Ratatouille

Ratatouille is the eighth animated feature film produced by Pixar. Its name comes from the dish ratatouille. It is scheduled for release on June 28, 2007 by Walt Disney Pictures in Australia and Chile, and on June 29 in the United States.

Continuing a Pixar tradition, the first trailer for Ratatouille debuted with the theatrical release of its immediate predecessor (Cars).

Plot
The film tells the success story of an unlikely hero; a rat named Remy (voiced by Michael J. Fox) who finds himself in a Parisian restaurant made famous by an eccentric French chef, Auguste Gusteau. Rémy is not only a foodie, (so quite an outsider among his kinfolk), but aims to become a fine chef. This far-reaching ambition, incredibly enough, he achieves.

A Disney press release gives us the following plot outline:

After taking audiences on incredible journeys to the worlds of cars, monsters, superheroes, fish and toys, only the amazing storytellers at Pixar Animation Studios ("Cars," "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles") could create an entirely new and original world where the unthinkable combination of 5-star restaurants and rats come together for the ultimate fish-out-of-water tale.

In the new animated-adventure, RATATOUILLE, a rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent]-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely—and certainly unwanted—visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy's passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.

Remy finds himself torn between his calling and passion in life or returning forever to his previous existence as a rat. He learns the truth about friendship, family and having no choice but to be who he really is, a rat who wants to be a chef. Directed by Academy Award-winning Brad Bird ("The Incredibles") and co-directed by Academy Award-winning Jan Pinkava ("Geri's Game"), RATATOUILLE is slated for release on June 29, 2007.

In an interview, John Lasseter described the movie: "It is about a rat that wants to be a fine chef in a top French restaurant in Paris. It is a wonderful story about following your passions when all the world is against you. A rat to a kitchen is death; a kitchen to a rat is death."

Crew
The film is directed by Brad Bird, who previously directed the 2005 Pixar film The Incredibles. The film's original director Jan Pinkava, of the 2008 Pixar short film Geri's Game, is co-directing. The screenwriters are Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg, both making their feature film debuts, from a story by Jan Pinkava. The film's score is composed by Randy Newman known for his works The Incredibles, One Man Band, Lost, and Toy Animals.

The film's executive producer is Disney-Pixar Animation's Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter, who continues to retain this position on all Pixar films he does not personally direct.

Cast

 * Michael J. Fox as Remy
 * Lou Romano as Linguini
 * Brian Dennehy as Django
 * Brad Garrett as Rousseau
 * Ian Holm as Skinner
 * Janeane Garofalo as Colette
 * Adam Scott as Git
 * Brad Bird as Waiter
 * John Ratzenberger as Rat

Trivia

 * The film's marketing materials say that the film's title is pronounced "rat•a•too•ee". This is purposely non-standard pronunciation syntax. The same applies for the German title where the phonetic notation is "ratte•tuu•ii" (Note: "Ratte" means rat in German.)
 * The chef's name "Auguste Gusteau" involves both a homonym and an anagram. His last name appears to be pronounced the same as the Italian word "gusto", meaning "flavour", and his first name is an anagram of his last.
 * The restaurant in Ratatouille is called “Gusteaus!” referring to the chef's name "Auguste Gusteau".
 * In the movie Linguini appears to be have Hogarth's shoes from the movie The Iron Giant directed by Brad Bird.