Ratatouille



""Anyone can cook.""

The eighth computer animated film by Pixar, Ratatouille is about a rat named Rémy who has a highly developed sense of taste and smell. Dissatisfied with eating garbage like the rest of his family, he wants to become a chef. When he winds up in Paris, he gets his chance to cook at the restaurant founded by his idol, Auguste Gusteau, by making a deal with the restaurant's garbage boy, Linguini, who (thanks to Rémy's interference) has been mistaken for a cooking genius. Rémy guides Linguini in the kitchen in a puppet-like manner so that Linguini doesn't lose his job, while Rémy gets the cooking experience (and critical fame) he desires.

For information on the preceding short Lifted or the follow-up short Your Friend the Rat, see the Pixar Shorts page.

For the infamous Mockbuster equivalent, see Ratatoing.

""Let's think this out: you know how to cook, and I know how to... appear human.""
 * Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: Colette hits Linguini in the face on several occasions when she is upset with him. He never complains and she is still presented as completely sympathetic throughout the film. See also Slap-Slap-Kiss further down.
 * Accentuate the Negative: Deconstructed in the most pleasant way ever. Ego's review isn't just a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, but it actually changed people's opinions about critics, showing that some can be more than complete assholes who like to complain just for the fun of it.
 * Accidental Kiss: Tugging on Linguini's hair while he's babbling to Colette causes him to dive forward and kiss her. Despite this not being what Rémy was aiming for, it stops Linguini from revealing their secret.
 * Adorkable: A majority of Linguini's scenes is this trope.
 * Amoral Attorney: Skinner's lawyer, after proving that the young Linguini is the rightful heir to Gusteau's restaurant, is perfectly happy to advise his client of how to cheat the boy out of his inheritance.
 * Angel Face, Demon Face: Ego looks cadaverous and evil until the very end of the film, where he appears to have gained some weight and lost his ghastly pallor; this could be explained by him eating well on a regular basis and generally being happier.
 * Angrish: Linguini after Rémy has bitten him multiple times.
 * Animals Lack Attributes: Here's some fun trivia the kids might not want to know: . Aren't you glad they didn't add it into the film?
 * Author Filibuster: Ego's speech at the end.
 * Awesome but Impractical: Using a shotgun to kill rats. You will make it pretty clear that you are a Badass Grandma and you will completely ruin the rats' day, but you'll be lucky to hit even one of the rats and the collateral damage will be disastrous.
 * Be Yourself: A major theme in the movie, although it is mildly subverted because Linguini and Rémy only reach success in the first place because they are basically each other.

"Anton Ego: (about the restaurant) "Finally closing, is it? " Servant: "No..." Anton Ego: "More financial trouble?" Servant: "No, it's..." Anton Ego: "...announced a new line of microwave egg rolls, what? Spit it out!""
 * Big Bad: Anton Ego. His review is so negative that it accidentally killed Gusteau. His evil plan is to dine at Gusteau's restaurant.
 * Big Eater: Émile. Oh dear God, Émile. Could probably qualify as a Fat Bastard in some interpretations.
 * Big Good: Auguste Gusteau.
 * Bound and Gagged: Done by the rats to both Skinner and a health inspector near the end of the movie to get them out of the way, if only temporarily.
 * Brandishment Bluff: One of the stories Horst tells of why he was in prison is that he once "held up the second biggest bank in France using only a ball-point pen."
 * Buffy-Speak: Linguini, tired of the hairionette treatment, tells Rémy: "I am not your puppet! And you are not my puppet... controller... guy!"
 * "Appetite is coming and he's going to have a big ego! I mean Ego! He's coming! And he's going to order! Something... from our menu! And we're going to have to cook it!"
 * "And don't forget to stress its Linguini-ness."
 * And a mushroom zapped by lightning creates a taste that's "lightningy".
 * Caustic Critic: Anton Ego and he lampshades the hell out of it in his final review.
 * Chekhov's Gag: "I killed a man. With this... thumb."
 * Chekhov's Skill: Linguini uses his rollerskating skill to become an incredibly fast waiter.
 * Cleopatra Nose: Colette.
 * Comfort Food:
 * Crashing Dreams
 * Creative Closing Credits: It's a Pixar movie!
 * Cursed with Awesome / Blessed with Suck: Rémy. What good is being a great chef with refined tastes if A) your Extreme Omnivore family thinks you're just being unnecessarily picky and B) you're more likely to be slaughtered than be allowed into a proper kitchen?
 * Deadpan Snarker: Anton Ego. For a good 3/4 of the movie, he's this trope incarnate:

"Lawyer: The first time, it came back identified as rodent hair."
 * Rémy counts when he talks. When he's around Linguini and the other humans, he's more of a Silent Snarker.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Colette's initial attitude towards Linguini comes off as rather... hostile, but she becomes much mellower towards him as their relationship develops.
 * Distracted by the Sexy: Linguini with Colette, much to Rémy's chagrin.
 * If you look closely, you can see that this is what caused him to spill the soup in the beginning, setting the whole plot into motion.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: [[media:loiseau 2833.jpg|Chef Bernard Loiseau]] [[media:6696390 6355.jpg|(who sold frozen food under his name too)]] committed suicide in 2003, soon after he lost a star. It's admitted he lost it because of a violent critique.
 * Anton Ego's office, where he has consigned many a chef to infamy, is shaped like a coffin; also, his typewriter resembles a skull. Ego himself was designed after a vulture.
 * The title of his column is given at the very beginning of the film: "The Grim Eater".
 * Skinner is based on the French star comedian Louis de Funès.
 * The Dragon: Chef Skinner becomes this to Ego.
 * Dropping the Bombshell: Skinner reveals during a discussion with his lawyer that he is paranoid about the rat, thinking Linguine is trying to psyche him out. Skinner's lawyer notes that he had to take a second sample of Linguine's hair. When Skinner asks why, the lawyer says:

"Linguini: I'm going to lose it if we do this anymore! We've got to figure out something else. Something that doesn't involve any biting, or nipping, or running up and down my body with your little rat feet."
 * Drop What You Are Doing: Ego drops his pen when he first tastes Rémy's ratatouille.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: A few minutes into the film, a shadow of a dog can be seen against a wall while it barks offscreen. According to the DVD commentary, that dog is Dug from Up.
 * Escape Convenient Boat: Rémy attempts this twice; it doesn't work the first time, but does the second.
 * Even the Rats Won't Touch It: Linguini's attempt at soup, quite literally. Rémy catches a whiff of it and chokes—quite a feat, considering rats don't have a gag reflex.
 * Evil All Along: At the film's climax, Skinner reveals his secret to Linguini.
 * Executive Meddling: For the better, perhaps. The film's original director, Jan Pinkava, was replaced with Brad Bird after Pinkava was unable to come up with a satisfactory resolution to the story. Bird, who had won an Oscar for his work on The Incredibles a year earlier, was given a tight deadline to rewrite the script using already finished models of the characters in place and make it better! Among the most apparent changes were redesigning the rats to make them less cartoony and killing off Gusteau, only having him appear through Rémy's imagination. He won a second Oscar for this film. Needless to say, he took a brief hiatus from film-making after this.
 * Face Heel Turn: After Linguini forces him to step down as owner of the restaurant, Skinner is hired as Anton Ego's henchman and teams up with him to dine at the restaurant.
 * Face Palm: Colette while Ego is observing the kitchen in Gusteau's after his meal.
 * Fake Nationality: Janeane Garofalo as Colette, Brad Garrett as Gusteau, and Ian Holm as Skinner. None of them are French.
 * Lou Romano as Linguini, who is half-French, half-most likely Italian (he's named after a pasta and his mother's name was Renata). Romano is American.
 * Foil: Rémy is a talented chef who's determined to break free of the norm; Linguini is horrible at cooking and has no ambitions greater than holding a steady job.
 * As pointed out in the Technician Versus Performer section, Colette is a by-the-book chef while Rémy loves experimenting. Interestingly, they both hold Gusteau in high regard, but take different interpretations of his advice while adhering to his most cherished belief: anyone can cook.
 * French Cuisine Is Haughty: Ratatouille is set in "Paris, France, home of the finest restaurants and the greatest chefs in the world".
 * Ratatouille actually does a great deal of subverting this trope. Gusteau's philosophy was that "anyone can cook", which is derided by snooty food critic Anton Ego, and there is a sequence showing how unsnooty the cooks at his restaurant are. At the end, Ego is won over by the titular stew, considered a lowly "peasant dish", which brings forth warm memories of his childhood.
 * Food Porn: The filmmakers took extra care to make sure the food was (obviously) delicious-looking.
 * Gay Paree: The film takes place in Paris, France.
 * George Jetson Job Security
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: See Parental Bonus below.
 * "One can get too familiar with vegetables, you know!" may qualify, depending on your level of guttermindedness while watching the film.
 * There's also the little bit after Linguini unbuttons his uniform to reveal Rémy's bite marks.

"Colette: (sweetly) "I'll make this easy to remember: Keep your station clear OR I WILL KILL YOU!""
 * Linguini and Rémy have pretty naughty mouths... As Rémy is biting Linguini you can catch the latter saying "Son of a--". During the car breakout scene you can hear Rémy saying "What the--".
 * When Linguini tries to confess to Colette about Rémy (until Rémy forces him to kiss her) he says something along the lines of "I have a little uhhh--". Cue Colette briefly glancing down, as though she thought he was referring to a different dirty little secret.
 * And there's the saucier, Lalo, who was fired from the circus for messing with the ringmaster's daughter.
 * There's the scene where Linguini slowly looks Colette up and down from behind, starting low, followed by Colette reciprocating.
 * Goofy Print Underwear: In one scene, Linguini is hinted to be wearing boxers with the logo of a certain other film by Pixar imprinted on them.
 * Head Pet: Rémy, while technically not a pet, rides on top of Linguini's head to control him while cooking since the chef's hat hides him from sight.
 * Heel Face Turn: Anton Ego, near the end of the movie. After tasting the Ratatouille, he betrays Skinner by arresting him for his crimes.
 * Heroic Bastard: Linguini is one.
 * Hot-Blooded: Colette arguably qualifies.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: According to Rémy's father, anyway. It turns out that we're not really that bad (see below).
 * Humans Are Morons: Unlike Rémy's father (directly above), Rémy believes the humans are just ignorant, seeing that rats have traditionally been pests, anyway.
 * If you were part of that kitchen staff and found your star chef had kept a wild rat on his head during his entire tenure, wouldn't you quit on the spot?
 * Humongous Mecha: Technically, Rémy has one of these in Linguini.
 * Perhaps closer to a Mobile Suit Human.
 * I'll Kill You!

""STOP THAT SOUP"!"
 * Imaginary Friend: The Gusteau who floats beside Remy when he wants or needs someone to talk to. Vanished for good when Remy realizes he doesn't need Gusteau anymore.
 * Impairment Shot: We get the blinking eye shot from Linguini's perspective as Rémy tries to wake him.
 * Impossibly Delicious Food: Rémy's ratatouille is so good that Ego freezes with wonder at the first bite.
 * Jerkass: Skinner. Anton Ego at the beginning.
 * Knife Nut: Colette pins Linguini's sleeve to a chopping board with three huge knives whilst explaining to him how difficult it was for her to get to where she was. And if the knives aren't enough, there's her smile when she warns Linguini not to mess up. She's most definitely a knife nut.
 * Lampshade Hanging: When Rémy first experiments on pulling hairs to control Linguini, he comments "That's strangely involuntary!"
 * Large and In Charge: Subverted; Skinner is in charge of a restaurant where all of his employees are about twice his height. Then it's double subverted when you realize that his predecessor was Gusteau, whom we could safely assume to have been the largest person in the room.
 * Large Ham: Ego is an unusual form of Ham, bringing something of an understated Pantomime Villain flavour to the proceedings.
 * Skinner too, of course.
 * Last-Second Word Swap: Linguini, while ranting in front of Colette: "I love you-uur advice!"
 * Lethal Chef: Judging from Rémy gagging at the mere smell of Linguini's improvised soup, this is how he cooks without the rat's help.
 * Not to mention when Linguini himself took a testing taste of said soup earlier... and immediately ran to the window to lose his lunch.
 * Also, rats are physically incapable of vomiting, so the soup must be that bad to make Rémy gag.
 * Considering some of the things Remy's brother and father eat, he has to be used to really bad smells—especially since smell and taste work together.
 * Male Gaze: In a PIXAR movie, never the less!
 * Hey, it is set in France, so it could have been way worse.
 * Marionette Motion: Remy's control of Linguini.
 * Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: While they mention several times that Gusteau is a figment of Remy's imagination, he also tells Remy several things that Remy couldn't possibly know.
 * May–December Romance: Linguini is 17; Colette... must be older given her level of cooking experience and expertise.
 * When does it ever say his age? He looks more in his early 20s.
 * Given the age some Real Life chefs started in the business, it is entirely possible that Colette is barely into her twenties.
 * Meaningful Name: Alfredo Linguini, a kind of pasta.
 * Also, Skinner (named after scientist B. F. Skinner, who performed experiments on rats to study animal behaviour) and Anton Ego.
 * "Auguste Gusteau" translates into "majestic palette", and "gusto" is related to words referring to the sense of taste or appetite (IE "gustatory"). A man with a sense of taste befitting royalty? He might just make a good chef.
 * Mentor Ship: Linguini/Colette
 * Misfit Mobilization Moment: When Rémy's dad unites the rat colony to replace the kitchen staff.
 * Missing Mom: Along with a general lack of female parts in the movie, Linguini's mother is recently dead and Remy's is never mentioned at all.
 * Mister Exposition: I know what the will stipulates!
 * The Mockbuster: The infamous Video Brinquedo attempted to cash in on the success of this film with Ratatoing, a movie with a plot that was completely different (although infinitely more idiotic), but with a setting identical enough to be considered copyright infringement. Except instead of Paris it was, for Creator Provincialism reasons, Rio de Janeiro.
 * Motion Capture: Averted. In the credits there's a logo that says: "100% pure animation! No motion capture used!" (A bit of a Take That, perhaps.)
 * Monumental View: Linguini's apartment has a magnificent view of the Eiffel tower.
 * Multiple Choice Past: Horst.
 * Mundane Made Awesome: Just about everything Ego says
 * Mundane Made Awesome: Just about everything Ego says

"Colette: "We hate to be rude... but we're French. So long!""
 * My Car Hates Me: Happens to the health inspector.
 * National Stereotypes: Virtually all French stereotypes make cameos here. Almost all are affectionate, however.

"Ego: "The bitter truth that we critics must face is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so.""
 * Look carefully, and you'll spot Bomb Voyage from The Incredibles on a street corner. Here, he's not so villainous: just a regular old French mime.
 * What do you mean, not so villainous?
 * Noodle Incident: Horst tells a different version of how he got arrested anytime he's asked.
 * Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Everyone except Linguini and the rats speak in French accents, save for a German and a Jamaican chef. Given his name, Linguini is probably Italian, but speaks with no such accent.
 * Votre opinion peut varier. - Just because the name is Italian doesn't mean the character necessarily is; since it's never actually stated where he's from, it's possible that Linguini is American.
 * And Anton Ego, voiced by the very British, and very not-trying-to-hide-his-accent, Peter O'Toole. Though Ego could be British himself.
 * No Pronunciation Guide: Averted: Pixar assumed the name of the movie might be hard to pronounce, so all posters included a phonetic guide under the name: (rat-a-too-ee)
 * Oh Crap: When Linguini is about to reveal Rémy to Colette, Rémy forces Linguini to kiss her. Colette (understandably) pulls a can of mace on him and his half-terrified (the mace), half-ecstatic (the kiss) look is an animation feat.
 * Both Skinner and the health inspector get a moment after barging in the kitchen and seeing all the rats.
 * Once Killed a Man with A Noodle Implement: One of the chefs at Gusteau's is said to have served time in prison, but he never tells the same story about why he went to jail twice. One of his claims is that he "killed a man...with this thumb!"; we never know for sure, but simply showing that thumb to Skinner is enough to scare him off.
 * Actually, Skinner got thrown outside. That's one strong thumb.
 * On One Condition: Had Linguini not claimed the inheritance his father left him within the first two years after Gusteau's death, Skinner would have inherited the restaurant.
 * Parental Abandonment: Rémy's mother was written out of the movie, Linguini's mother had recently died and his dad was, who had also died a few years before. Although Rémy's separation with his father is a plot point, it's not quite the Tear Jerker of that other movie where a rodent is separated from his father.
 * Parental Bonus: When Linguini is trying to tell Colette that he's being controlled by Rémy, he says that he has "...a tiny, little..." causing her to glance downwards briefly.
 * People Puppets: Linguini.
 * Posthumous Character: Auguste Gusteau, in a way. While the person himself is actually dead, he is seen through TV documentaries and as a figment of Rémy's imagination/conscience.
 * Phrase Catcher: "Anyone can cook." Starts off as the title of Gusteau's cookbook, and other characters repeat those three words later on, as well.
 * Precision Swear Strike: "Welcome to hell" arguably counts; granted, the point a comparison to the place, but it's still unusually heavy language for a G-rated animated movie.
 * Ego's claim that it's impossible to find any perspective in "this bloody town" is a better example. It's actually quite jarring, especially with the way he says it.
 * Punch Clock Villain: Ego.
 * Punny Name: The movie itself, "ratatouille" being the name of an actual dish while the first syllable is also the main character's species.
 * The same joke was made on Fawlty Towers, decades earlier.
 * And in the second Discworld adventure game, which expanded upon the rodent-name food puns (like vole-au-vents).
 * Reality Ensues: See the trope page.
 * Reassignment Backfire: Skinner, trying to get Linguini kicked out of the kitchen, gives him the task of cooking a recipe that Gusteau himself said was a disaster. To his shock, Rémy quickly fixes the recipe to the point where it is so delicious that everyone else in the restaurant wants it, running the cooks ragged to keep up with orders and convincing everyone else in the kitchen that Linguini is a master chef.
 * Reed Richards Is Useless: Linguini discovers an unusually intelligent rat who not only knows how to cook delicious gourmet food, but even washes his hands before doing so. Instead of alerting scientists on this incredible find and possibly become famous for it, he just keeps it secret and lets it make food for him.
 * Though Rémy probably wouldn't be too keen on that plan and Linguini isn't a jerk like that. Letting Rémy set him up as a prodigy cook in a high-profile restaurant was probably the most beneficial scenario for the both of them.
 * Roadside Wave: Happens to Skinner after being ousted from the restaurant.
 * Rousing Speech: Subverted when Linguini reveals Rémy to the rest of the kitchen and tells them that if they have faith in this rat's culinary genius, they will all have a glorious future; they all promptly quit. Also played straight because Rémy's family, moved by Linguini's speech and willingness to stand up for Rémy, decide to help out and do the cooking.
 * Also inverted earlier, as Linguini tries to inspire the cooks to make a 5-star-inducing dish for the harsh food critic Anton Ego. He fails to inspire anything but confused glances and yawning. Colette ends up doing the work for him with two sentences.
 * Say My Name Trailer: It comes complete with a pronunciation guide.
 * Scenery Porn: Pixar went to a lot of trouble to capture the look and atmosphere of Paris in the autumn. The early scene where Linguini nearly throws Rémy into the Seine (which takes place near Pont Notre Dame in the east bank) is beautifully drawn and lit, with a touch of light fog adding to the mood.
 * Gusteau's restaurant, curiously, is a real restaurant in France, known irl as the Silver Tower (Tour d'argent, for those in the know of French)
 * The rat-catcher's shop is also real (down to the window display as depicted).
 * It's also a taxidermist, thus explaining the trophies in the window.
 * Almost indistinguishable, but in the beginning when Remy ends up on the floor of the restaurant under the counters while hiding, there are tiny bits of food on the floor with him. They went to the trouble of detailing the crumbs on the floor that hadn't been completely cleared.
 * Self-Deprecation:


 * Shown Their Work: The producers got authentic Culinary Badass Thomas Keller, acknowledged by damned near all other professional chefs to be the greatest American chef alive right now, who owns and runs several high quality restaurants (he's the only chef in America to earn a three-star rating for two separate restaurants) and is the author of several high-caliber cook books, to show how the craft works, and used Colette's mentoring montage to show that research off. That sequences serves not only to establish verisimilitude in that story, but also to develop Colette's character and encourage the heroes' and the audience's respect for her.
 * They also actually cooked some of the recipes used in the movie themselves, so that they could accurately render how foodstuffs look and react when being prepared via various cooking techniques.
 * The ratatouille variant that Rémy prepares for Ego at the end was invented for the film; Chef Keller was asked what he would do if a critic like Ego were to suddenly enter his restaurant and, in a moment of inspiration, created the dish.
 * If one looks closely, one can see that the chefs have small burn scars on the underside of their forearms. Some real life chefs also have these, from accidentally touching hot pans while cooking.
 * One of the animators jumped into a pool wearing a chef's uniform, so they could accurately render what such a uniform would look like soaking wet.
 * Shout-Out: Dug the dog and Bomb Voyage aside, when Colette is introducing the other chefs she mentions one of them (the pyro) was a member of a failed La Résistance (although he won't say which war) - cue the La Résistance music from Medal of Honor, which shares a composer with this film.
 * Possibly Colette herself: her last name is "Tautou", like the actress of Amélie.
 * And Sidonie Gabrielle Colette, mostly known by her family name, is a famous French author.
 * The Health Inspector looks suspiciously like Inspector Clouseau
 * Ego's Flash Back is very similar to the famous madeleine scene from Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu.
 * The first thing Skinner says to Linguini on his first day as an official chef is "Welcome to hell."
 * The scene with the various Gusteau cutouts. One of them sounds like a certain rooster.
 * Not to mention that some of the loop group of Paris worked on this film. (Cue the end credits)
 * Emile also looks and acts a lot like Gus.
 * During the scene where the clan helps Remy cook, he orders a steak really tenderized. The brawniest rat in the clan punches the steak repeatedly.
 * Significant Anagram/Repetitive Name: Auguste ↔ Gusteau.
 * Slap Slap Kiss: Rémy briefly witnesses a particularly extreme (though plot-irrelevant) one - the woman is pointing a gun at the man and threatening to shoot him. Rémy keeps running, but after a shot is fired into the ceiling near him, he does a Double Take and runs back - they're now kissing.
 * Doubles as Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male, since it is heavily implied that the woman did try to shoot the man, but it's still played for laughs.
 * Linguini and Colette have shades of this too.
 * Slow Motion Drop: When Anton Ego drops his pen after one taste of Rémy's ratatouille.
 * Soap Within a Show: A bizarre French soap opera appears on Linguini's TV
 * So My Kids Can Watch: Patton Oswalt's standup routine not only quite vulgar, but filled with obscure, nerdy references and not appropriate at all for kids. He has one routine about how, in the press tour for this movie, he had a lot of trouble being positive and friendly in front of his audience. Although the man does do quite a lot of voice-work for many other lower-profile kid-friendly projects, so it was probably more about the required constant promotion of the film.
 * Spirit Advisor: Rémy, desperate to talk to someone, imagines up Auguste Gusteau. Rémy is fully aware that Gusteau is a figment of his imagination and he disappears when Rémy realizes he can rely on his own judgment.
 * Spit Take: Subverted. Ego starts one when he hears that Gusteau's is "popular" again, but pauses to check the label and decides his wine is too good to waste in such a fashion.
 * Parental Bonus moment: That's a real wine, and far too good to spit out like that.
 * Stick'Em Up: Sous chef Horst says that he "once robbed the second biggest bank in France using only a ball-point pen." Of course, as Colette notes, he changes stories every time he's asked.
 * Straw Critic: Subverted. Ego is extremely hard to please, but his high standards are sincere, and when confronted with true culinary genius he recognizes and supports it, even when doing so jeopardizes his career.
 * The Smurfette Principle: Colette is very much aware that she is the only female chef in the restaurant and is a definite minority in the profession in general. She was forced to claw her way up and as a result feels that she has to be tough and defensive to succeed in a career she worked so hard for.
 * The Speechless: Rémy, a rat, is unable to communicate with Linguini, a human, throughout the whole film. The only time he speaks is to members of his own kind and to the audience (we can assume that this is Translation Convention at work), though technically the whole movie is him recounting how he got to where he is to a group of rats.
 * Take That: Some have seen Skinner's use of Gusteau's imagery as just a wee bit of a dig by Pixar at their distributor? A derivative, uncreative sellout plastering the image of a beloved, deceased innovator all over his less-inspired creations and a whole slew of cheap, worthless products? Ring any bells?
 * Take That, Critics!: Some people have taken Ego's review to be an attack on the incredible willingness of critics to tear things apart for no good reason.
 * Technician Versus Performer: Colette is a Technician, and Remy (controlling Linguini) is all Performer, and they both need to balance their game.
 * They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Poor Remy never really finishes any meal he makes, notably the "lightningy-cheese-mussroom-saffron" recipe from the beginning of the film, or when Linguini snatches him away from his omelette while rushing for work. Lampshaded and finally averted when Linguini notices how dazed he looking and gives him a piece of cheese.
 * Title Drop: The titular dish has great significance in the movie's climax
 * Training Montage: Rémy and Linguini practicing their puppetry in Linguini's apartment.
 * Translation Convention: We can hear the rats speaking American, but it's shown that the old lady at the start of the film (and presumably all the other humans) hears nothing but squeaks.
 * True Companions: The extended clan of rats.
 * Truth in Television: The rants Colette gives to Linguini regarding what it takes to be an effective and successful chef could have come, word for word, from any chef in the world who has ever had to take a brand new cook in hand and change him from a kitchen-halting speedbump into a frictionless part of the kitchen machine. And given the participation of Chef Thomas Keller in this movie, they most likely did.
 * Tsundere: Colette.
 * Viewers are Morons: American viewers, specifically. All the French text in the film was changed to English for American audiences, although it was kept as French for the British release.
 * Although since the most popularly taught second language in the UK is French (also the country's closest neighbour) as opposed to the USA's Spanish, it kind of makes sense that the creators would presume more UK viewers wouldn't need the text translating for them.
 * Also, Gusteau's is called a five-star restaurant, rather than having to explain that for élite restaurants (e.g. Michelin Guide) the highest rating is three stars (almost all restaurants would get zero stars).
 * Also not really a case of assuming viewers are morons, and more a case of simple knowledge that the Michelin Guide rating system is not as well-known in America.
 * Villainy-Free Villain: Anton Ego fits this trope to a T. He seems less interested in doing his job and more interested in acting on some bizarre vendetta against Gusteau's.
 * Visual Pun: Skinner's humiliating ousting from the restaurant and subsequent creepy determination to prove that a rat is involved somehow ends up driving him in Seine.
 * Vomit Discretion Shot: Linguini does this out a window after a brief taste of his own soup... before Remy fixes it.
 * Welcome to Hell: Shown in a nightmare.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: It's unknown what happened to Skinner by the end of the movie. The last we see of him is him being thrown into the pantry by Rémy's rodent chefs tied and gagged.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Lampshaded. Rémy's major struggle is the fact that humans think rats are gross; the movie shows them as just mischievous and self-interested at worst.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Rémy has to fight for his respect as a chef, through Linguini at least.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Linguini is furious when he catches Rémy helping his clan to steal food from the restaurant fridge.
 * When Elders Attack: a crazy old woman tried to shoot the rats with a shotgun, but completely and utterly failed.
 * X-Ray Sparks: When Rémy and Émile are cooking something on the TV antennae over chimney smoke, they are struck by lightning and their skeletons show.
 * Yank the Dog's Chain:
 * You Dirty Rat: Averted. Literally and metaphorically since Remy's seen washing his hands, and even uses a Dish washer to wash loads of them
 * Played with; when Skinner catches Linguini cooking he begins to call him something like "You dirty--," then notices Rémy and screams "RAT!"