Ratatouille the Musical

November 15, 2020 4:33 PM

Okay I'm going to try to explain this, so bear with me. On Tiktok, an entire community has come together to create Ratatouille the Musical. What seemed like a joke has become an incredible undertaking...In all seriousness, the Ratatouille musical has been an incredible outlet and source of joy for theater students, who are living through the worst time in their industry's history.
posted by gottabefunky (48 comments total)

I just watched Disney's Ratatouille a couple weeks ago, it's a favorite of mine - but the lack of songs is disappointing. Thanks for this, it's inspiring to hear what people have come up with!
posted by the primroses were over at 4:42 PM on November 15, 2020

Well, that's great.
posted by Going To Maine at 5:08 PM on November 15, 2020

🎶 despite all my rage / I’m a cooking, singing rat on a stage 🎶
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 5:38 PM on November 15, 2020 [16 favorites]

but the lack of songs is disappointing

I contend that's one of the things in the movie's favor.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:02 PM on November 15, 2020 [8 favorites]

I'm glad they're having fun, but wow, I so do not get all the love for this movie. I see a lot of people calling it Pixar's best, and that seems kind of nuts to me. Like, I thought it was a real B-, maybe a C+. Better than Cars, but that's a low bar. A rat cooks food in Paris, and there's a weird little chef ghost for some reason, and it's got Brad Bird's vaguely Randian, crybaby critics-are-parasites stuff but with none of that Incredibles charm. Just, what? Maybe it's a foodie thing? This movie spent a whole lot of time on the food, and maybe if you're a big foodie that's a fun watch. But personally I'd rather just go eat some food.

I'm honestly not trying to harsh anybody's happy, or talk you out of loving this thing. I just keep seeing this movie grow in stature, and I find it perplexing and kind of annoying. If this was one of those not-great things people loved when they were kids and now they're nostalgic for it, like The Phantom Menace or something, that would at least make sense to me. But I don't think this is that. People saw the same Pixar misfire I did, and they just adored it. It's like watching them go nuts for Chicken Little.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 6:05 PM on November 15, 2020 [9 favorites]

Disney's Ratatouille

Bear in mind that it was produced under the Pixar banner, which historically is less inclined to have characters directly singing about their feelings a la musical theater, and more inclined to have a Randy Newman song play underneath masterful visual montages designed to turn jaded grown up moviegoers into blubbering wrecks.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:15 PM on November 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

For those confused about the love for Ratatouille in particular, it's generational. Their older siblings have the same sort of imprinting on Shrek.
I'm sure people of a certain age mystify younger folks on their attachment to Gene Wilder's Wonka.
It all depends on what came out when you were 8 years old.
We're not too far away from people in old age homes who can't remember breakfast, but can rattle off the names of 100 Pokémon.
posted by bartleby at 7:04 PM on November 15, 2020 [9 favorites]

Ratatouille came out when I was in my mid-40's, and I really like it, so the "generational" argument is (as usual) BS. The characters, animation, and voice acting are all good and I find it charming and watchable. Sue me. De gustibus blah blah blah.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:09 PM on November 15, 2020 [15 favorites]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply it's garbage to anyone else. It's good!
It's about why _this_ intellectual property, out of the entire history of animation, would get a TikTok musical.
posted by bartleby at 7:14 PM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

It's also, apart from a couple of moments, a bit less obsessively focused on tugging your heartstrings out by their roots, which is another point in its favor.

And it has that split-second downward glance at about 1:06 in this clip.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:15 PM on November 15, 2020 [21 favorites]

I was also an adult when it came out. A little rat dreams of being a cook, which makes him an outcast. He ends up making his dreams come true in the greatest foodie city in the world. It’s wholesome and magical without being a sobfest and the animation is really good.

The tiktok kids continue to impress and provide me with proof that there is still good in this world.
posted by kimberussell at 7:23 PM on November 15, 2020 [11 favorites]

Oh Greg, you and your little chef who tells you what to do.
Binging With Babish (how to cook dishes from the movies) makes ratatouille (confit byaldi).
TikTok: My Dad looks like the Food Critic
posted by bartleby at 7:30 PM on November 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

I loved Ratatouille the first time I saw it, but upon recent rewatch, the thinly-veiled Objectivist themes really stood out. Remy’s obsession with not stealing food from humans, even to the point of nearly letting his family starve, because the superior humans are the food’s rightful owners is a pretty reactionary inversion of the Jean Valjean moral. Even when Remy is actually working for the restaurant as an unpaid chef, he still hesitates to purloin food from the pantry to feed his brother and his friends because he considers it stealing (rather than payment of wages owed.) In the end, the only thing that assuages his guilt about pilfering is when he learns that Linguini is the rightful owner of the restaurant through accident of birth. It’s a pretty fucked up message and it’s basically the driving engine behind most Brad Bird scripts.
posted by Atom Eyes at 7:31 PM on November 15, 2020 [32 favorites]

Oh Greg, you and your little chef who tells you what to do.

It's not in my hat, though...
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:32 PM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

that split-second downward glance

Thank you! And I thought I was the only one who noticed that. At least, I don't think my kids noticed. Probably.
posted by martin q blank at 7:47 PM on November 15, 2020 [5 favorites]

It's about why _this_ intellectual property, out of the entire history of animation, would get a TikTok musical.

It's fairly popular as fodder for internet memes, has enough cheesy emotion, and doesn't already have songs. Within the circumscribed list of animation that meets these criteria, I would then put it down to chance.
posted by solarion at 7:51 PM on November 15, 2020

it's got Brad Bird's vaguely Randian, crybaby critics-are-parasites stuff

The critic Anton Ego gets the best moment in the movie, the Proust zoom.

Ratatouille's Ego informed Roger Ebert's discussion of the value of criticism, to be found at this link.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:56 PM on November 15, 2020 [9 favorites]

At least, I don't think my kids noticed. Probably.

They will, eventually.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:14 PM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have never seen Ratatouille but I have heard the 15-second song about Ratatouille (Remy, the ratatouille, the rat of all my dreamssss). You could have fooled me; I absolutely thought it was from the movie until right now.
posted by k8lin at 9:32 PM on November 15, 2020 [2 favorites]

This movie is on my 'definitely will catch it some lazy afternoon if it happens to be on cable' list.

But the tango is just fantastic, will drive down to Broadway, or some off off off Broadway venue just to hear that tango live.
posted by sammyo at 9:55 PM on November 15, 2020 [5 favorites]

The fact that Patton Oswalt has tons of internet cred probably doesn't hurt, but I suspect that the minute-long critic eats the ratatouille sequence (Proust zoom above) is a big part of what elevates it in the imagination; it's the single best portrayal of the power of food (for food lovers at least) I've ever seen on the screen. To the point that I can't think of what would even be in a distant second place; maybe the timpano in Big Night?

I mean, Up is thought of as one of their best, when it's really two movies -- basically Up is alright; a decent middle of the road Pixar release, which still makes it better than a lot of its competitors, but The First Five Minutes of Up is just a stone cold masterpiece.

Regarding the Tik Tok musical, I loved loved loved the stage manager who did the version with herself; that's just genius.
posted by Superilla at 9:58 PM on November 15, 2020 [10 favorites]

Ratatouille was our go-to background movie for large-scale cooking projects until we lost the disc. We'd put it on for holiday and birthday meal cooking, and we've been considering whether to buy a digital version. (On the one hand: easy access from any device. On the other: we wouldn't actually own it; it'd be tied to some weird account access.)

When the kids were younger and worried about Doing Cooking Right, it was amazingly comforting for them to have a movie about (1) a talking rat who can Do Cooking Right and (2) an incompetent human chef who really really can't Do Cooking Right but that's okay; his friend gets him through it, and there is still good food at the end of the kitchen time.
posted by ErisLordFreedom at 10:06 PM on November 15, 2020 [5 favorites]

I'm not a big Pixar film rewatcher but I always ranked this as one of the better ones. It's just a fun story, charmingly animated.

I mean, Up is thought of as one of their best, when it's really two movies -- basically Up is alright; a decent middle of the road Pixar release, which still makes it better than a lot of its competitors, but The First Five Minutes of Up is just a stone cold masterpiece.

yeah, Ratatouille is much stronger than The Rest of Up.
posted by atoxyl at 10:24 PM on November 15, 2020 [5 favorites]

... a Randy Newman song play underneath masterful visual montages designed to turn jaded grown up moviegoers into blubbering wrecks.

I think Newman is talented, but I find his Pixar ditties nauseating. They really overdo it.
posted by ovvl at 11:25 PM on November 15, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm not a huge fan of Ratatouille, but from a different angle. If rats are sapient, then what?

It's like my feelings about Toy Story, which I see as tragic. The toys love the children, but the children can't know it, which at least isn't genocide, but still.... am I supposed to feel good about this?
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 3:31 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

To the point that I can't think of what would even be in a distant second place; maybe the timpano in Big Night?

Babette's Feast.
posted by bonehead at 4:34 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Oh my goodness THAT TANGO
posted by MiraK at 4:39 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

Tampopo!
posted by oulipian at 4:40 AM on November 16, 2020 [8 favorites]

the worst time in their industry's history.

Well... Elizabethan stage was periodically shut down because of plague. Once Cromwell came to power, the Puritan parliament closed down theaters indefinitely. Because "lascivious mirth and levity". The ban lasted eighteen years.

So, in this case, nice to see that currently tech is good for something.
posted by BWA at 5:56 AM on November 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

Ratatouille, well I didn't know anyone in Hollywood could do Paris this well. Plus, this one was my introduction to Michael Giacchino. In addition, I want to hear more of that tango, too. SHE'S KILLING HIM!
posted by flamewise at 6:02 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

"and then there's the dance break here...with knives!"

I loved all of this.
posted by Orlop at 6:40 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

It's like my feelings about Toy Story, which I see as tragic. The toys love the children, but the children can't know it, which at least isn't genocide, but still.... am I supposed to feel good about this?

Yeah...basically any "sentient animals" story is like this. Some of them I can tolerate, and some I can't. It's one of my inconsistencies.
posted by Orlop at 6:42 AM on November 16, 2020 [1 favorite]

I don't think I ever finished Ratatouille, there was a sequence with massive numbers of rats running around a kitchen that creeped me out too much, but I remember being irritated on behalf of the main female character who basically was pushed aside so some kid could get ahead by being told what to do by a rat.
posted by tavella at 8:54 AM on November 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

To label "a protagonist whose ethics won't let him steal" and "antipathy toward critics" as "Randian" story elements is ridiculously anachronistic and waaaaaaay overinflating the supposed influence of Ms. Rand.
posted by straight at 9:35 AM on November 16, 2020 [4 favorites]

I remember being irritated on behalf of the main female character who basically was pushed aside so some kid could get ahead by being told what to do by a rat.

Yes! Ratatouille is the story of an unqualified white man failing upward over a woman who actually knows WTF she is doing, because talentless dude gets extra help. It's way too similar to my workplace to be fun.
posted by medusa at 9:48 AM on November 16, 2020 [9 favorites]

Yeah, but the unqualified dude ends up waiting tables because he knows he's talentless, and the woman retained her kitchen status (under a rat, granted, but a rat that also knows WTF he's doing).
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:58 AM on November 16, 2020 [5 favorites]

So if I'm reading the comments here correctly, when we get to Galt's Gulch, the food will be cooked by talking rats? Also, Tiktok.
posted by betweenthebars at 10:59 AM on November 16, 2020

Yes, and the restaurant will be named Galt's Gulp.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:14 AM on November 16, 2020

It's weird how formulaic these songs sound. Count me as one of those who never liked that song from a Disney movie, Let It Go .. for me it was just too Christian gospel motivational uplifting style with those chord changes. All of these songs have that same vibe. Yeah yeah yeah I know the golden age is long gone but where are the vaudeville style numbers.. or the French chansons? Ratatouille the musical should be chock full of French music!
posted by Chickenring at 12:06 PM on November 16, 2020 [3 favorites]

Galt's Glutch, surely
posted by oulipian at 12:24 PM on November 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

That'd be the restaurant's attached bar.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:50 PM on November 16, 2020

ridiculously anachronistic and waaaaaaay overinflating the supposed influence of Ms. Rand.

Are you not aware of her influence on Brad Bird's body of work ...?
posted by MiraK at 5:12 PM on November 16, 2020

I have met Brad Bird. He is an asshole. He came on to Ratatouille at the end of it in order to a botched job by another director. He added the romance stuff. It's why half the film feels like it's out of place. He is not worthy of having any of his work adapted into a cute musical.

/BFA in film and animation student rant
posted by Kitchen Witch at 7:02 PM on November 16, 2020 [2 favorites]

Are you not aware of her influence on Brad Bird's body of work ...?

Everything I see people attribute to Rand's influence in his movies can be found in lots of other works that predate Rand. It's like assuming every movie with vampires is based on the Twilight books.
posted by straight at 1:47 AM on November 17, 2020

This is so great. Between this and grocery store I almost want to get on tiktok. But not that much.
posted by cholly at 2:35 AM on November 17, 2020

(To say Bird's work has) "Randian" story elements is ridiculously anachronistic and waaaaaaay overinflating the supposed influence of Ms. Rand.

Yeah, you got me. Rand's totally irrelevant now. Her ideas have certainly had no lasting, negative impact on the world and contemporary conservative lawmakers aren't major fanboys. There's nothing Randian about Bird's consistent theme of exceptional men beset by the thudding mediocrity of the common folk. The whole "if everybody's special, nobody's special" thing doesn't sound Randian at all.

Look, I know Bird has pushed back against an objectivist interpretation of his work. But then, why he does he putting in this stuff that would make Rand really, really happy? In this movie it's mostly the anti-critic stuff, which always struck me as petulant and reductive. Good criticism is its own form of art, and good critics do take risks in their reviews. Sometimes they expose uncomfortable truths about themselves, or they get a lot of backlash for daring to criticize something popular. Leftist criticism has its flaws certainly, but we need critics pointing out when art is sexist, racist or even fascist. We need critics to re-examine our foundational stories, to make us aware of how (for example) our beloved childhood stories taught us that ugly people are bad and the best thing a girl can be is a pretty princess.

I've worked as an artist and as a critic, I've been on both sides, and the Anton Ego stuff in this movie just made me want to tell Brad Bird to grow the hell up. Yes, a bad review stings. You still need to pay enough attention to it to decide if there's anything valid there. If there is, make some changes. If there isn't, move on. Don't make a movie with a skull-faced, strawman critic who reaches an epiphany about how the only valid criticism is a celebration of the new. The celebration of the new can be great, but sometimes it's just as valid to tear something down.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 3:48 PM on November 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

Rolling Stone article on this.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:31 PM on November 19, 2020

Ratatouille is this weekend's pick for Historians at the Movies (#HATM), if anyone likes movie live tweeting events and snarky historians.

I'm not that excited about the Remy, rat of my dreams, song, but I love a musical theater duet, and the woman who does the Colette part of the tango song is great. I was actually more interested in the proposed stage designs. I stand strongly against the idea of having Remy portrayed by a rat silhouette instead of an actor though.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:09 PM on November 20, 2020