Julia Child Must Be Smiling

Brad Bird is number one on our animator list, and we think for good reason. A former consultant for The Simpsons, Bird has written and directed The Iron Giant (1999), The Incredibles (2004), and now Ratatouille (2007). Each of them drawn in a different style, these three animation features distinguish themselves through their compelling stories. They are, as far as we are concerned, as good as animation gets.

We have previously written on The Iron Giant (March, 2000). Eschewing the high-tech and the glitzy for a style that reminds you of the old Saturday cartoons, the movie tells the story of a young boy who befriends an iron monster who in the final showdown chooses the way of love, not war, of self-sacrifice rather than strength. The emotion is genuine, the story compelling, and the graphics engaging. Here is a kid’s story that adults love, a fable that seems somehow as contemporary as current debates in Congress.

Bird’s second hit, The Incredibles, again had a cool retro feel to it, though perhaps now the 60’s rather than the 50’s. The winner of two Oscars and two additional nominations, the movie has older children and their parents in mind (even though kids again will love it). Telling the story of a former superhero’s “mid-life crisis” (he is no longer able to help others with his super human feats because lawyers seek damages for his unsolicited good deeds and collateral damage), the family must dumb down their gifts in order to join the crowd. There is a lot here for the kids, but adults will find themselves reflecting on their own hopes and dreams and their own sense of vocation.

Now with Ratatouille, Bird has scored a hat trick, a three-peet, a perfect trifecta. Taking over a production in midstream, when Pixar joined forces with Disney, Bird has cooked up perhaps his most appealing dish of all. He tells the heartwarming, yet hilarious, story of a common rat, Remy (voiced by Patton Oswalt), with an acute sense of taste and a passion for flavor, who longs to become a great chef in Paris.

It is hard to imagine a more incongruous story idea – and not just because of the distasteful visual of rats in the kitchen. In an interview with Time magazine’s Richard Corliss, Bird comments: “Cooks are givers, and rats are takers. In the larger world there are people who are givers and people who are takers. Cooking, feeding people, is a giving act.” This juxtaposition provides the perspective from which this unlikely story is told. Of course, as Linguini (voiced by Lou Romano), the restaurant’s kitchen boy, says, “’Ratatouille’ doesn’t sound delicious. It sounds like ‘rat’ and ‘patootie’.” But this incongruity is what fills the screen with delight. Remy’s ultimate concoction – his Mediterranean vegetable stew – provides the movie its final delight. Remy has in fact proven to be a “giver” and not a “taker.”

The movie is a visual and imaginative feast. Yet it does not color over unpleasant realities. Remy’s ratness is nothing like that famous Disney character, Mickey, nor are his relatives “cute and cuddly.” Satisfied with garbage and lacking any discernment with regard to what they eat, Remy’s family scavenges through the pantry and viewers are appropriately appalled. And yet, Remy, with the gift of smell and the imagination of an artist, longs to be a chef. He would believe with Chef Gusteau that “anyone can cook.” But is this true? And so the story’s basic tension is further developed – can Remy be loyal both to his family and to his gifting?

In the male world of culinary kitchens, it is Remy (who becomes the “brains” for Linguini’s surprising creations) and the sous-chef Colette (voice by Janeane Garofalo) who restore the tarnished reputation of Gusteau’s restaurant. When Remy’s final specialty is served to the vicious food critic Anton Ego (wonderfully voiced by Peter O’Toole), his “ego” is undone (with the pun surely intended!). Recalling the pleasure of his mother’s food, he writes in his column the next day: “To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions is a gross understatement …. I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau’s famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize that only now do I truly understand what he meant. Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.”

In a society that is increasingly dividing into those with opportunity and those without, the story is a refreshing meal. It was C.S. Lewis, in his classic essay “On Stories,” who noted: “The story does what no theorm can quite do. It may not be ‘like real life’ in the superficial sense, but it sets before us an image of what reality may well be like at some more central region.” Here is what Ratatouille does. Rat + restaurant = culinary delight. It doesn’t compute, but it need not. It is nonetheless true. Anyone can cook. Bon Appetit.

Cathy Barsotti is an instructor for Centro Hispano de Estudios Teologicos - a Latino Ministry training center in southeast Los Angeles.

Rob Johnston is Professor of Theology and Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. His books include  Useless Beauty (Baker, 2005), Finding God in the Movies (Baker, 2004, co-written with Cathy), Reel Spirituality (Baker, 2000) and Life Is Not Work/Work Is Not Life; Simple Reminders for Finding Balance in a 24/7 World (Wildcat Canyon, 2001). Their reviews can also be seen in The Covenant Companion.

Check out their new book, Finding God in the Movies -- available through FAW Resources.