Ratatouille

Ratatouille (2007) is an animated Disney/Pixar film about a rat (Rémy) who longs to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the late Chef Auguste Gusteau — at one time considered to be the greatest chef in Paris. After discovering an unusual way through which he can control the actions of the hapless Linguini, who was working as a garbage boy in the kitchen of Gusteau's restaurant at the time, he is given the ultimate opportunity to show the world what he can do.

Written and Directed by Brad Bird.

He's dying to become a chef. taglines

Opening lines

• TV Reporter: Although each of the world's countries would like to dispute this fact, we French know the truth. The best food in the world is made in France. The best food in France is made in Paris, and the best food in Paris, some say, is made by Chef Auguste Gusteau.

Rémy

• [bursts frantically through a window carrying a book over his head; frame freezes] [voiceover] This is me. I think it's apparent I need to rethink my life a little bit. What's my problem? First of all, I'm a rat, which means life is hard. And second, I have a highly developed sense of taste and smell.
• This much I knew. If you are what you eat, then I only wanna eat the good stuff.
• Turns out that funny smell was rat poison. Suddenly Dad didn't think my talent was useless. I was feeling pretty good about my gift, until Dad gave me a job. [Later, bored] [sniffs] Clean. [sniffs] Clean. [sniffs] Cleanariffic. [sniffs] Cleanarino. [sniffs] Close to godliness-- [rat holding food looks up at him, confused] --which means clean. Ya' know, "cleanliness is close to--" N-Never mind. Move on.
• If we're going to be thieves, why not steal the good stuff in the kitchen, where nothing is poisoned?
• I know I'm supposed to hate humans, but there's something about them. They don't just survive, they discover, they create... I mean, just look at what they do with food!
• You're in Paris now, baby. My town. No brother of mine eats rejectamenta in my town.
• [Yelling out orders to the other rats] Team three will be handling fish! Team four: roasted items! Team five: grill! Team six: sauces! Get to your stations, let's go, go, go!

Linguini

• [Linguini is holding Rémy in a jar, about to drop him into the river. Rémy gives him a desperate look.] Don't look at me like that! You're not the only one who's trapped! They expect me to cook it again! I mean, I'm not ambitious. I wasn't trying to cook. I was trying to stay out of trouble! You're the one who was getting fancy with the spices! [shakes the jar furiously] What did you throw in there? Oregano? [Terrified, Rémy shakes his head.] No? What? Ro--uh, rosemary? [He shakes his head again.] That's a spice, isn't it? Rosemary? [Rémy nods.] You didn't throw rosemary in there? [Again, Rémy shakes his head.] Then what was all the flipping and all the throwing and the-- [he sits down on the bridge in despair] I need this job. I've lost so many. I don't know how to cook and now I'm actually talking to a rat as if you-- [he gasps] Did you nod? [Rémy nods.] Have you been nodding? You understand me! [Rémy, brow raised, nods again.] So I'm not crazy! Wait a second, wait a second-- Uh, I can't cook, can I? [Rémy thinks for a moment, then shakes his head.] But you, heh, you can, right? [Rémy shrugs modestly but acknowledgedly.] Look, don't be so modest. You're a rat, for Pete's sake. Whatever you did there, they liked it.
• [after failing first attempt to cook with Rémy] This is not gonna work, little chef! I'm gonna lose it if we do this anymore! We gotta, we gotta figure out something else; something that doesn't involve any biting, or nipping, or running up and down my body with your little rat feet! The biting, no! Scampering, no! No scampering or scurrying!
• (Linguini wakes up at his home and thinks that all the food is gone, and then he snaps) Stupid! He's stolen food and hit the road! What did I expect? That's what I get for trusting a ra-- (He stops, noticing Remy preparing breakfast) Hi. Is that for me? (Remy nods gleefully.)
• You take a break, little chef! I'm not your puppet, and you're not my... puppet... controlling... guy! You cool off and get your mind right, little chef! Ego is coming, and I need to focus!
• Appetite is coming, and he's going to have a big ego!
• [Rémy, testing out his new control system, tugs Linguini's hair hard] Whoa-ho! That's strangely involuntary--ahhh!
• I've never disappointed anyone before because no one's ever expected anything of me. And the only reason anyone's expecting anything of me now is because of you.

Colette

• Make this easy to remember: Keep your station clear or I will kill you!
• Your sleeves look like you threw up on them!
• How can you tell how good bread is without tasting it? Not the smell, not the look, but the sound of the crust. Listen. [bread crackles] Oh, symphony of crackle. Only great bread sound this way.
• Good morning. (clears throat) Good morning? So, the chef invited you in for a drink, that's big. (Looks at Linguini) That's big, what did he say? (Remy pulls Linguini's face over to her) What? What you can't tell me? Ohh, excuse me for intruding in your deep personal relationship with the chef. I see how it is, you make me teach you a few kitchen TRICKS to dazzle the boss then you blow-pass me!
• [discovers Linguini is actually sleeping on the job and slaps him in the face] I didn't have to help you! If I looked out only for myself, I would have let you drown! But... I wanted you to succeed. I... liked you... My mistake.
• I hate to be rude, but we're French.
• You think cooking is a cute job, eh? Like Mommy in the kitchen? [while cutting leeks extremely fast] Well, Mommy never had to face the dinner rush when orders come flooding in, and every dish is different and none are simple, and all have different cooking time, but must arrive at the customer's table exactly the same time hot and perfect! Every second counts, and you cannot be Mommy!
• The only way to get the best produce is to have first pick of the day, and there are only two ways to get first pick. Grow it yourself, or bribe a grower. Voila! The best restaurant get first pick.

Skinner

• The soup? Where is the soup?! Out of my way! [pushes Linguini] Move it, garbage boy! [He notices that Linguini is holding a ladle] You are cooking?! How dare you cook in my kitchen?! Where do you get the gall to even attempt something so monumentally idiotic? I should have you drawn and quartered! I'll-I'll do it! I think the law is on my side! Larousse, draw and quarter this man - after you put him in the duck press to squeeze the fat out of his head!
• [speaking to Linguini] You are either very lucky, or very unlucky. You will make this soup again, and this time, I will be paying attention, very close attention. They think you might be a cook, but you know what I think, Linguini? I think that you are a sneaky, over-reaching little- [sees Rémy in kitchen] Rat!!
• [Linguini walks in door of kitchen] Welcome to Hell.
• You're fired! F-I-R-E-D! Fired!!
• Tell them Chef Linguini has prepared something special for them, something definitely "off-menu", mmm? Oh, and don't forget to stress its... Linguini-ness.
• And you, M. Linguini, are no idiot. Let us toast your non-idiocy.
• One can become too familiar with vegetables, you know!

Émile

• [to Rémy] Whoa, you can smell all that? You have a gift!
• I don't like secrets! All this cooking, and-and-and reading, and TV watching, while we... read and cook! It's like you're involving me in crime, and I let you! Why do I let you?
• [on Rémy walking on two paws] Well, go ahead, but if Dad sees you walking like that, he's not gonna like it.
• [upon learning Rémy can read] Aw, man! Does Dad know?

Auguste Gusteau

• If you focus on what you have left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead!
• Remy, food will come. Food always comes to those who love to cook.
• What I say is true; anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great.
• [as Texan, on ad] Ideals? If Chef Fancy-Pants had any "ideals", you think I'd be hawkin' barbeque over here!
• [as Col. Sanders, on ad] Or Tooth, I said "Tooth-Pickin' Chicken?" 'Bout as French as a corndog!
• [corndog ad] Roming roon!
• A cook makes, a thief takes.
• [Last line, when Remy demands to know why he needs Gusteau to guide him] Ah, but you don't, Remy. You never did.

Django

• Food is fuel. Get picky about what you put in the tank, your engine is gonna die. Now shut up and eat your garbage.
• We're not birds. We're rats. We don't leave our nests, we make them bigger.
• Evacuate! Everyone, to the boats!
• [When Émile tries to free Remy from the car he's trapped in by dumping a statue on it from two stories above, but misses] No, my other left!
• I was wrong about your friend... and about you.
• I'm not talking about cooking- I'm talking about guts. This really means that much to ya?
• We're not cooks, but we are family. You tell us what to do, and we'll get it done!
• [Last lines] Yeah, that story gets better the way I tell it. [Chuckling] Hey, can we get some food over here? We're starving!

Anton Ego

• Very well. Since you're all out of perspective and no one else seems to have it in this bloody town, I'll make you a deal — you provide the food, I'll provide the perspective.

• Tell your chef Linguini that I want whatever he dares to serve me! Tell him to hit me with his best shot!

• Amusing title: "Anyone Can Cook". What's even more amusing is that Gusteau actually seems to believe it. I, on the other hand, take cooking seriously, and no, I don't think anyone can do it.
  • On Chef Gusteau's cookbook

• I don't like food, I love it. If I don't love it, I don't swallow. I will return tomorrow night with high expectations... pray you don't disappoint me.
  • Announcing he will be reviewing Gusteau's restaurant

• Gusteau has finally found his rightful place in history right alongside another equally famous chef, (in disgust) Monsieur Boyardee.
  • His first review of Gusteau's restaurant

• In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. The world is often unkind to new talents, new creations. The new needs friends. Last night, I experienced something new; an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking, is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto, "Anyone can cook". But I realize — only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere. It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.
  • His final review of Gusteau's restaurant

Horst

• [Series of scenes in which he explains why he "did time"]
  • I defrauded a major corporation.
  • I robbed the second-largest bank in France using only a ballpoint pen.
  • I created a hole in the ozone over Avignon.
  • I killed a man... With this thumb!
• We have to tell the customers something!
• [When Linguini is insisting his recipe just came to him] Well, make it come to you again, ja? Because we can't serve this!

Auguste Gusteau

• If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead.

• What I say is true! Anyone can cook. But only the fearless can be great.

• [Last line, when Remy demands to know why he needs Gusteau to guide him] Ah, but you don't, Remy. You never did.

Dialogue

[trailer only] 

Rémy: [`Emile is eating garbage] What is that?

Émile: [Pauses and looks at the garbage] I don't really know.

Rémy: You don't know... and you're eating it?

---

Django: Now don't you feel better, Rémy, huh? You've helped a noble cause!

Rémy: "Noble"? We're thieves, Dad, and what we're stealing is, let's face it, garbage!

Django: It isn't stealing if no one wants it!

Rémy: If no one wants it, why are we stealing it?!

Émile: [referring to Rémy's bipedal gait] Why are you walking like that?

Rémy: I don't want to constantly have to wash my paws. Do you ever think about how we walk on the same paws that we handle food with? Do you ever think about what we put into our mouths?

Émile: All the time.

Rémy: Ugh. When I eat, I don't want to taste everywhere my paws have been.

Émile: Well, go ahead, but if Dad sees you walking like that, he's not gonna like it.

---

[Rémy and Émile have just been struck by lightning]

Rémy: Whoa you've gotta taste this! It's-it's got this kind of, burny, melty, it's not really a smoky taste, it's-it's a certain, oh, it's kind of like a "Whoosh! Kaboom! Zap!" kind of taste, don't you think? What would you call that flavor?

Émile: [hesitantly] Lightning-y?

Rémy: Yeah! It's lightning-y!

---

Émile: Wait a minute... you read?

Rémy: Well... not excessively.

Émile: Aw, man! Does Dad know?

Rémy: You could fill a book — a lot of books — with things Dad doesn't know. And they have, which is why I read. Which, is also our secret.

Émile: I don't like secrets. All this cooking and...and reading and TV-watching, while we…read and cook. It's like you're involving me in crime, and I let you. Why do I let you?

---

Gusteau: [as a book illustration] If you are hungry, go up and look around, Rémy. Why do you wait and mope?

Rémy: Well, I just lost my family…all my friends. Probably forever.

Gusteau: How do you know?

Rémy: I…uh…you are an illustration. Why am I talking to you?

Gusteau: Oh, you just lost your family, all your friends. You are lonely.

Rémy: Yeah…well, you're dead.

Gusteau: Ah, but that is no match for wishful thinking! If you focus on what you left behind, you will never be able to see what lies ahead. Now go up and look around!

---

[Rémy's about to eat a bread crumb in someone's house when Gusteau appears before him.]

Gusteau: What are you doing?!

Rémy: I'm hungry! I don't know where I am, I don't know when I'll find food again!

Gusteau: Rémy, you are better than that. You are a cook! A cook makes. A thief takes. You're not a thief.

Rémy: But I am hungry.

Gusteau: Rémy, food will come. Food always comes to those who love to cook.

---

Larousse: Hey boss, look who's here! Alfredo Linguini, Renata's little boy! All grown-up. You remember Renata, Gusteau's old flame?

Skinner: [disinterested] Oh, yes, how are you, uh…

Larousse: Linguini.

Skinner: Linguini. How is--?

Linguini: M-My mother?

Larousse: Renata.

Skinner: Ah yes, Renata. How is she?

Linguini: She's good. Well, not--She's been better. I-I mean, uh--

Horst: She died.

Skinner: [awkwardly] Oh. I'm...sorry.

Linguini: Oh, no, don't be. She believed in heaven, so she's covered. You know, afterlife-wise. [he gives Skinner a letter]

Skinner: [Annoyed] What's this?

Linguini: She-she dropped it off for you. I-I think she hoped it would help me. You know, get a job...here.

Skinner: [Losing interest again, walking away] Yes, well, we'll file this, and if something suitable opens up-

Larousse: We already hired him.

Skinner: [Furious] What?! How dare you hire someone without my permission-

Horst: We needed a garbage boy.

Skinner: Oh- well, garbage...I'm glad it worked out.

---

[Remy and Gusteau are talking about Linguini]

Gusteau: What do I always say, Remy? Anyone can cook.

Rémy: Well yeah, anyone can. That doesn't mean that anyone should.

Gusteau: Well, that is not stopping him. See?

[Linguini has accidentally spilled a pot of soup and is attempting to cover up his mistake by throwing random ingredients into it.]

Rémy: What?! What is he doing?! No...no! No, this is terrible; he's ruining the soup, and nobody's noticing?! It's your restaurant! Do something!

Gusteau: What can I do? I am a figment of your imagination.

Rémy: But he's ruining the soup!! We gotta tell someon-- [slips and falls]

---

[Linguini has trapped Rémy in a jar.]

Linguini: What should I do now?

Skinner: Kill it!

Linguini: Now?

Skinner: No, not in the kitchen! Are you mad?

Taglines

• He's dying to become a chef.
• A Comedy with Great Taste.

Cast

• Patton Oswalt — Rémy
• Lou Romano — Linguini
• Janeane Garofalo — Colette
• Ian Holm- Skinner
• Peter Sohn - Émile
• Brad Garrett - Gusteau
• Brian Dennehy - Django
• Peter O'Toole - Anton Ego
• John Ratzenberger - Mustafa

External links

• Ratatouille quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Ratatouille at Rotten Tomatoes
• The official Ratatouille site