I try to get home around early evening each night so I can take care of my dog in a timely manner, keeping him on a twelve-to-twelve feeding schedule. As I was leaving a friend’s apartment yesterday there was an immediate promise of watching the film Ratatouille after a botched attempted to watch the PG-13 movie Stardust on the Xbox. I insisted that I wouldn’t stay because I had to get home to feed the dog. I asserted this by standing by the door with my hand on the door knob as said friend started up the movie. The first scenes with Remy invading the kitchen of the little old lady played, and I stood firmly in my spot by the door. Needless to say by the time Remy found himself at the famed Gusteau’s restaurant a wet and ragged rat, my ass was planted on the couch as I mentally apologized to the dog who wasn’t getting fed for two more hours.

Pixar studio’s collection of films is a fun one to discuss with anybody as the films reach such a wide range of audiences that are so much the antithesis of the idea that an animated film is solely for children. I’ve had many conversations about a person’s favorite Pixar film and they’re almost never the same choice. Last night reinforced that Ratatouille is not only my favorite but considerably the most underrated.

Aside from that, Pixar is an animator’s dream, from outer space to the ocean floor, there is an absolute flare that these movies bring to the big screen that are just astounding to watch. There’s an early scene of Remy finding himself in Paris, France, allowing himself to set and gaze in wonder at the everlasting city lights in the night sky. Beautiful shot. As I savored the movie like Remy savors food, I concluded that Ratatouille is one of the most romantic films I’ve ever seen.

Now there’s an immediate argument here in what “romance” in a Pixar movie means, probably the two best examples are that of Wall-E and Eve or Carl and Ellie from Up. And true, the reason both of those romances leave the impression that they do is because they are told elegantly without any dialogue but still creating a emotional connection between its audience and characters. Therefore they probably are the better “romance” films, but honestly the romances of both those movies are not essential to the overall plot. Wall-E’s latter half indulges into a pro-environmentalism schpeel with a hefty (pun intended) commentary on the deterioration of society via commercialism. While Up is about revitalizing one’s love for life after losing a loved one through really bizarre adventures involving a semi-kidnapped boy scout, highly intelligent talking dogs and the man who (inexplicably) defied death just find a bird (ugh…this movie).

Even in Ratatouille there’s a romance, it’s kind of forced, but I buy the romance of Colette and Linguine as that kind of giving-and-receiving love. (Also she has purple hair and he’s a redhead, Futurama comparisons are inevitable).But when I describe Ratatouille as “romantic” I mean its love and insistence of being passionate about something, as in Remy’s undeterred desire to be a chef in spite of being a rodent. The running motto of the film that many characters both question and abide by, “anyone can cook”, is a phrase that hammers a very simple kind of inspiration into anyone.

There is nothing wrong with trying to cook, or trying to ride a bike, or trying to connect with another person, because inspiration and passion derive from anywhere and everywhere. I consider myself someone who has always known what they wanted to do. When I was ten, I bought a tiny 300 page blue suede notebook and began to write a story with every intention of filling out that entire book. I believe I made it half way before I lost traction (not interest though) and moved on to another project. I have a back catalog of unfinished material filling up my laptop that reflects where my mental health and intellect stood at the time. I’m still writing. I write trite things, I write things that I’m serious about publishing, I write scripts for film projects, I bore the internet with incessant Twitter updates, this is all I know. Essentially, I identify with Remy, a rat who knows loves cooking more than anything.

But there are the Emile’s of the world too: people who don’t know what they can or can’t do; they work or go to school trying to figure this out but they can’t figure it out. Sometimes it takes one incident, sometimes it takes years or decades of trying different things to figure it out. This doesn’t make the “Emile”s lesser people, there is something in Emile that satisfies him but doesn’t isolate him from trying new things. Remy is rightfully called out on how his opinions might be wrong; he might not know every little thing and could afford to listen to his human and rat peers who offer different perspectives and opportunities.

The movie romances love in the traditional sense but it also romances the love to learn, the love to cook, the love of independence, and the love of food. The most pivotal scene of the movie is no doubt the final montage narrated by the changed Anton Ego who admits that he too has had a misguided view of “anyone can cook” but quite possibly the entire reason he ventured into a career of food criticism. As he stated so viciously before, he loves food. But his love was lost in negativity, and it took one amazing bite of a food (made with love -sorry-) to reinstate that childish amazement that made him so in love it to begin with.

Honestly though, how can one not fall in love with food after watching this movie? If this movie had been based in Italy, it probably would have caused viewers starvation (just imagine Pixar’s take on Italian food). But the purpose of setting the movie in France only reinstates that very 1960's romanticism encapsulated in a film such as Audrey Hepburn’s Funny Face or Roman Holiday: Paris is the city of love. The film shies away from dating itself with it’s old style cars, newspapers and the use of payphones, in addition to the soundtrack of French artists and orchestral pieces, because the core story of love and passion is timeless. It’s a simple film about aspiring and reaching for one’s dreams, whether it’s the more obvious dream of finding love and acceptance (as reflected in both Remy and Linguine) or the reevaluation of what caused someone to fall in love to begin with (Ego and even Colette).

There’s not one frame of this movie that doesn’t disappoint me. It’s a sweet tale of a character who has always been assured of who he is and what he loves and the ripple effect that his actions have on those around him, human and rat alike. I love this movie, it’s a movie that reminds me why I love movies. And I do think that being passionate about something you love to do is just as romantic as being passionate about someone you love. Love is an unfortunately vague word that is overused because it applies to too many things. But in regards to Ratatouille it’s a romance that anyone can enjoy.

Ending on a cheesy note — because RATS?! AMIRIGHT?