL TALE OF FAMILY, FRIENDSHIP AND FOLLOWING ONE’S OWN PATH IN LIFE

Pixar has repeatedly taken audiences on totally original adventures with a host of cinema’s most surprising and unforgettable characters. From toys coming to life (“Toy Story” and “Toy Story 2”), to a group of monsters terrified by a little girl roaming their world (“Monsters Inc.”), to a tiny fish lost in a vast ocean (“Finding Nemo”), to superheroes trying to lead suburban lives (“The Incredibles”), to a hot-shot race car waylaid on Route 66 (“Cars”), the cutting-edge animation studio has consistently presented unique stories full of emotional and visual excitement.

This summer, with RATATOUILLE, that storytelling tradition takes yet another wild leap, this time into an uproarious, and unprecedented, animated riff on classic physical comedy. As the film follows a young rat named Remy’s quest to leave his garbage-eating roots behind and really cook, it takes him into a world where he’s at once creatively inspired and in constant danger – a circumstance ripe for all kinds of comically chaotic situations and side-splitting stunts. Just as it looks like Remy’s one big chance at finding his way into a five-star kitchen is in trouble, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with the restaurant’s downand- out garbage boy, coming up with a clever, if literally hair-raising, plan that will allow these two outcasts to achieve great things together.

Amidst the perils and pratfalls, the film also traverses through universal themes: the bonds of friendship and loyalty; the battle against family expectations and finding your own independence in spite of them; and most of all, the importance of being true to who you are, even if you’re not quite what anyone expects.

Says the film’s director, Brad Bird: “I think we all have impossible dreams and we do what we can to pursue them – and Remy’s dream might be the ultimate impossible dream of them all.”

Comments John Lasseter, chief creative officer Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and a two-time Academy Award®-winning director: “The idea of following one’s creative passion against all odds is one that Brad Bird cares deeply about. And it shows because he’s created an amazing film that’s deeply funny in an original way and has a real emotional core to it, which is so important to us. There’s a level of depth, complexity and humor to this film that I don’t think any Pixar film has had before.”

For Bird, RATATOUILLE was a chance to choreograph a kind of Buster Keaton or Max Sennett-style physical comedy full of dashing, leaping, chasing and catapulting — yet also imbued with the spirit of die-hard characters tackling the implausible and triumphing over all the adversity that comes their way.

The story’s original mix of witty repartee, acrobatic hijinx, tightly choreographed comic timing and resonant emotional themes was an exciting next step for Bird, who made his Pixar debut with the Academy Award®-winning hit “The Incredibles,” an animated feature so humanly complex and moving that it was included on numerous year-end Top Ten Lists right along with its live-action cousins, breaking down the barriers between the two.

“I was really intrigued by the possibilities of RATATOUILLE’s premise,” says Bird. “The story has such a great and relatable hero because in order for Remy to do the one thing he loves, he has to go into a world that’s completely hostile to him. He wants to express himself in a way the world doesn’t expect him to, and I think a lot of people know that feeling,” says Bird. “The question is: just how bold and clever can this little guy be in pursuing the thing that matters most to him, and what will he discover along the way? The story is in the tradition of that kind of timeless physical comedy that spans all languages and cultures, but it’s been given a fresh twist.”

Bird was especially excited about injecting the film with wild twists and turns from nail-biting suspense to no-holds-barred comedy, from navigating the whitewater rapids of Paris’s famously intricate sewers to the high-pressure hustle of a restaurant serving dinner with a critic in the house. “Part of the joy of RATATOUILLE is simply that it is so unpredictable,” Bird notes. “If we’ve done our job right, when you think it’s going left it goes right, and vice versa, hopefully all in a way that’s not only humorous but from the heart.”

The enchantment of RATATOUILLE begins with the charm of the characters, developed by Bird and Jan Pinkava, who first invented the film’s premise, and whose characters join the Pixar pantheon with real and relatable inner lives. At the center of the tale’s emotional appeal are Remy’s many different relationships – including those with the affectionate but flummoxed father who doesn’t understand the road he has chosen; with the ghost of the legendary French chef he has idolized all his life, despite their different species; and especially with Linguini, with whom he forms an unusual symbiotic friendship based at first on their mutual desperation but which turns into something truly life-altering for both of them.

Though rodents have a long and storied history in animation, right down to Mickey Mouse himself, rats are often cast as villains and rarely as screen heroes. But Remy manages to bust through that taboo as he finds wily ways to evade detection inside the kitchen, often by a mere whisker, while whipping up recipes that become rousing successes. His courage comes to the fore as he uses one of his species’ most inspiring and human-like qualities -- a spirited affinity for taking on a perilous world far larger than themselves – in remarkably inventive ways, including pairing up with Linguini to make an invincible team in the kitchen.

For Brad Bird, the many barriers that appear to stand between Remy and success – from his family’s lowly expectations to the health inspector’s impending visit -- made the storytelling process that much more humor-filled and exciting. “When you have a lead character with such big obstacles to overcome, that’s really juicy stuff for animators. There’s so much inherent conflict and drama to grab onto,” the director notes. “I’ve always liked stories that take advantage of how far character animation can go, but this goes to a new extreme.”

Indeed, with its fast-and-furious comic pacing, its madcap antics and its painterly beauty, RATATOUILLE features some of the most sophisticated visuals yet seen in a CG animated film, once again nudging the technical bar for animated filmmaking skyward. Among the film’s many unique qualities is its locale -- an ornately magical imagining of Paris. Then there is the food. Not just any food, but the most delicious, scrumptious, artistically presented gourmet meals imaginable. All of which takes audiences into a realm of sublime visual delights previously unexplored in CG animation and helping to create an utterly authentic world in which audiences might even believe that a rat could be a chef in the kitchen.

Yet the technological achievements of the film are always in service to spinning an even more enveloping and laughter-filled tale that celebrates the challenges of being true to friends, family and the search to find real happiness in life. Notes John Lasseter: “These characters are so charming and so emotionally believable that the audience isn’t likely to even realize they are seeing new technology. You’re just too caught up in their story.”

Producer Brad Lewis believes that Brad Bird was the perfect man to take on this mission of pushing the boundaries of animated comedy in the name of innovative storytelling – in part because of his Remy-like refusal to believe anything is impossible. “Brad Bird is as intense and passionate as Remy is in the film,” Lewis muses. “I’ve never seen someone so locked into what’s going to make a story work creatively and emotionally. He’s got these skills of perception where he always hones right in on what’s going to make things a little more natural, or a little more funny or a little more true. And he’s a genius with physical comedy.”

Bird ultimately hopes the film will take audiences on a journey that keeps them constantly off guard, yet rooting for Remy to achieve the seemingly impossible and save not only himself but his new friends at Gusteau’s Restaurant. Sums up Bird: “When you can get audiences to believe in something that might seem inherently unbelievable, that’s the real magic of movies.”

NEXT
THE COOKS IN THE KITCHEN:
BRINGING TO LIFE THE CHARACTERS OF RATATOUILLE
As with all Pixar films, the heart of RATATOUILLE lies in the characters who – whether homo sapiens or genus rattus – bring their own unique personalities, quirks and passions to the story’s mix. Their life-like natures and wonderfully familiar dilemmas – from family squabbles to job headaches to standing up for friends -- are the result of a collaborative artistic effort that starts with a stellar voice cast and continues with the film’s cutting-edge animation, filled with a layered artistry that makes both the film’s animal and the human characters stand out creatively in the CG world.