April 15, 2025
Ratatouille (2007) / Penelope Wheated Bourbon ft. Patrick H. Willems
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Bob and Brad welcome filmmaker and YouTube essayist Patrick H. Willems to the show to revisit one of Pixar’s most beloved and thematically rich films: Ratatouille (2007). Together, they explore why Ratatouille may just be one of the best movies ever made about the creative process. Later in the episode, Bob and Brad sip and review Penelope Wheated Bourbon, a soft and flavorful take on one of the fastest-growing categories in American whiskey.
🎧 Episode Summary
Bob and Brad welcome filmmaker and YouTube essayist Patrick H. Willems to the show to revisit one of Pixar’s most beloved and thematically rich films: Ratatouille (2007). Together, they explore the film's artistry, character work, and why Ratatouille may just be one of the best movies ever made about the creative process. Later in the episode, Bob and Brad sip and review Penelope Wheated Bourbon, a soft and flavorful take on one of the fastest-growing categories in American whiskey.
⏱️ Timestamps
(0:00) Intro
(9:06) Brad Explains
(11:28) Performances, Themes
(43:49) Penelope Wheated Bourbon review
(52:09) Two Facts and a Falsehood
(58:28) Final Analysis
(1:18:38) Let's Make it a Double and Final Scores
🐭 Ratatouille (2007): Creativity, Critics, and the Joy of Making Art
With Ratatouille, director Brad Bird and Pixar created more than just a charming tale about a rat who dreams of being a chef—they crafted one of the most thoughtful, emotionally resonant meditations on creativity, imposter syndrome, and the role of critics in art.
Patrick H. Willems, a filmmaker known for his own video essays on movies, joins Bob and Brad for a deep dive into:
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Why Ratatouille remains a modern Pixar masterpiece
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The understated brilliance of Patton Oswalt’s performance as Remy
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How the film explores themes of creative expression and belonging in a society obsessed with perfection
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The unforgettable Anton Ego monologue and its place in the canon of movie criticism
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Whether Ratatouille deserves a place among the best Pixar films of all time
They also debate the film’s legacy as one of the most “grown-up” animated movies in the Disney-Pixar catalog, thanks to its heady ideas and mature execution.
🥃 Penelope Wheated Bourbon Review: Soft, Sweet, and Satisfying
Bob and Brad take a moment to unwind with a pour of Penelope Wheated Bourbon, a softer, wheat-forward expression in the Penelope lineup. Wheat whiskeys and wheated bourbons are known for their smooth, sweet flavor profiles, and this bottle continues that trend with a well-balanced blend of caramel, vanilla, and subtle fruit notes.
They break down:
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Mashbill composition and how the addition of wheat changes the bourbon profile
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Tasting notes of honey, soft spice, and orchard fruit
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Whether Penelope Wheated Bourbon stands out in a crowded category full of competitors like Weller and Maker’s Mark
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The bottle’s value for the price and how it performs in comparison to Penelope’s other expressions
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Is this an everyday sipper or a special occasion pour?
🔗 Links & Resources
Save on your bottle of Blackwood (use code FILMWHISKEY)
🎧 Listen to the episode: filmwhiskey.com
🎬 Learn more about Ratatouille (2007): IMDb - Ratatouille
🥃 Learn more about Penelope Bourbon: Penelope Bourbon
📽️ Discover Patrick H. Willems’ work: YouTube Channel
Transcript
Brad
In 2007, Pixar Animation Studios gave the world a culinary classic, bringing the beauty of food culture to life as only they can.Bob
In 2025, we absolutely fumble the bag on pairing this movie with a French-inspired whiskey. The film is Ratatouille. The whiskey is Penelope Wheated Bourbon.
And we'll review them both.Brad
This is...Bob
The Film and Whiskey Podcast! Welcome to the Film and Whiskey Podcast, where each week we review a classic movie and a glass of whiskey. I'm Bob Book.
I'm Brad Gee. And this week we are looking at a movie that I have been waiting nigh on a decade to talk to you about, Brad. Dude, you...Brad
I remember very early on in our friendship, you had an obsession with Ratatouille. I... This has been, like, up there for you for a very long time.Bob
I hit a period in my late teens. So this movie came out in 2007. I think I was still 16 when this movie came out.
And I saw so many movies that year. And for some reason, I remember even, like, the bad movies I saw that year. I remember, like, having a date at a certain movie.
I remember going to see the Josh Hartnett film 30 Days of Night sometime in that year. I remember seeing V for Vendetta, which is a movie that I thought absolutely sucked, but all of my high school friends really, really liked that movie. I've...
Dude, that, like, has such a weird cult following. Oh. Like, people are obsessed with that movie.
Let's not even get on that. But Ratatouille is one of those films that I remember everything about that movie going experience. We went with a whole group of friends.
I remember the short film that played before it was the one about the aliens abducting the guy out of... And it was, like, one of my favorite Pixar shorts. And then the movie happens.
And it is... It was one of the first times where I felt like I watched a level up from Pixar in terms of what they were able to render in their animation. And I just spent that entire movie just basking in it.
This was, for a long time, my favorite Pixar movie, Brad.Brad
Yeah, and I did not see it when it came out. For me, it was probably the mid-teens, like, 14, 15, 16 before I saw it. So it's one that I came back to.
And I have always really, really liked. I think I'm where it's, like... This is, like, a second tier Pixar for me.
It's not among their absolute best, but it's Pixar. Which means it would be the best movie out of almost any other animation studio.Bob
Yeah, for sure. Well, I remember the film that came out right after this from Pixar was WALL-E. And WALL-E was, from the moment it came out, like, a critical darling.
People loved that movie. And I don't know if that was just too influenced by the experience I had with Ratatouille. But I always felt like I had to stick up for Ratatouille.
And then, at some point, the scales kind of tilted a little bit. We'll get into talking about this with our guest today. But there was a big rise of the Ratatouille during the pandemic that I feel like has really swung public opinion on this movie.
And I think maybe swung the pendulum just a tad too far. Folks, I'm going to go ahead and intro our guest here. But let me just say, if this is your first time tuning in to Film & Whiskey, welcome in.
What we do here is talk about movies and talk about whiskey. It's a pretty self-explanatory title. This season, what we're doing is we're looking at films from the last 20 years.
And we're asking the question, does this movie deserve to be considered a modern masterpiece? And in order to help us discuss that question, Brad, we have brought back the man, the myth, the legend, appearing for probably his fifth, sixth time on the show now.Brad
It has become uncountable, Bob. There's no way to know how many times he's been here. We feel so lucky to have Patrick Willems on the show again.Bob
Hello, boys. I'm back. You sure are, man.
And you have major life updates. It's been a minute since you've been on the show. You've.
Do I? I mean, you have come out with a full length movie, which I think we discussed last time you were here. But now you're coming out with your own short film, which you've been teasing.Patrick Willems
Yes, I made it a long movie, and now I've made a short movie. And yet the short movie costs a lot more money than the long movie. Isn't it crazy how these things work?Brad
Are we going to be able to see where all the money got put?Patrick Willems
Uh, I think you can already see it. Go look at our the like the announcement and variety. And it's like, oh, oh, there are actual actors people have heard of.
It's not just my high school friends in this one. How do your high school friends feel about that? Are they also excited?
Well, my high school friends wrote the movie.Brad
So so they're very happy, actually. Yeah. Dude, how how cool is it to write a movie and then have like actual actors, famous people play those parts?
That's like that's got to be so cool.Patrick Willems
It's pretty cool. And also, I mean, there's of course the cool thing of like, oh, this is a person that I like, you know, have been watching in films and TV for for years and years and years. And now they're in my thing.
But then there's also just the thing of like, oh, they're really, really talented. And we don't have to do a lot of takes because they just kind of nailed it. And and then I gave them a little note and then they nailed it even more.
And and great. They know what they're doing. And then they can like, you know, improvise and and and just like and make changes that improve the material.
And yeah, they're really talented. And they were all great.Brad
It's almost like when you're watching a TV show full of TV actors and then like the movie star comes on for a few episodes and you're like, oh, yeah, like there's there just is a difference between television actors and movie actors.Patrick Willems
Yeah, it's I I feel like we've gotten really derailed talking vaguely about stuff that I've made that we haven't even like named on the episode. But wait, I want to circle back for a second, because I think I saw you. We met in person since I was last on the show, right?Bob
No, I think you've I think you've come back on since then. It's been almost four years since we met you in person, which was crazy to say. It was a long time ago.
Oh, my God. That's why I'm saying life updates, man. We still follow the channel.
In fact, this episode is coming out in about a week and a half after we record this. And you've just released a new video on YouTube in the last few days, which I very studiously watched in prep for this. And it was a video about how post-credits scenes need to die.
And I had to make sure that Ratatouille did or did not have a post-credits scene. Brad, did you do any research into this topic? It's a big deal.Brad
I absolutely did not. Other than the fact that I agree, post-credits scenes are the worst.Patrick Willems
So it used to be fun.Bob
And it used to be fun. Now they're not really fun anymore. And Pixar used to be among the best at doing them because they were just fun little tags at the end that had nothing to do with the real story.
And Ratatouille does not have a post-credits scene, Brad. But it does have a very special announcement at the very end of the credits that the director Brad Bird insisted on putting in there. And it says like, we have a 100% guarantee that this movie is fully animated and not assisted by motion capture.
And it was apparently a dig at George Miller and the film Happy Feet that he made because all the animators in Hollywood thought that that was bullshit and that they were being assisted by real life performers. So they were like, no, no, we drew this shit.Patrick Willems
It's funny, I will admit I did not watch the movie to the very end of the credits. I may have watched the end of the credits like in previous viewings, but I forgot about that. But it's funny because that reminds me so much of just like now when movies are putting in the credits, no generative AI was used in the making of this film.
And yeah, and now I'm just like, wow. I, you know, motion capture seems so harmless compared to generative AI.Bob
I know. I mean, yeah, like last year I was like, better, man, what a film, you know, we need to go back to the glory days of motion capture. How far we've come, guys, you're right.
We have gotten derailed a little bit. It's time for us to talk about this movie in earnest. And in order to do that, we need to get to our first segment of the day, which we call Brad explains.Brad Explains - Jingle
Brad's going to give us the movie plots with only 60 seconds ticking on the clock. So let's go ahead and do your take with this little segment that we call Brad explains.Bob
Brad explains is the part of the show where Brad breaks down the plot of the film that he has just seen often for the first time. Brad, you've seen this movie in the 20 teens somewhere and you've seen it today. Have you seen it at all in the interim?Brad
I think once in between. So this would have been like my third time, maybe fourth.Bob
All right. So we're pushing the upper limits of number of times Brad can watch a movie. We're at four now.
This is a big, this is big for you, dude. So you should be able to pretty easily explain the machinations of this script, which I have to say, dude, pretty complicated script. There's a lot of storylines going on here and you have 60 seconds to break it all down.
So folks, if you have not seen Ratatouille, press pause here, go watch the movie and then come back and listen to Brad spoil it all. Brad, 60 seconds and go.Brad
Ratatouille is a film that follows a rat named Remy who lives in France. He is the food tester for his rat pack. Should we call them that?Bob
Why not?Brad
Because he has an absolutely beautiful sense of culinary taste and smell. He tries to turn this into a cooking career. But it gets derailed when an old woman shoots out the ceiling of her home and their rats have to abandon ship.
He finds himself in Paris in the home, the kitchen of the famous chef Gusteau, where he befriends a young bus boy who he teaches how to cook by controlling his hair and his body and they cook good stuff.Bob
Such a weird explanation.Brad
It's such a weird movie, man. They cook good stuff. The line cook ends up being Gusteau's son.
He gets the whole place and they impress a critic and the critic gives maybe a top three movie speech of all time. The end.Bob
That, folks, is Ratatouille featuring. OK, good episode. Yeah, I'll see you guys next time.
Guys, I guess here's where I want to start with this. I've already kind of teased it a little bit. This is a movie that is just stuffed with plot.
Like, there is a lot going on here. There's the whole storyline about Remy and his family and the weird familial relations and expectations of his dad. There's the storyline between Remy and Linguini and these two guys coming of age parallel to each other.
There's a weird romantic subplot going on with Linguini and Colette. There is the Linguini being Gusteau's son storyline. There is the Chef Skinner being an evil villain storyline.
And then there's the Anton Ego. And I think the movie does a good job of making sure all of those roads meet in the middle at the very end. But I'm wondering, Brad, because you said a lot about really wanting to love this movie.Brad
Did you mention the Remy trying to feed his rat family? Yes. Linguini's sneaking people in.
Does this movie have too much going on?Bob
Is it overstuffed?Brad
Yes. Yeah, it is a overstuffed pepper that just has way too much going on. Patrick, bonus points for how many food food references and puns you can make in this episode.Patrick Willems
OK, let's I'll see what I can do.Brad
Patrick, I'd like to hear your thoughts, man, because too much going on here, man.Patrick Willems
Yeah, I want to hear Patrick's thoughts, too. I don't I don't think there is. If you consider that most of this is taking place in one kitchen.
And so all of these storylines are really intertwined. And like a thing that like, for instance, Remy's family goes away for like half the movie. They don't come back for like until the second half.
I they're like it really spends a lot of time. Just focusing on like Remy and Linguini in the kitchen. And so then stuff like the romantic subplot with Colette, that's kind of happening, like at the same time with her, just interacting with him while Remy is interacting with him and he's cooking.
And so it's not like it's cutting away to like another storyline. It's like I think one of the things that's impressive about this movie is how I think elegantly it like I mean, OK. This movie, I think, is like a perfectly cooked dish with exactly exactly the right portions of and right right amounts of every ingredient.
And if every ingredient is every, you know, story thread, like a thing that I forgot about because it's like this is I think this is top tier Pixar. It is I think what I was maybe closer to around when it came out, I think there were a few years where I was like, this is my favorite Pixar movie. I wouldn't say that now.
I think I think I'd probably put like Toy Story two on top. But I think this is up there. And a thing that yeah, Brad is fist pumping silently in the background.
Toy Story two, man. Do you just want to do an episode on that instead? I mean, I'll come back for Toy Story two, a perfect masterpiece.
But a thing that I forgot about in Ratatouille that I think is so interesting from like a screenwriting perspective is that the story kind of ends two thirds of the way through. But this is cool because basically where most movies like at that point, like at the end of the second act, everything is at its low point. And it's like, oh, man, everything has fallen apart.
Relationships have been like wrecked. We've lost. And then and then you're like, well, now they're going to pick up the pieces and they're going to go and win in the third act.
And instead, in the second act of Ratatouille. They went, it's like there's the little story thread about like, oh, the letter comes in that Skinner, the head chef gets that he discovers that Linguini, this this like doofus who shows up here is actually like the heir, the rightful heir to take over the restaurant, this restaurant that he's trying to take over and like turn into a franchise. And and there's stuff with like, oh, he gets stuff that is like honestly wild for like a G rated kids movie.
OK, I'm going to get into like how how impressive it is that that Pixar made a kids movie that is so that is like mostly stuff that adults would appreciate more. But and not like a Shrek way where it's like, oh, there was a naughty joke for for like mom and dad. But like it is like dealing with like lawyers collecting like DNA samples.
They can do like paternity tests and and there's stuff with like like a will and all of that. But basically, it's the kind of thing where like when this came in, I had kind of forgotten about that thread. And I had the thought of like, oh, is this going to become kind of like the boring subplot that they have to keep cutting back to?
That's about like paperwork and legal stuff. And then, no, it gets resolved so quickly where basically there is the point where Remy finds he like ends up in the office. He finds out that like, oh, Linguini is Gusteau's son.
And he's the heir to like, you know, to own the restaurant. And then Skinner immediately comes in, catches him. There's a beautiful chase scene like down the Seine in Paris.
And then that like at the end of the chase, then boom, he brings the papers back. And suddenly it's like, oh, now like everyone finds out that Linguini is his son. He now owns the restaurant.
Skinner is out. Suddenly Linguini moves into a nice big new apartment. He wins.
It's like, and like right there, that's the kind of thing where you think like, oh, no, that's going to go for the rest of the movie and eventually will be resolved. And so, and I think it's like, I always think it's a really exciting thing in a movie when the movie gets to the point where you expected it was going to end, like where you expected like the climax would be. And then you're like, wait, but we've got like half an hour left.
Now I don't know where this is going. Kind of like the thing, you know, like, like Casino Royale has like that, like fifth act, which is just like such a fun surprise because it's like, oh, wait, wait, shit. There's we're still going that.
Oh, there's like, where, where will this go now? And so it has this second act or like second act break where everything is great and everyone is winning. And then you get this like interesting, kind of more complicated third act dealing with like sort of like the like the fallout of everything.
And and I think it's like it's again, I think because so much takes place in that one kitchen, especially like even the stuff when Remy's family comes back and there and you've got that great sequence where like he's like he feels like indebted to them to help them out and he's letting them take food. But then Linguini comes in and he's having to hide his family and he's like pulled in two directions. And like, I think it again, I just think it's really elegant the way it all comes together.
And it builds to such a beautiful climax where I'm like, I think here's the look, you know, this is like a if this if this movie is a dish on at at a at a restaurant, it's the kind of thing where like, you know, this is a chef trying something new. This is this is a thing that's like he's coming. He's like pushing it to the edge of being overstuffed.
But I think it is made with so much skill that they know that they take it right up to the edge, but they don't go too far. And and and in the end, I just think it's a really exquisite meal of a film.Bob
Brad, I'm going to we need to we need to dub this phenomenon the true lies effect. This is something we talk about with James James Cameron all the time that like every single one of his movies is too much movie, but I'm not going to complain about that. And I think that that's kind of why I asked this question.
And you guys fell perfectly on both sides of the question because I am in the middle of both of you. I do think that there's probably too many plot lines to resolve as elegantly as Patrick thinks they do. Like some of them are just kind of dropped.
Yes, they resolve the fact that like he is Gusteau's son, but it's also just like we don't have any more time to spend on this. So like now Skinner is just out like like get out of my office. You're done.
Go to the fringes of the movie and he eventually works his way back in. But I do think it's overstuffed. And I also respect the fact that it's such a like like Brad Bird created more of a balancing act for himself and then still pulls it off.
And it reminds me so much of the ends of true lies where like the movie is wrapped up after the atomic bomb is going off in the background and Arnold is kissing Jamie Lee Curtis. And then James Cameron's like, you know what? No, put this guy in a freaking fighter jet and have him go save Eliza and shoot a terrorist through a building strapped to a missile.
And you're just like, of course, James Cameron, like why? Why wouldn't we do that? And it's a bunch of stuff that, you know, in a in a more ruthlessly capitalistic mind, Brad Bird could have spun some of these storylines off into Ratatouille two and three.
And the fact that he didn't do that and just kind of sequel proofed his movie by wrapping up all of the threads. I really respect the hell out of that.Patrick Willems
I mean, do we like the thing is Skinner is like fine as an antagonist, but it's like how much is there to do with him? He's just the greedy guy who wants to franchise the restaurant. And he's fun as an obstacle.
But then, you know, like the final showdown is, of course, with Anton Ego. Right. Who is who has like limited screen time in every second of accounts so much.
And I mean, it's a thing where at the end of the day, as much as Linguini has like so much screen time, this is a story about like Remy as an artist. This is about an artist's journey to basically like finally like just like to achieve like validation and and finally just like be able to make make something that that matters and have a career doing this. And and like everything else like ties into that.
But that is the main thread. That is what matters the most. And and I think what's what's really elegant about is the way that everything else like kind of supports that even the thing like like, for instance, it is it's surprising that Linguini and Colette get together so early on in the movie that it's not like you think like, oh, they will like finally kiss in like the climax.
And instead, it happens really early on. But it happens because of Remy, because out of his own desperation to like, you know, keep his status a secret. He like forces them together.
And so it's like, again, if this were a case where we're like cutting to like different storylines in different locations, I think it would be overstuffed. But but as it is, I'm like every everything is like connected. Everything feeds into one another.Bob
All right, guys, so maybe it's a good time for us to have the Brad Bird conversation, a filmmaker that I find endlessly interesting in the career choices that he's made. And I don't entirely know what's going on with his career now. So if any of you have insights, I'd love to hear.
But the guy has made, I think, six feature length films, starting with The Iron Giant, a movie that I love and Brad is kind of meh about. Then he makes the if I may, Brad, what the fuck? Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Patrick.Brad
Just didn't hit for a man.Patrick Willems
Oh, I was kind of bored.Bob
Oh, God, it's going to be tough to continue like like looking you in the setting that aside the Incredibles and then Ratatouille and then and then Mission Impossible. And then what? Tomorrowland and then Incredibles two.
And he hasn't made a feature length movie since then. And his IMDB credits now are like he's working back in the animation department on random stuff. So I don't know what happened to Brad Bird.
He's just a random.Patrick Willems
Brad Bird is he's directing an animated movie for Skydance. That's where we are now. It's called Ray Gun.
OK, this was this was announced like I think like maybe like a couple of years ago. Are we still in development on that one or like what's the what's the animated movies take a long time to make?Bob
Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Brad Bird, one of the more unique voices in animation over the last quarter century, a guy.Patrick Willems
So don't forget that he was the story editor on The Simpsons through their entire golden age.Bob
Yes, yeah, yeah. Like I think eight or nine years he has director credits on that show as well. So like, you know, he he makes his bones doing like the grunt work on animation, working his way all the way up the chain on The Simpsons.
Then he gets the Iron Giant, which is a financial failure, but like super respected.Patrick Willems
One of the greatest movies ever made ever, ever made.Bob
And I think, like, you know, the point I was going to make is like he's one of the more unique voices in animation, super indebted to the Americana of the 50s and 60s. Like you obviously see it in the Iron Giant, but you see it all through the Incredibles and you see it in the way that he structures his stories as well. And kind of Trojan horsing in stuff that you wouldn't normally see in a Disney movie in the 21st century.
Guns, violence, paternity tests. Like if you watch The Incredibles, hundreds of people die in that movie.Brad
Like it is insanely violent for a children's film. Hayley and I watched this together and there was multiple moments where I was like my children would be terrified by this film. Like when they see the dead, the rat store.
Oh my gosh, dude. Like there is so much in this movie that is not children friendly.Bob
And yet like Pixar is kind of hanging a lot of the development of their major films on him. Like The Incredibles comes out and then I think the buffer year was Cars and then it's Ratatouille. So like I mean to have two out of three Pixar movies in a row be directed by the same guy and for them to give him essentially total creative freedom over these films says a lot about where they were with him at the time.Patrick Willems
Yeah, well, it's this thing where also the really noteworthy thing about The Incredibles is that well, I think the two noteworthy things. It was the first Pixar movie to be about humans. It was the one where they were finally like we can get the animation like to a point where we can.
Because you look at the humans in like Toy Story and they are creepy. And but with The Incredibles, it's like, OK, we can finally do people. We're not just doing anthropomorphic like things.
But then also it was their first PG rated movie. Like all the stuff that the parents go through that in that movie are just like real like adult insecurities. A lot of surprising stuff to be in a this like colorful, like, you know, like hyperkinetic zany children's movie.
And I think the thing with Ratatouille was someone else was like working on this and it wasn't working. And then Brad Bird came in to take over the project because they like they were like, OK, Incredibles really worked out. You know what you're doing?
Because it had been that thing where, you know, he had done The Iron Giant, which like everyone who works in animation like recognized. Really, I feel like everyone but Brad recognizes as the masterpiece that it is. And and but it just didn't make money.
And so it was like, you know, it was great. The people at Pixar were able to be like, hey, we know that like other studios might not be hiring you because your movie did not like make a bunch of money. But we recognize the talent there.
And so come on in. And and but yeah, but like I believe Ratatouille was like a really kind of frantic production because he took it over like really late, then fully rewrote the screenplay and and like overhauled the whole project. So like it like normally someone was not making a movie like that close together.
Like normally it would be a thing like, oh, Pete Docter. OK, so you made you made Monsters, Inc. And then eight years later, you'll make up.
And so that was that interesting case. But yeah, Brett, I mean, I love Brad Bird so much, even if I think like Tomorrowland is like a fascinating mess that doesn't come together, but like it's really interesting and he's really going for stuff. But so like anything he does is going to have like such good stuff in it and be so worth watching that I wish we could get a Brad Bird movie like every two years.Bob
Mm hmm.Patrick Willems
You know, Ghost Protocol isn't even in my like top tier of the Mission Impossible franchise, but it does have some of the very best stuff in the entire series. And I mean, Brad Bird also is like a big part of like revitalizing that series. And like it's yeah.
And also just like his his staging, his his like his action choreography is just like there are few people working on his level.Bob
Well, and I think this is one of those instances where I mentioned this before, but you could see on the screen that there had been some sort of like massive jump in what Pixar was able to render with their animation. And I noticed like it was the first time I'm like a teenager in the movies, and I'm looking at all of these very like sumptuous frames in this film. And obviously, like they're they've they've nailed surfaces like, you know, like tile and countertops and things like that at this point.
And it looks photo real. But I remember there was one moment where like Remy's talking to his dad in one scene and the light is he's backlit and like his ears are translucent and you can see like little capillaries in his ears. And I was like, OK, like they're doing this level of stuff now.
It's not just, hey, we could make fur look wet. We could make like little strands of hair move individually, which was already something they'd done with Monsters, Inc. But this is this is a step up.
And you even notice it in terms of this is the first time where like they have a floating camera, like even within scenes, they can do like a handheld thing with the way the camera is moving.Patrick Willems
They never there's like POV shots that are very much like like like pivoting into like a handheld thing. And what's interesting is like obviously so much of like the rendering and textures got more realistic and more lifelike. But then the actual like characters got more cartoony, got more like traditional hand-drawn animation.
You look at like any of those sequences where Remy is puppeteering Linguini, like especially the part where like Linguini is asleep and he is like getting him to move around. And that is like like it's the thing, you know, like animators who like came from hand-drawn stuff and then went to CG would always complain about how like the problem with CG is that because you have these these models that are like these like three dimensional models in like hand-drawn stuff, you can have things like stretch and squeeze and like kind of they can like change shape for like like comedic or like basically for effect.
You can go off model and contort the figures and they'll like snap back elastically to what they normally are. But then with CG, it's you know, that's why you look at like the stiffness in in like Shrek or whatever where it's like, oh right. They're just like they're they're too lifelike.
They don't have the energy and the elasticity of traditional animation. And I feel like ratatouille is a really big step in especially for like the human characters bringing them to that. Like they move and feel like like hand-drawn animation where it's like, oh yeah, they're not just it's not just this rigid 3D skeleton that has to move realistically like we can actually have the move like cartoon characters, which is so much more engaging to watch.
And so you look at this movie and it has just like the animation has aged so well. It's like obviously, yeah, like textures and rendering has improved since then. But the actual like like frame to frame animation is is is so great.Brad
Yeah, and it's fascinating to think about that transition from like, you know, Snow White way back in the day to becoming as realistic as they can in order to be more cartoony. Like that's just such a funny movement in the world of animation. And I think you do kind of see it culminate here in ratatouille in a lot of ways.Bob
Yeah, because I mean, like even in again, I'm going to keep comparing this to Wall-E because they came out so close together, like talk about a rigid skeleton, like literally they have to find ways to make Wall-E be able to do slapstick because his physical design and frame don't allow for that kind of movement. Right. So when you get to space, like some of the robots have limbs that can kind of detach and like float magnetically next to their body.
And that kind of gives that effect. But I think, Patrick, you make a great point here, like the scenes, the early scenes where Linguini catches Remy in the jar and then like he accidentally knocks him into the river and then he like he like flails to dive in after him. It's like that people don't move like that.
But for the comedic effect of this movie, like you absolutely need something like that here.Patrick Willems
I mean, every character design in this movie is so great, especially like with the human characters, like everyone in that kitchen has like I don't I can't tell you most of their names, but everyone has such a great look and like moves in a unique way. Skinner is a great design, like Gusteau is such a great design, just the way his like neck moves. By neck, you mean jowls?
Yes, it's it's really beautiful. And then just like every line on Anton Ego's face is is just I mean, again, it looks like hand drawn stuff.Brad
Yeah, I was going to say, I think in a lot of ways, Ego is my favorite character in this movie, like from the animation to the writing to the look on his face, dude, when they warp into his eyes and go back into his childhood and you see like like genetically, you're like, yeah, that's a young Anton Ego. And they don't look the same because he's, you know, in his 60s or probably 70s at the end of the film. But like, man, oh, man, does it look absolutely spot on?
Perfect. Everything you want. And you're right.
Even like his young self has those cartoony like big eyes. What a great character.Patrick Willems
Yeah. And I mean, oh, God, we could talk about Anton Ego forever. It's just like like so many movies, I feel like do the really like lazy critic character where it's like, like, for instance, like I the the critic character in Birdman, who I think is like that's what I was the most annoying example.
We're just like, oh, she's just like evil and mean. And she is like, I hate your play without even having seen it because I hate what it represents. And this is just a thing where it's like, oh, this is clearly just like the director just has a beef with critics and is taking it out on them by making this like cartoonish character.
And it's like Ego. Could be that like you look at Ego and almost and maybe like initially you think like, oh, he will be that he will just be the evil critic. And then there's like such humanity to the character for a guy who looks so sinister, where it's really just a thing of like, oh, no, he's like he does love this art form.
He does really care about it. He's just kind of gotten really disillusioned. And then he has this like profound emotional experience is is in the end more open to accepting who is cooking this food than every single person working in the kitchen and has.
And it's like he doesn't quit being a critic. He just it is writing like the climax of the movie is is just like a review happening. Yeah, it is just a beautiful piece of criticism.
And I'm like, like, I, it is crazy. Why can't like Oscar winning R rated movies for adults have as mature a view of of art criticism as a G rated, also Oscar winning children's film?Brad
Well, and that's the beauty of the Ego character is that everybody can find themselves in that place where they feel over inundated and overwhelmed with, you know, whatever hobby or work they enjoy. And yet in that character, when you find yourself delighted and surprised by something new, it feels like it reinvigorates your love for the thing that you have been doing all this time. And like, it's just such a relatable character in my mind.Patrick Willems
Obviously, the whole like, you know, ego flashing back to his childhood, eating ratatouille, you know, it's basically just like it's been a meme for like 15 years or so. But like, watching it again tonight for the first time in many years, I was like on the brink of tears there. I'm like, this is such a, like, you're watching someone experience something so profoundly emotional, like being like pulled back into the moment that like, you know, sparked their like lifelong love of a certain thing.
And it's like done wordlessly. And it's just it is just like perfect visual storytelling. I'm like that that right there is like as as as perfect a moment of cinema as like has ever been done.Bob
I think to your point, too, like there's a dialogue free moment there where the camera zooms back out after his epiphany. And the first thing he does is he drops his pen, right? So I mean, very obvious metaphor there of like he's been hiding behind this pen.
It's but he's been shielding himself and it's a defense mechanism and he drops it because he's so overwhelmed. But the great moment following that, which is like he doesn't use the pen and like write down a note of like this took me back to my childhood. He completely drops the pen and then his primal response is to just keep eating like it's it taps back into not just what made him fall in love with food, but like the actual primal act of engaging with it.
And I think that that's why this elevates the critic character and their treatment of critics so much above a movie like Birdman. They're never knocking like the role of criticism or like the inherent need for criticism. But what they make even critics do is acknowledge like there's an element of risk involved in being a creator and critics enjoy a position of not having to do that.
There is really no risk involved except in this one area, which is when you have to put your reputation on the line to champion something that's new. And I've always found that like that level of nuance in both like criticizing criticism and also like pinpointing exactly what it is like that helps criticism feed this ecosystem of the artist. I just Brad, I think to your point earlier, man, like it's one of the best monologues I've ever heard written for a movie, and they just plop it into the, you know, the final five minutes of this G rated kids movie.
It helps that you get Peter O'Toole to read it.Patrick Willems
But yeah, I mean, the guy is good at his job. I do also want to say in terms of like this movie being about criticism, there is the part earlier on like where what what sets in motion like Gusteau's restaurant like regaining popularity is that linguine soup that I mean, really like Remy soup gets served to a critic and she writes a positive review. And that's what what leads to to all this new attention.
And so right right there, it's like she's not an evil character. She's just, you know, she's just another food critic. And it's like, oh, yeah, criticism matters.
Criticism is how like a new voice like this sort of like, you know, gets like a spotlight shown on it. And so, yeah, there's there's another critic who is like this like sinister looking guy who can be very mean. But but I think, yeah, this movie has a really wonderful take on on criticism.
And and I just, you know, I love that about it.Brad
It feels like a respect for like the working class critic, right? That like Anton Ego is this like legendary figure in the world of criticism. And there's no way to compare if he writes a bad review.
It's the death knell for a restaurant. And but you're right, like it's a working class critic. That's just like, hey, I had a really great soup at Gusteau's last night.
We've all written it off, but maybe you should try it again.Bob
If this movie gets made in 2025, there is 100 percent going to be a montage of like Gen Z tick tockers. Yeah, just like with broccoli hair. Just being like, what up, fam?
I tried Gusteau's last night like you just know it has to be there. Well, I mean, one fun thing about this movie is when is it set? Yeah, see, it's the Brad Bird thing of it could be any time from 1960 to now.Patrick Willems
There's no cell phones. TVs are in black and white. Old cars.
Yeah, cars kind of look old timey. It could be this could be honestly like I'm guessing maybe 60s.Brad
Yeah, who's to say that's it? I didn't think about that. That's a really good point.
Yeah. And even like the setting, Paris, like Europe is a little more well known for being a little bit older and more lived in.Bob
So like, yeah, it could be any time. Yeah, that's the beauty of Brad Bird. And then Tom Cruise had to come and ruin it all.
Jumping off the Burj Khalifa, really dating that movie. Thanks a lot, man. All right, guys, I think this is a good place for us to hit pause.
Brad and I are going to go try some whiskey when we come back. I think we should talk about this voice cast because it is one of the best top to bottom casts, perhaps in Pixar history. We'll dive into it after this break.
But Brad, what do you say we try some Penelope whiskey? Dude, that that was one of your best teasers. Thank you.
Thank you so much. I'm really trying to get my Ryan Seacrest on here. Yeah, you guys got to stick around.Brad
Check it out right now. We're going to go drink some whiskey.Bob
All right. So today we are checking out Penelope Wheated Bourbon. Brad, it's been a minute since we've had our friends at Penelope on the show.
I've always liked their stuff. You know, they source pretty much all their stuff from MGP. But here's the thing about sourcing from MGP.
MGP makes damn good whiskey, Brad. Really? Yeah, I know.
I'm like, I'm flabbergasted. And if you know where to look, then you can develop a pretty good reputation for yourself, which is what Penelope has done in our eyes. So this is their Wheated Bourbon.
It is like some of their other bourbons, a four grain bourbon. So it's clocking in at 74% corn, 16% wheat, 7% rye, and 3% malted barley. Now, I'm reading off of the website of Breaking Bourbon, which we got to get those guys on the show at some point.
We have used them as an invaluable resource to the bourbon world. And they made note of the fact that Penelope's standard four grain bourbon is almost an identical mash bill. There's just 1% more wheat and 1% less corn in this one.
So they said, like, what's probably happening with the four grain is that they're like blending different mash bills together to create a four grain, whereas this is actually created from scratch as a four grain recipe. But it is interesting that it's almost identical to what they are already making. This clocks in at 95 proof.
It's non-age stated, but we know that it's at least four years old. I'm really excited to dive into this one, Brad.Brad
Yeah, Penelope puts out so many delicious whiskies, and I would doubt if this is any different today.Bob
All right, let's dive right in, man. I'm putting my nose in this glass, and it smells like a sort of less viscous, kind of thinner, bright wheated bourbon to me. Like there's notes of orange zest on this.
I get some peach here. I get some red apple peel. It's got all those nice fruity notes that we love.
I don't quite get the cherry cola that we get with some more well-aged wheated bourbons, but this is just like a classic pop of summertime fruit scents on a bourbon. I'm in love with this thing, man.Brad
Yeah, absolutely, Bob. This is cherry, more like a maraschino cherry juice. There's the orange zest.
It's caramely. It's got a little bit of a vanilla bean vibe going on, but it really does just smell like a nice, refreshing wheated bourbon. I'm going to give it a 7 out of 10 here.Bob
I'm going to be a little bit higher than you. I like this a lot. I'm going to give it an 8.5 on the nose. Now, I have not tried it yet, so you're going to dive in to your notes while I dive into the tasting here.Brad
Yeah, dude, the palate here is just incredibly refreshing. This feels like an orange creamsicle pop, if you remember those from childhood. Sure.
It's got a bit of a honey vibe to it. There's the caramel. It does get into a little bit of a brown sugar territory that has a little depth to it that I am enjoying quite a bit.
I think this is a really solid expression of wheated bourbon. I'm going to give it a 7.5 out of 10.Bob
I think I'm going to come down a bit on the palate because I still can't quite figure out exactly where this falls in my spectrum of whiskeys that I've tried. You know what I mean? You kind of want to- Totally.
I don't want to say compare it to something, but you got to slot it into this reminds me of this a little bit. I think that the little bit of barley on this kind of takes it into not quite a bitter category, but there's definitely some char on this, and there's that American single malt kind of note on this. But then you're right.
There's like a really bright, almost tart fruit note on the top of this that reminds me of fresh squeezed orange juice to the point where I had to look and make sure that this wasn't being finished in something, or I didn't have any additives to it. It's really, really bright, coupled with this really dark charred barley note. I'm not entirely sure that I'm in love with this, Brad, so I'm just going to come down to a 7 out of 10 on the flavor.Brad
I think the finish is where this really, it all kind of comes together for me. Like the brown sugar is there. There's cinnamon.
The orange zest sticks around. It gets a little bit oaky. For me, the nose and the palate were leaving a little bit to be desired.
Here's where I think they make their money. I'm going to give it an 8 out of 10 on the finish.Bob
Yeah, I'm with you, man. This reminds me of a little bit of an old fashioned on the finish in that, that pop of cinnamon and nutmeg really comes through. It tips into more of an autumnal vibe than a summertime vibe, but that note of orange really just kind of dances over the top of all of it for me.
We had the Penelope Valencia on the show, I don't know, 10, 12 weeks ago, and I would say that this actually tastes more like orange than the Penelope Valencia did. Is that fair to say?Brad
You might be right there, man. Although, dude, that Valencia was really good.Bob
It was darn good, dude. So yeah, I'm with you on the finish. I'm going to come up to an 8 out of 10 on the finish.
Now, balance is interesting. I do think it's a little bit of a roller coaster ride on this one. And I will also say that even though it's at 95 proof, it's a little bit thin on the mouthfeel.
Like there's just really no viscosity to this thing. I think it would stand up in certain cocktails. I'm a little hesitant to recommend this as the base for other cocktails, though.
And I would say that kind of across the board for wheated bourbons. So balance wise, I'm going to give it a 7.5. Brad, where are you at?Brad
Just below you. 7 out of 10 on the balance. I think that this is a really nice, enjoyable wheated bourbon.
It's not going to stand out in the world of wheated bourbon, but it does what it needs to do. Has a little bit of richness of depth to it. I think they've done a good job with this.
And if I'm being honest, when we get into the value category, this is a $40 bottle of whiskey, Bob, which feels about right.Bob
I mean, source bourbon, non age dated. So we know it's a blend of something probably right. And it is four grain.
It is wheated. I like that about it. But there's really no indicators here that would tell you this needs to be pricey.
And it kind of sucks that we've arrived at this point, Brad. But I feel like I have to give credit to Penelope for not overcharging on this. This is being sold at the rate it should be sold at.
And for some reason, we're now in an economy in the bourbon world where we have to pat somebody on the back for just selling things at the price that they should be sold at. You know what I mean? Yep.
I think that this is a 7.5 out of 10 on the value. I'm going to retroactively adjust down my balance by a half point. You convinced me to take it down to a 7.
So now I've got to do some quick math here. Seven and a half on value. Brad, where are you at on value?
I'm right there with you.Brad
Seven and a half. It's well valued. Put it the right price point.
You know, if this was five to six dollars cheaper, it might be like an eight, eight and a half on value. But as it is, seven and a half. Bob, I'm coming out to a 37 out of 50 for this Penelope wheated bourbon.Bob
I'm at a 38 out of 50. So I'm just one point higher than you. That takes our average to a 37 and a half or a 75 out of 100.
I think that's a perfect place for this, Brad. You know, this is like a an inoffensive crowd pleasing. You take this out on the back deck and share it with a bunch of buddies, and you guys probably forget what it was.
You drank a week later, but you know you had a good time. And honestly, there's nothing wrong with that, you know?Brad
Yeah, this is a really enjoyable experience. At the right price. And I think Penelope just continues to understand their audience and their product and what they're putting out there.
And props to them, man. They're hitting it. Brad, you know what else just absolutely hits the mark is the movie.Bob
What's that, Bob? Ratatouille. Let's get back to talking about it.
Ratatouille. Let's do it.Brad
All right, everybody. That was Penelope wheated bourbon. I would say like close to the cusp of greatness.
Not quite there, but a really solid expression of whiskey at a good price point, Bob.Bob
Yeah, I mean, I have no complaints other than that. There's nothing to tie it thematically to our movie today. Like, I really dropped the ball on finding something finished in like, I don't know, a Chardonnay, something around, you know what I mean?
Like just something that is a grape grown in France somewhere, you know? That's the thing.Patrick Willems
This is really like a wine movie, not a whiskey movie, right? Oh, it's totally a wine movie. As in, they drink wine in the movie.Bob
Yeah, the name of the movie gets dropped while a guy is drunk on wine. Like, that's peak cinema right there. Yeah.Brad
Yeah. Fun fact, one of my discarded two facts and a falsehood facts, the wine that Ego orders, it's like a 1947 something fancy, is a real wine. Uh, the prime window for drinking it is up until 2050.
And as of 2012, it cost about $4,000 a bottle. Huh. So I could only imagine nowadays it's like a 9, $10,000 bottle.Bob
So wait, when Anton Ego goes into that restaurant, is he like, is he hoping that they're just going to comp him that bottle of wine? Like, how does that, is he paying for that? Because he's just like, bring me the wine.Brad
If this is the 1960s, oh yeah, the paper is paying for that, man. And it costs $12. That's what he, that's what we're saying.Bob
Yeah. Oh yeah, that's true. All right, man, hit me with your two facts and a falsehood, Brad.Brad Explains - Jingle
Brad is gonna try to stump you, Bob, to our right. And what is wrong, two facts and a falsehood.Brad
Fact number one, to find out how to animate the scene where the head chef is wet, they dress someone in a chef suit and put him in a swimming pool to see which parts of the clothing stuck to his body and which parts you could see through. Fact number two, the kitchen in Ratatouille is based on the design of La Tour d'Argent in Paris, which was founded in 1582 and is the oldest Michelin star rated restaurant in Paris. Fact number three, bad bird.
Brad Bird cast Patton Oswalt in the main role of Remy after hearing his standup routine about the menu at a Black Angus steakhouse.Bob
I'm not familiar with that standup routine. I will say Patton Oswalt had a comedy special that was shown on Comedy Central like once a week throughout my teenage years. And I freaking love Patton Oswalt.
Brad Bird was a big Comedy Central guy. I don't know. We'll see.
But I'm saving that as a maybe. Number two also sounds very plausible to me, Patrick. I'm kind of circling number one as a falsehood.
Not that I don't think that they would put a reference person in a tank to see what clothing stuck to them like. But when Skinner gets wet, it's the second time in the movie that somebody wearing a chef's outfit has gotten wet because we've just talked about the fact that Linguini jumps in the river to rescue Remy, too. So I don't know, man.
It just sounds a little bit like a Brad invention to me. Where are you falling on this one?Patrick Willems
Um, so number three. Uh, number three, I know is basically true. But now I'm just like, I can't remember if it's the Black Angus Steakhouse.
But I know like I've heard the story about like it is a routine about Patton Oswalt talking about a restaurant that like that is where and that they did like before they officially cast. And they did a test animation of Remy like like lip syncing to him. So like to that routine.
So I know. Oh, I want to. I would want to.
I want to see it. But like, I know that that is true. But I'm just like, I can't remember it.
But like, I don't maybe he changed the name of the restaurant. Um, number. Yeah, I'm leaning toward number one.Brad
Just because I'm a good guy. And I don't like the aspersions cast of me often. Not by you, Patrick, by Bob.
Uh, I'm not that petty. He's not.Bob
Number three is a truth. You know what, Brad? And to toot my own horn here, I was going to say something to that effect.
Brad usually won't just tweak like one tiny word and call it a falsehood. So three is true. I think number two sounds true enough that I'm not paying attention to it.
Are we like locked in on number one here? I would say one. All right.
I'm also going to say one. Brad, we're locking in number one as the falsehood.Brad
Bob, the comeback begins because you just got two losses. Oh, it was to double the guessers.Bob
Double the loss, man. This is what I get for thinking less of you. There were French words in that clue.
And I was like, he didn't do that much work.Brad
I did, in fact, Google what is the oldest Michelin starred restaurant in Paris? And it is, in fact, La Tour de Jean. But there's nothing about the kitchen design or anything like that.
Completely made up. Man. About a true restaurant in Paris.
Man. Wow. Patrick.
As I wrote this falsehood, I was like, I think this is the best falsehood I've ever written.Patrick Willems
I mean, truly, this is a thing where I think if you put in anything in a different language, it immediately sounds legit. And I'm just like, man, it sounds like he also doesn't speak that language. And so, you know, this has got to be a thing he looked up.Bob
Yeah, totally. Dang it, Brad. Well, thanks so much for finally doing work on this.
It's weird. Every single week, Brad does something in a foreign language. All right, guys.
So let's pivot away from that because now I'm upset. Brad, you got two victories against me this week. Before we dive into the cast, the voice cast here, is there anything else about like the look, the sound of the film that we want to touch on?
Because even as you were talking about the kitchen layout, you know, I just remember thinking to myself, like, you could literally Photoshop out the CGI people here, you know, the animated people here and put real people in here and just use this as a background. And it is a passable enough background that I would not question it. Like, it doesn't hit Uncanny Valley, which is saying a lot that this is like a photo real look to this film that parts.Patrick Willems
Yeah. And I mean, like in that kitchen, things like, you know, the kind of like the scorched bottoms of the copper pans and like details like that. I'm just like, I want to cook in that kitchen.
Oh, it's like it's Nancy Meyer's dream kitchen, dude. Oh, my God. Yeah, it's like it's really beautiful.
OK, actually, I'm just going to like throw out like multiple thoughts about like visuals in the movie. One thing that I think is really key that the movie always remembers to do is because, you know, we get this movie about like really enjoying watching a rat cook. Like any time they do a shot from like a like a human perspective, looking down at like a whole like bunch of rats like in in just indoors, it is still gross.
Even when we know they are characters that we like, like at the beginning, when they're in the woman's house and like the ceiling falls out, and there's a bunch of rats that like I still like, yeah, I mean, it's. Yes, it's a visceral reaction. And I think it's really impressive that the movie is able to like, you know, to go back and forth between like these are our characters and we root for them.
But also immediately, it's like the second you see this from like a human perspective, it's like, oh, right. Yeah, but that's gross. And I totally get why, like I would be repulsed by this as well.
And and like especially when you have like the rats like clustered like a swarm of rats and they're all like, you know, like up on each other, like all running together. It's like, yeah, it's disgusting. It's still gross.
It manages to thread the line or thread the needle of like, you know, remembering that rats are gross, but also not wanting to make the cooking gross. And so just little things like like the moment when Remy is going to like cook for the first time to like work on the soup, and he just gets like the one drop of water from the faucet to like wash his hands or like when they get all the rats in to help cook together, which is just such, I think, just a really wonderful payoff. But then having him put them like through the dishwasher.
Yeah. And so it's just like, look, we know that you should be grossed out by this, but we are going to take the steps to make it sanitary. And so to remove the grossness.
And but like, yeah, I think the way they they deal with the rats there is is really great and a really important thing. I also and even go ahead.Brad
Can I just say the the way they illustrate his dad feels so like that's what you expect an animated rat to look like? Like he kind of reminds me of a goofier version of Rattigan from The Great Mouse Detective. Well, you know what I mean?Bob
Like, it's such a great stereotypical rat design. Can I just say I'm sorry. And Patrick, you said you had many thoughts.
I want to let you continue stream of consciousness here. Once you have had any number of mice in your house and Patrick, I mean, you are perhaps the king of the rats over there in New York City, you have an intense familiarity with with the rats. It's not enough, no matter what they do now.
I can't watch this movie and be like, sure, I'd let that thing cook me food. Like there's just no there is just forever a block in my head of like that is the most unsanitary thing in the world. I can't get over it.
What if the rat sounded like Patton Oswalt?Patrick Willems
But they can't hear him.Brad
They can't hear him. And also do the shots when they show him like pointing and squeaking are just perfect.Bob
Listen, photo real stuff throughout this movie. They have completely sanitized the amount of droppings. There's poop everywhere throughout this kitchen, if we're being honest.Patrick Willems
Yeah, that is true. But you know what? No one wants to think about that.Bob
All right, continue, Patrick. I'm sorry.Patrick Willems
OK, other things in in the movie visually that I think are great. I talked about the character designs earlier. I think Colette has a great design.
I like her hair. I like her nose. I like her motorcycle.
It's awesome. It looks great. I love when Skinner rides on a moped.
I think that chase scene is terrific. The little gag where he jumps and grabs the tablecloth and pulls it off the table as the couple is kissing. Terrific.
Chef's kiss. Fantastic. No notes.
The aforementioned scene with the the dead rat store, just like a store dedicated to killing rats. Great, really dark imagery. Also, I'm like, damn, would a store really just hang up dead animals like that?
Like, aren't those going to smell bad?Bob
Are they swapping them daily? Like, what are we doing? I don't understand.Patrick Willems
Yeah. OK, more things. Early on when they're expressing when like Remy is explaining his kind of like natural talent for, you know, for, you know, dealing with like flavors and stuff like that, the way they animate the flavors as if like how they feel and how they taste is not an easy thing to do to be like, how do you animate taste?
And and they do it in a very like abstract, like hand drawn kind of way. And I think that is just like one of the little details that just like makes the movie like really incredible. I'm trying to think, OK, what else is I like the way that kind of like imaginary Gusteau looks, the like semi transparency of him, the way light shines through him.
I think that's really great. Oh, man, I could I could really just I could just keep on going. Um, yeah, I don't know anyone else have like visual details they want to throw out.Bob
I think for me, honestly, like you've captured pretty much all of my thoughts on the visuals. Like, I think that the audio portion of this movie goes a little bit under the radar. The sound design in this movie is incredible.
I mean, the score is great and like very like, you know, bringing it as always. Yeah, absolutely. But capturing the bustle of Paris, capturing all of the many sounds going on in this like industrial kitchen, right, like from everything from like the the burners turning on on an oven to the splash of I just think it's a great Foley movie.
And I think we've never really talked about Foley like sound on this podcast before. But movies will have a person called the Foley artist who essentially it's their job to replicate sound effects. So like if you see a person walking on leaves, there's a guy in a in a studio somewhere maybe not actually crunching leaves, but he has to find something that is going to make it sound to the audience like leaves crunching.
And so there's like really great videos on YouTube of Foley artist finding random stuff that sounds cool.Patrick Willems
I'm currently working with one on on my short film that we're finishing up. And his like first pass of just that elevated the whole movie so much. It's it's so also my movie involves a lot of food.
So there's a lot of like Foley sounds of like a fork stabbing into like like a piece of food and stuff like that. And yeah, it's it's really great.Bob
Well, that was what I was going to say. Perhaps my favorite Foley sound effect ever is Colette saying like, how do you tell what a good loaf of bread sounds like? And they they have multiple lines of dialogue.
Do you know how much pressure is on this portfolio? Artists were like everything in this scene is building to you paying it off with one sound effect. Make a sound that tastes delicious.
Yes. And they crunch that bread. And I was immediately like, damn, I want bread now.
I knew it was coming and it still worked. It's nuts, dude.Brad
Yeah, it's the beauty of sound and visual coming together to be everything you want it to be and like Patrick, you talked earlier about when he's explaining food to his brother and the way that they illustrate food. I think the only thing that disappointed me about that scene is that they didn't do it again at some point later in the film. Like, I just wish that they had found a way to integrate that idea of a visual representation of the beauty of of how food tastes.
I wish they had done that again at some point in the movie because it just they nail it at the start. Maybe they could have done it when ego takes a bite of the ratatouille.Patrick Willems
I don't know, but it's so well done. Yeah, you say this and I'm like, this isn't even really a criticism of the movie. I'm not saying that it like it's a flaw that it doesn't have it in there.
But it's a thing because I love movies that are about like process or movies that like detail some like the the process of someone like talented at a thing and getting into detail about how they do it. And I would not have minded if at some point, maybe for like one of the later cooking scenes, if it got a bit more into detail about Remy being like, here is we here's like like figure out like we need this amount of this and here's how it will combine with this. It's like a formula.
And like, here's here's the flavors that that that will get because I just think that stuff is really exciting. I like what it's the simple thing. It's the same reason that, you know, you know, that I love dad movies just about men who are good at their jobs.
I just I just like to watch a person who is talented, do the thing that they're talented at. There's something really exciting about it. And and that's part of what I enjoy about this movie so much is you get to watch a really talented chef cook.
But like that, but that's the thing I'm just like, yeah, I just like watching this. I know. Oh, like, yeah.
What if the movie had just had like 15 more minutes of just Remy cooking like beautifully animated? I mean, also like the way the way the scene of him like first working on the soup is directed where you've got 60. Yeah, you've got like these like separate shots of adding different ingredients and then building up to just the 360 shot, like circling around the pot as he's just like he's finally like in his element and doing what he's always wanted to do.
It's it's great.Bob
All right. Well, we've talked about visuals. We've talked about audio.
I think like to close out the way this movie sounds, we should touch on this cast a little bit. We have talked about Patton Oswalt a bit. I think Patton Oswalt has been a guy.
How do I phrase this? He's had a long and very successful career. I always wanted Patton Oswalt to get like the big breakthrough role where he was appreciated more like I wanted him to get like a Paul Giamatti in sideways type role where like even if it's not something that makes him an A-list star, it's something that gets him the respect that he deserves.
Because I think from both a truly hilarious comedic timing element, but also a really good dramatic actor, I listened to his performance here and I'm like, man, I wish this guy had blown up more. He's so good, Brad.Brad
Yeah, the performance of Remy, I mean, Patrick, you said earlier, this is a movie about process and it's about one person and their love for a thing. So you got to nail it if the movie is about that person. And I think they do it with Patton Oswalt.
It is crazy to me. I think that's why I put it in as one of my two facts. It's crazy to me that Brad Bird was like, hey, the stand up guy.
I think he's our dude.Patrick Willems
Yeah, it's I know. What was his filmography like, like before 2007? Because obviously he's on like so much TV.
He's done movies since then. He's done dramatic roles in movies. And so but like what how much like acting had he done before this?Bob
I'm sure it was pretty limited because all I mean, I was watching movies all the time. This is very anecdotal. But like, I don't remember really seeing him come up in films.
I remember him doing stand up and being on King of Queens. Like, that's pretty much all I knew him from.Patrick Willems
Right, right. Yeah, because like, oh, I forgot. I'm looking at his IMDb right now.
He's like, he has a tiny role in Magnolia.Bob
Oh, really? I don't even remember.Patrick Willems
But Paul Thomas Anderson has always liked putting like comedy people in little roles, like, you know, like Paul F. Tompkins and there'll be blood. Oh, right.
Patton Oswalt is in Blade Trinity, famously. You know, which he's told stories about. But oh, yeah, it's basically just like, yeah, like King of Queens starting in 98.
But and yeah, not not much until Ratatouille. Yeah. You know, I've still never seen Big Fan, which was.
I haven't either.Bob
Which was in my like Amazon Prime watch list for five years now. Probably never got around to it.Patrick Willems
Back when I was in college, it was on my like disc Netflix queue and I just never got to it. But that and that was the movie that was really supposed to be like. And I heard it was good, like his kind of like the proof that, oh, he can be a dramatic onscreen actor.
And I think it was just like a little bit too small and not enough people saw it. And it's like, you know, it probably led to like, you know, like a young adult and some other things. But he never you know, he did not have a Paul Giamatti career.Bob
Right. Brad, I totally forgot about how good was he in Young Adult. He was so freaking good, dude.
Oh, my gosh. You should have won an Oscar for that movie.Brad
Oh, unbelievable role. I didn't want I really didn't want to like Young Adult, but I think I walked away after we reviewed it thinking like, man, I kind of really liked that movie, I think of all of the Diablo Cody movies.Bob
Like, I feel like that's the one that has stood the test of time with me the most.Patrick Willems
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen it like in like, I don't know, at least 15 years, I think.
I mean, actually, like, what about 2011? Maybe. OK, so I haven't seen it since, like, basically when it came out.
But I really need to rewatch it. Yeah. Yeah.
Maybe I'll rewatch it. Tonight.Bob
After this. As soon as we get done with this. And then you need to tell me what you thought, because it's unbelievably good, dude.
Yeah, I want to call out. I want to call out one more person in the cast, and then I'll turn it over to you guys for whoever stuck out to you. I did not realize until this watch and going through the IMDb cast list that Colette is played by Jeanine Garofalo, which blew my mind.
She might be the MVP of the movie for me in terms of the voice that she does, because I would have sworn that they had hired an actual French person to voice her because the way she reads the role, even if the accent's not perfect, she reads the sentences off the page like a person who is speaking their second language. I don't know how else to say that, but it feels so authentic to how an actual French person would read that role that it like truly blew my mind. And it was just like this, you know, native English speaking actress that I know from all of this stuff in the late 90s.Patrick Willems
I mean, it is crazy that it's her. But I mean, the whole cast is kind of crazy because it's like all of these American or British people doing French accents. It's like Ian Holm as Skinner is crazy.
Brad Garrett as Gusteau. That was the one that got me. James Remar is in this.
Yeah.Bob
Just a wild cast, dude. And even though they are doing like French accents, and even though sometimes they are caricatures of French people, they never quite feel like offensively bad French accents. Yeah.
Like they're all trying to sound authentically French to some extent. Yeah. Except for Patton Oswalt.Patrick Willems
Right. Well, all the rats have American accents.Brad
Yeah, that's true. You know, Brian Dennehy's not doing a French accent as much as I would love to hear it. I was gonna say, it kind of reminds me.
I just watched Amadeus again recently and no accents. They're like one or two people, I think, who are actually German in the movie have accents. Other than that, they all just are, you know, Milos was just like, yeah, just whatever you want to sound like, just go for it.Patrick Willems
I mean, it's a thing that I like for live action movies that are like period pieces set in like France or whatever. I think specifically with, oh, wait, shit, Amadeus, is that set in Germany or Austria? Austria.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Austria, yeah. I know for a lot of those, you know, the general rule is like, just don't make them do accents.
It's like because it's not like they'd be speaking English with accents anyway. There's speaking a different language. But like, I remember when like Ridley Scott was asked about this with The Last Duel because someone was like, why, what?
This is set in France. Why aren't they a franchise? And he's like, that would sound ridiculous if like, like Matt Damon and like Adam Driver were here speaking with French.
Like, it would be the movie would get so goofy so fast. It's like, no, just we don't want that. Like, like, why would you?
What a weird complaint. But like, because Ratatouille is a comedy and also it is animated, you can totally get away with that because these are funny characters.Bob
My favorite convention that we do in movies, especially American made movies where they are like, okay, we're all in like Prussia. So you have to do some sort of accent, but we don't want you doing bad German or Austrian accents. So everyone do a British accent.
Like, that's my favorite thing is like, we know that Americans won't accept this if you sound like you're from Chicago, but you have to sound a little bit aristocratic. So do an English accent, even though we're going to put you in like, you know, a Tolstoy novel set in like Siberia. You know what I mean?Patrick Willems
Those are the rules. If it's like if it's set in Russia, if it's set in ancient Rome, basically, if it is set anywhere in in the past, everyone had vaguely British accents.Brad
That is the rule of movies. Let's hear a Charlton Heston. And I don't know what kind of accent he had.
He's just doing Charlton, man.Patrick Willems
Yeah.Bob
All right, guys, I think it's time for us to wrap it up a little bit today. And in order to do that, we have to get into our last segment, which we call Let's Make It a Double.Let's Make it a Double - Jingle
We're near the end of the episode. So thanks for listening to the film and whiskey show. Let's pair another film with this one, even if it's a struggle.
It's the final segment of the day.Bob
Now, let's make it a double. Let's make it a double is the part of the show where we pick a movie to pair up with this one to make the perfect double feature. I am trying to look across the computer screen here and see if Patrick is completely caught off guard by this or if he's ready to go.
Guys, guys, I've been on the show before.Patrick Willems
Can I go first? Yeah, that's what I was going to offer up to you, man. Go for it.
Thank you. Here's the thing. I will admit, I forgot this was part of the show.
And then you mentioned it. And I'm like, wait a second. I literally was just talking about the taste of things.
Boom, done. Double feature right there. Movies about just set in French kitchens that are going to make you really hungry.
You know what you should do? You should do the double feature, take a break in between, cook a big meal. So you're like satisfied.
So you're like you get hungry with the first movie. Cook a nice big meal. Actually, wait, no, no.
Let me back up. Here's what you do. Before the first movie, you should put like a roast in the oven or like a rack of lamb or something and let it cook during Ratatouille.Brad
Absolutely.Patrick Willems
And then you have the big meal after the movie. And then you're full when you watch The Taste of Things. Otherwise, that movie would just kill you with like how hungry it would make you.
So that's it. That's my double feature.Bob
All I can think about is the dinner party episode of The Office where they all show up. And then Jan's like, the osso bucco needs to braise for three more hours. That's exactly what Patrick is suggesting here.Patrick Willems
Exactly. Also, everyone stay tuned for my movie, The Dinner Plan, a movie about a dinner party coming this year. Oh, let's go, dude.
That's the double feature. Yeah. You know what?Bob
That's the double feature. Yeah. What does Colette say?
I hate false modesty. Come on, Patrick.Patrick Willems
Plug your movie, dude. Let's go. Well, it's the thing like we don't have like a release date or anything.
So I'm like, I just be like, we'll just like just use my code and get an annual subscription to Nebula right now. So you you're signed up whenever it comes out.Brad
Yeah, it works. It's just a really prolonged double feature. If you're listening to this episode in 2026, go watch Patrick's movie.
If you're listening to it in 2025, The Taste of Things is a passable substitute for your film. Yeah, Brad, you're up, man. What's your double feature?
I am so I don't often watch movies for the podcast with my wife, but we did watch Ratatouille together because she loves Pixar films. And about halfway through the film, she was like, oh, I know what this movie is like. It has like sneaking infiltration sequences.
It's got chase sequences, an incredible chase sequence through a European city. And it finishes with the team assembling to accomplish the impossible task of impressing Anton Ego. And they somehow pull it off.
I'm pairing this with the Mission Impossible franchise. But you got to pick one.Patrick Willems
Oh, that's seven. Soon it to be eight movies that.Brad
Yes, that's true. I guess I'll go with Ghost Protocol because it's Brad Bird. Sure.
Either that or I'd probably just go with a Paris in fallout. That's true. Oh, that's true.
Let's do fallout chase in Paris. Let's do fallout. Yeah, fallout totally makes sense.
I'm going to pair this with Mission Impossible fallout.Bob
That's that's the correct choice. My my pairing is going to be horrible compared to this. You know what?
Patrick mentioned a shot in the movie earlier where Remy is tasting like a piece of cheese and a strawberry, and they they fade everything else out to black. And it's just Remy left on a black screen. And it reminded me of one of the very first movies when I was a kid that I really loved, where I first realized, like, oh, there are there are directorial decisions being made here.
It's a movie called The Music Man, directed by Morton da Costa, who only did like three movies or something. But his famous shot was he did this thing where he replicated what you could do on a Broadway stage, which is like fade everything else out and basically like leave one thing illuminated, not by a spotlight, but like it looks like a cutout on a black screen. And he does it like four or five times in The Music Man.
He does it a couple of times in the movie Auntie Mame. And it just reminds me so much of that. And when are we ever going to talk about Morton da Costa again on this podcast?
So I'm pairing this movie up with The Music Man, unless you're super hungry, in which case I will pair it up with the entire series, Stanley Tucci Searching for Italy, which I just binged on a plane a couple of weeks ago. So there you go. It's a good answer.
Yeah, thank you so much. I would say it's not as good as Mission Impossible, though.Brad
Yeah, obviously. Skinner was chasing Remy and Haley's like, oh, this is Mission Impossible. Yeah, 100 percent.
Like they're in Europe and they're chasing each other after a vital document and they're jumping over things like it is a perfect Mission Impossible chasing.Patrick Willems
Isn't it fun to imagine Tom Cruise watching Ratatouille and being like this guy? This guy is who I need. The guy who made the rat movie.
Have you guys ever seen that video? It was I can't remember what award ceremony it was, but Brad Bird was was receiving an award, but he couldn't but he was shooting Ghost Protocol at the time. And so he had this like pre-taped acceptance.
Have you ever seen this? No. It's so funny.
Basically, it's a thing where it's like you're watching it. It's like a close up of Brad Bird's head and he's talking really kind of stiffly. And it's like an award for animation.
I mean, I think it's some kind of like it's like a lifetime, just like some like award for animation. And he's talking about, but I'm I'm leaving animation behind because those like kiddie movies can never compare to the magnificence of working with real movie stars like like Tom Cruise. And then as it's happening, the camcorder that's filming, it starts like zooming out and you see Tom Cruise and Simon Pegg sitting there with like guns pointed at Brad Bird and he's tied to a chair.
And and I won't spoil the rest of it for you, but but at one point, Cruise angrily calls Brad Bird cartoon boy. And it is it's so funny. It's an incredible video.Bob
Put it in your show notes. Now, I will say the only other thing we could have all paired this up with, and I just noticed it behind Brad on his shelf there, the very first movie Patrick ever joined us for is the movie Charade. Hey, I mean, talk about gallivanting around Europe.
Yes, what better than charade?Brad
Honestly, when when he when they're on the boat and they're like jumping from boat to boat, there is something about the way the boat looked. I was like, oh, they nailed it. Like, that's like the boat from Charade.Bob
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. All right. So those are our picks for let's make it a double.
This has been presented by Blackwood Distilling Company. No matter what movie you choose to pair up with this, you can always make it a double with Blackwood. And if you go to bourbonoutfitter.com slash film whiskey and use our code film whiskey at checkout, you will save on your bottle of Blackwood. Brad, we've been trying this Blackwood 105 rye recently. Freaking phenomenal, dude.Brad
Yeah, absolutely. It's one of the best, just pure, delightful rye experiences. It dives into that sweet mintiness that I just can't get enough of.
But it has the richness of a bourbon. So I I'm in, dude. Blackwood continues to make some of the best stuff out there.Bob
Guys, it's time for final scores on this movie. I'm going to go ahead and go first because I think I'm going to split the difference between Brad and Patrick. I'm coming out to a nine out of ten on this film.
I think that like over the years, I've gone from a ten at my at my lowest. I've been down at like an eight on this movie right now. I think it's sitting on IMDb at an 8.1, which is significantly lower than my personal new favorite Pixar movie Coco, which is at an 8.4 very deservedly in the top 250. Now, Brad on IMDb, I think that it was also deserving of more Oscar love than it got. This was before the field expanded to ten. I want to say that I think this movie would have gotten one of the ten nominations if it had expanded.
I don't know. Is that fair to say, Brad?Brad
Absolutely.Bob
Yeah, 2007 was a famously very good year. That is true. Very, very deep bench going on in 2007.
I'm not going to I'm not going to fall for that eighth or ninth spot.Brad
Yeah, for sure. For sure. Can you imagine a world where because did which did there will be blood when best picture?
No country, no country, no country did. Can you imagine a world where Ratatouille beat No Country for Old Men? Or there will be blood, you know, whatever.Patrick Willems
Here's the thing. I feel like you'll be one of those cases like. It would be shocking, but I'm not going to argue that it's better than those movies.
But I think it's one of those things. OK, I feel like it would be a similar case to like 2015 when like Spotlight one where it's like everyone's like, OK, right, like Fury Road is like the better movie that will have the bigger legacy, but also like Spotlight's pretty great and like no one's going to get mad. It's like, yeah, it's cool that that movie got, you know, won an award.
And I feel like it'd be the same thing. It's like Ratatouille is great. Like, you know, you can't be mad at it.Brad
Yeah, Patrick, I want you to know that I had never watched Fury Road and we until we reviewed it for the podcast and no joke. Did you just not watch movies ever? Ah, yeah, I'm I'm very, very lame.
OK, long story short, I watched it early in the morning to like because I needed to. I needed to get it done. And then later that night, I was like, damn it.
I've been thinking about this movie all day. I need to watch it again. I watched it twice in a day.Bob
This was like maybe two months ago. We got on to record this episode and Brad's like, I don't want to say a word about it. And so we get like until we press record.
And I was like, oh, he's going to hate this freaking movie. And I just remember throwing over to him and being like, all right, Brad, what did you think? And he just leaned back from his microphone and shouted, witness me repeatedly.
That was like, yes, we've got a Fury Road fan. Witness me.Patrick Willems
I mean, it's it's like a rare, weird occasion when I meet someone who doesn't like it. Like, that's just I for a movie that is a pretty weird movie. It really does seem like it's kind of like shocking how much like all of like culture was like, well, this is immediately obviously a masterpiece, like a truly singular work of art, the likes of which we've never seen before.
Like, that's the kind of movie that like, again, I'm not like an Oscar guy or like an awards guy, but like traditionally, that's not the kind of movie that gets nominated for like best picture. And but it's it's so undeniable. Oh, dude, what a freaking movie.Bob
Yeah. Hey, speaking of movies, Ratatouille, which we're in the middle of giving final scores to. True.
Who would like to go next here? Oh, Brad, it's your show. Go ahead.Brad
I'll jump in. I I think I came in at an eight. I like I'm with you guys.
I don't think it's fair to compare this to other Pixar movies only. I Bob, I'm with you. I'm going to give it a nine out of ten.
I think when you look at the breadth of animated films over the years, Ratatouille stands near the top. And so I think it's fair. If I was just ranking Pixar films, probably like eight, eight and a half.
But like compared to everything else that's ever been put out, I mean, this is just an absolute blast of an experience that like hones in on some very real human experiences. And so, yeah, I'm in, man. I'm going to give it a nine out of ten as well.Bob
All right, Patrick, what are we thinking?Patrick Willems
Well, folks, I've given this a lot of thought and I've decided I have to give it a nine out of ten.Bob
Oh, explain yourself.Patrick Willems
You picked the movie, man. I did. Well, I mean, I picked it from a list I was given.
Sure. Out of all the movies in the world, I want to discuss Ratatouille. I basically it is just I think it is a an incredible movie.
I think it's it's top tier Pixar. I think it's, you know, an all time great animated movie. I I'm I'm very selective about what I dish out my tends to.
And and I'm like, look, we got to have, you know, like we got to know where the ceiling is. I'm like, this is really high up there. But but like there are if we're even if we're talking like animated movies, there are movies that I, you know, reserve that that that ten out of ten for.
And this is close.Brad
Is the Iron Giant one of your ten out of tens?Patrick Willems
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's I mean, if we're talking like Brad Bird movies, that is my favorite Brad Bird. That's my favorite Brad Bird movie.
That's yeah, animated movies that we're talking like Iron Giant. We're talking like Spirited Away, you know, weird. I mean, well, honestly, like like there's like at least five Miyazaki movies up there talking with Pixar, you know, Toy Story two.
Yeah, yeah, up there. It's so yeah, that's just it. It's like top tier, magnificent movie.Brad
And so, yeah, well, that brings us to our final question of the day. Then Bob is Ratatouille a modern masterpiece?Bob
I'm going to say yes, even though it's not the best Pixar movie, even though it is not the most ubiquitous Pixar movie. And that gets me back to this thing we were going to talk about. We never did, which is like during covid, the youths needed something to do.
And so if you were on any sort of social media, you were party to this. They they started making as a joke, a Ratatouille musical on like TikTok. And starting to like write fictional songs to make Ratatouille into a musical, and it blossomed into a thing where like people from all over the world were adding to this project in real time to the point where like there became a full Ratatouille musical floating around out there in the ether.
And I don't know if it's just because it was covid or what, but I felt like that movie really had a moment there, similar to Brad, how you and I have talked about like the resurgence of Shrek because of the Internet, how it was just like its own thing. And now it's it's this weird meta thing on itself. Now, Ratatouille is not quite to that level, but it's definitely come back into the zeitgeist because of that.
And I think just being coupled with it's a really damn good movie. I'm going to say yes, Brad.Brad
Man, I hope that what happened to Shrek does not happen to Remy. I'll just say that. I mean, I think it doesn't do to him what they've done to Shrek.Patrick Willems
I think we're already safe there because, you know, they made like four Shrek movies. They made spinoff movies. It's like, you know, it's it's like the Dreamworks thing.
They they also like as someone who was like the perfect age to like love Shrek when it came out. Uh, yeah, I do not. Uh, I do not like I don't have really much nostalgia for Shrek.
I I'm like, yeah, that was like a that was a moment. And I moved on from that. But Smash Mouth, Patrick.
I mean, look, I look what made one of the first albums I ever bought was Astro Lounge by Smash Mouth. I mean, I was I was there like ground zero. And I mean, and also, but lest we forget, the song All Star debuted in the film Mystery Men, you know, like two years before Shrek.
Like, come on.Bob
I look back on Shrek the way that I look back on many things when I was like 10, 11, 12 years old, which is like it was OK for me to like this when I was 10. I remember really liking the song Follow Me by Uncle Cracker back then. That song is freaking terrible.
And like, I guess what I'm saying is Shrek is essentially the Uncle Cracker of animated films. Devastating. Wow.Patrick Willems
Shrek found dead in a ditch. And on that note, Patrick, is Ratatouille a modern masterpiece? There's a part of me that's like, let's sit here and interrogate what we mean by modern masturbation, how we're defining that.
But I don't want to make this episode longer than it already is. So I'm just going to say yes. Hmm.
There it is.Brad
Brad, did you say yes or no? I will be the dissenting voice. I'll say no, partially because of everything that Pixar has put out.
I don't think it quite hits that level. It's it's close, though, man, because it is such a great film.Bob
It's on the it's on the food movies, Mount Rushmore, if nothing else. Oh, for sure. Yeah, I would agree with that.
All right. So it's a nine from me and from Patrick and from Brad. But we'd like to know what you guys think.
Where does Ratatouille fall on your personal ranking of the Pixar films? Find us. Talk to us about it.
You can find us on any of our social media platforms, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube at Film Whiskey.Brad
Or if you want to join the conversation, you can talk to us live every single day. We are on our Discord server. If you'd like to join the conversation, you can find a link at the end of every single one of our show notes.Bob
We want to say thanks again to our guest, Patrick Willems. Man, it's so good to see you. It's been a long time.
Why don't you plug a little bit of what's coming down the pike before this short film hits at an unannounced date?Patrick Willems
OK, yeah, cool. So you can watch the videos I make where I talk about movies on YouTube or Nebula. Right now, they come out early on Nebula.
So you can see a video arguing why the 2008 film Speed Racer is perhaps the most important movie of the 21st century. And that is a movie I would call a modern masterpiece. And so that's what I have out right now.
And at some point in this calendar year, my short film The Dinner Plan will debut. And it's about food.Brad
So funny. I remember I don't remember what the video is, but in one of your videos from maybe two years ago, three years ago, you talk about Speed Racer and the way you talk about Speed Racer in that video. I remember thinking to myself as I watched it, like, I feel like Patrick could make a whole video about Speed Racer.
And he just like it was just like a brief aside in this other video.Patrick Willems
Here's the thing, Brad. There are so many videos where I would do brief asides about Speed Racer. I would bring it up so often that it kind of became a running bit.
Okay. And so last year, like last summer, we had a character come in mid video and be like, Patrick, you have talked about Speed Racer so much, but I've never done a video about it. What's the deal?
And then I announced like coming at some point in the future, I will do the video. Yes. And so then I kind of like, then I was like, you know, Babe Ruth calling my shot.
And then I'm just like, okay, I got to nail this video because it's been a long time coming. And anyway, it came out as of recording this three days ago. And I think I did it.
I think I got it right.Bob
All right, folks, that is Patrick Willems. If I mean, check his YouTube channel and see if it's up. But more importantly than that, if it's not up, go to Nebula and try that out.
Brad and I signed up for a subscription last year. It is well worth the money, if only just for the Patrick Willems content. But you get so much more than that.
It's freaking fantastic. We love supporting Nebula and all of its many, many weird creators. So thank you so much, Patrick Willems.
Thank you guys for listening. We will be back next week with another regularly scheduled episode. But until then, I'm Bob Book.
I'm Brad Gee. And we'll see you next time.Patrick H. Willems
Filmmaker, YouTube Essayist, and Resident Wes Anderson Whisperer
Patrick H. Willems is best known for his YouTube channel of cinematic video essays that feel more like short films than commentary. Over the years, he’s built a team, a cult following, and an increasingly ambitious storytelling style that blends film analysis with absurdist comedy. Patrick’s love for movies spans from classic Hollywood (Charade, Roman Holiday) to contemporary stylists like Wes Anderson and Brad Bird. On Film & Whiskey, he’s our go-to for visual storytelling deep-dives and spirited bourbon debates.
