In Pixar's 2007
film, Ratatouille, we follow a rat named Remy as he follows his dream
of becoming a chef. The film is set in Paris and emphasizes being in
our world. The great premise of a rat becoming a chef is driven by
our view of rats as pests, so it was important to emphasize just how
real and seemingly ordinary this world is. By portraying very
accurate physics, we can connect to the world created and know what
to expect. However, this is used as a way to contrast the whimsical
and exaggerated physics we are introduced to through the brilliant
powers of Remy the rat. Ratatouille
seems to be very physically accurate until its comedic premise – a
rat rising in the world of cooking – pushes the story forward and
exaggerates the physics.
The
first point in which we see exaggerated physics is the strength that
rats possess. Remy in particular is unbelievably strong and nimble.
For example, Remy is often seen handling spatulas and spoons meant
for humans. Not only do they exaggerate his strength in order for him
to operate these things, but they make him nimble enough to use it
just as quickly and effective as a human. For example, in one of
Remy's first cooking scenes, he manages to utilize a large stirring
spoon and stir it as though a human were putting their whole arm into
it. Similarly, Remy dances around the kitchen like a hurried human
chef might. Things like these keep up the comedic pace of the story
and are believable enough to keep it going. Another example of
exaggerated rat strength is in an early scene in which Remy and his
brother Emile try to escape an old lady trying to kill them. Emile
finds himself on a huge chandelier and needs to get to safety. He
pushes the hanging chandelier like a swing and manages to swing the
entire thing in just a few pushes. The gradual momentum needed to get
the chandelier swinging seems very accurate and believable – just
the fact that a rat managed to get it going in three swings is a bit
unbelievable. This further displays the anthropomorphic powers of
rats in this film. The most ridiculous example of personification of
rats in this film is when they manage to chase down, tie up and
kidnap the health inspector. Several dozen rats manage to stop a
moving car, tie up and gag a full-grown man, and proceed to throw him
into the fridge. Maintaining the level of believability the film had
established, this ridiculous scene happens mostly off screen and is
just a small gag.
Another
central theme that is exaggerated to give it special attention on
screen is food. Many cooking montages and scenes exaggerate the
physical properties of food to appear beautiful, delicious, and
comedic. One example of this comes when Remy and Linguini are first
learning to cook together. With Remy's help, Linguini is flipping a
light, soft tortilla with a pan. When they slip, the tortilla flies
high up in the air and crashes through the glass window. The light
tortilla was given the weight of something with much more mass so
that it could crash through the glass in comedic style. Another
example comes in a later cooking montage. When the rats are working
together to cook the final meal, a rat is seen surfing on a slab of
butter and using a pan as a half-pipe. The rat is able to grip onto a
piece of melting, almost-liquid butter and endlessly ride it back and
forth, as if the rat has no weight and the butter is solid despite
being liquid enough to be slippery. This is just another gag that
does not add much to the story. One example that does effect the
story involves a fat rat eating grapes. Full of grapes that he had
secretly been eating in the kitchen's storage, a fat rat falls to the
ground and is squashed by a falling melon. The melon squashes the
rat's fat belly which manages to shoot the grapes out of his mouth,
one at a time like a machine gun, at the human Linguini. Instead of
killing the rat like it should have, the melon manages to squeeze the
rat like a whoopee cushion. These examples of exaggerated physics in
food show how the film meant to give special attention on screen to
the central theme of food.
Finally,
one of the largest diversions from realistic physics in the film
comes from the ridiculous premise of Remy controlling the human
Linguini like a robot. The film uses this as a central gag to get
Remy into the world of cooking. Remy manages to control Linguini's
body by pulling his hair that seems to remotely control the
Linguini's muscles. Ignoring how impossible this system is, the
altered physics of Linguini are interesting to notice. When they
first learn of this tool, Remy and Linguini are uncoordinated and the
new Linguini has no sense of balance. In one scene, they try to stir
a pot of soup but end up bending over forward and backwards with no
sense of balance. When controlled by Remy, Linguini's weightlessness
is exaggerated to the extreme, as he flails around without falling
over. Another issue that comes from this is Linguini's chef hat. As
Linguini flails about, his hat which is precariously placed on his
head, manages to stick on despite gravity's best efforts to make it
fall. Many scenes even features Linguini leaning his head over 90
degrees to let Remy sniff their soup from inside the hat. At such an
angle, the hat and the rat should fall into the soup. Keeping the hat
stuck to the head takes away from the realistic feeling from the film
just a bit, but it comes at a time in the film when we are too
distracted by the fun and even more-ridiculous antics of
Remy-operated Linguini. One instance in which this is not the case
comes when Linguini is driven away on Colette's motorcycle. Still
wearing his chef hat, it flies off as soon as they take off. This
scene shows that the hat was not stuck too his head, and should fall
of just as easily. The change in the properties of the chef hat show
that the animators are able to make objects and their physical
properties work for the goal of the scene.
Like
most Pixar films, Ratatouille is firmly set in our world. In this
film especially, they wanted to emphasize the reality of our world:
chefs are humans, rats are pests, and the laws of physics are
limited. Like any good story or work of art, Ratatouille eventually
forced it to contrast: A rat can be a chef, and the laws of physics
can be exaggerated. Though one of the more subtle examples of this,
Ratatouille shows how animated films can bend the laws of physics to
enhance humor and story.
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