It’s really not that difficult to see the allegory there. It’s not exactly subtle; in fact, it’s fairly juvenile, which is exactly why it bugs me so much. Everything else in these movies is done at such an outstanding level of technical and creative achievement, that the villains just come across as amateurish axe-grinding.

I said it was my interpretation, and admitted several times over I could be reading too much into it, or jumping to conclusions. But now, it’s all I can see. The problems with the studio’s handling of The Iron Giant are pretty well known. And where that movie dealt with universal themes, the ones that followed are filled with petty, jealous caricatures who try to bring down the work of the more gifted heroes.

And to do quotes on here, surround it with “<blockquote> </blockquote>”. If I ever get around to making another round of improvements on the site, I’ll add an easier way to do it.

“Obviously, Ego’s character was set up to be the ultimate self-aggrandizing bad critic, and that didn’t bug me; I thought it was funny. But at the end of the movie (SPOILER, OBVIOUSLY):he hasn’t just renounced the bad criticism of his past; he completely abandoned his old life and now exists solely to enjoy the genius of Remy the chef. Yes, it’s a cartoon, and yes it’s a comically exaggerated situation, but the end result is the same: the world would be better off if you’d just stop criticizing and be satisfied with acknowledging how great I am — I mean, Remy is.”

Alton didn’t decide to stop being a critic, though. His glowing review of Remy’s cooking destroys his reputation, forcing him into retirement. The denoument makes it clear that he doesn’t mind being retired, but the message isn’t “Critics should just shut up.” Rather, it shows that critics have as much responsibility to stick their necks out for their craft as artists do.

Also, I think you’re being unfair to Brad Bird by casting this as a sort of hissy fit over people criticizing his movies. If he’d been a struggling or controversial film maker, I could see it, but his films have received almost universal praise from film critics. He already has critics acknowledging how great he is: it doesn’t seem likely that he’d feel the need to make that a theme in one of his movies. After Iron Giant, I could see him maybe ranting about how the PUBLIC doesn’t appreciate cinematic genius, but as far as I can tell, he’s always been the critic’s darling.

But a critic’s real duty is not to knock people down, but to buoy them up, to get out and tell the world, “Look! Look at the amazing things this person has done! Celebrate this person!”

Saying that a critic’s only function is to encourage the genuinely talented is exactly the kind of statement I’m objecting (no pun intended) to. Ideally, a critic does what he is good at, which is analyzing the work of another person doing what that person is good at. In short: critics don’t exist solely to tell Brad Bird how great he is.

Obviously, Ego’s character was set up to be the ultimate self-aggrandizing bad critic, and that didn’t bug me; I thought it was funny. But at the end of the movie (SPOILER, OBVIOUSLY):he hasn’t just renounced the bad criticism of his past; he completely abandoned his old life and now exists solely to enjoy the genius of Remy the chef. Yes, it’s a cartoon, and yes it’s a comically exaggerated situation, but the end result is the same: the world would be better off if you’d just stop criticizing and be satisfied with acknowledging how great I am — I mean, Remy is.

Alton’s review ended with a line that went something like, “Not anyone can be a cook, but…” I forget how he finished it, but I remember thinking what the next part should have been: “Not anyone can be a cook, but a cook could be anyone.”

I may be misremembering it, but I thought they explicitly said “Not anyone can be a cook, but a cook could be anyone” at some point. That is the entire point of using that book title, and is why the movie keeps going back to it, and I got that fine.

My only problem with it is that it’s a weirdly non-affirming thing to emphasize in a movie with Ratatouille’s tone. It’d be like having Cinderella end with a voiceover saying, “And don’t forget that unlike Cinderella, you, Katie Simpson of Dubuque, Iowa, will never, ever be a princess.” Rationally, it’s true that almost all of us will fail at most of the things we try to do. But it’s not necessary to emphasize that, in order to say “don’t judge people’s abilities based on their appearances.”

As for Ratatouille, I really liked Alton’s speech about being a critic. (SPOILER WARNING FOR REST OF POST) I think you missed the nuance of it: it’s not at all out of left field, it’s establishing the reason for Alton’s transformation. What he describes at the beginning of the piece isn’t criticism, it’s BAD criticism, and it’s an act of self-excoriation that he begins his review that way. A bad critic is only interested in tearing people down, and that’s who Alton was at the beginning of the film. But a critic’s real duty is not to knock people down, but to buoy them up, to get out and tell the world, “Look! Look at the amazing things this person has done! Celebrate this person!” Remy’s food has transformed Alton entirely, and the introduction to his review establishes this, and distances him from his previous body of criticism.

The message I took away from the, “Anybody can Cook!” mantra was not, “You can do anything if you just try hard enough,” which is, let’s face it, a blatant lie. Not everyone can be good at everything. There is such a thing as natural talent, although it’s not as rare as some would like to think, and it’s not enough on it’s own to succeed. Remy’s brother is never going to be a great cook, but it’s not because of what he is, but who he is. It is assumed that Remy can’t be a cook because he’s a rat. It is assumed that Collette can’t be a cook because she’s a woman. It is assumed that Linguini MUST be a cook, because he’s Gusteau’s son. None of these assumptions are true, and that’s the movie’s message. Alton’s review ended with a line that went something like, “Not anyone can be a cook, but…” I forget how he finished it, but I remember thinking what the next part should have been: “Not anyone can be a cook, but a cook could be anyone.”

Anyway, what kept pulling me out of the movie was the thought, “Remy’s a rat. No matter what happens in the film, he’s going to be dead in a year or so.” Also, how the hell does Linguini comb his hair without demolishing his apartment?