Disney/Pixar (almost) does it again with Ratatouille

Spoiler alert!

After Boone’s obsession with T'choupi, le film I was really looking forward to Ratatouille.

The trailer gave me the impression it was about a rat named Remy who is always getting into funny predicaments because he loves good food. I downloaded the 9-minute preview, so I knew there’d be a point where he would help Alfredo, the restaurant's garbage boy. But I assumed that would be at the climax of the movie when he’s put to the test and helps this guy become a great cook. But actually it’s mostly about Remy cooking by using Alfredo as sort of a human puppet; controlling him by pulling on his hair. Remy gets so good at this hair manipulation he can even get Alfredo to move around while asleep and then gets him a girlfriend, Colette, a hard-as-nails chef, who hates men. I was a little disappointed. I think my exact words were "meh".

Fast-forward a few months. Anyone with a three-year old has the opportunity to see various kids’ movies over and over, which made me totally change my mind about Ratatouille. The visuals are kick-ass. There’s a scene where hundreds of rats flee a house, a realistic sewer system with rushing water, when Remy runs through the kitchen I can’t take my eyes off him, and there are detailed views of Paris that take me back there. Plus the story is really more about anyone who has a dream and must power through the odds (and crazy family) to get there. By the end Remy is running a restaurant full of Parisian beatniks. What more could an aspiring chef of any species want?

I can look past the stereotypical French characters and the unlikely romance but there is still a nagging and persistent negative I want to mention. There are 2 places in the movie with guns. One where a little-old lady shoots up the place for a good 10 minutes and the other takes us by a lovers’ quarrel/attempted murder that ends in a passionate embrace. I say, when making an alternate world where rats can be chefs and dopey guys named Alfredo Linguini can get the girl, why bring guns into it at all?