Characters / Ratatouille

The Protagonists

Remy

Voiced by: Patton Oswalt

Remy's a common rat who dreams of being a chef despite his father's wishes. After being separated from his clan, Remy manages to make his way to Gusteau's, the restaurant of his late idol. Remy seizes the opportunity to make a wonderful dish, but everyone believes it was done by the bumbling Lethal Chef Linguini. Remy and Linguini come to an agreement: Linguini will take the credit of creating the food Remy cooks while Remy gets to live out his dream at last.

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• Affectionate Nickname: "Little Chef" by Linguini, who can't communicate with him to learn his real one.
• Be Yourself: What he ultimately learns by the end of the movie:
  I'm sick of pretending. I pretend to be a rat for my father, I pretend to be a human through Linguini. I pretend you exist so I have someone to talk to! You only tell me stuff I already know! I know who I am! Why do I need you to tell me? Why do I need to pretend?
• Big Brother Instinct: To Émile. He saves him from a rat trap set by Skinner, only to get caught in it himself.
• Blessed with Suck: What good is being a great chef with refined tastes if A) your Extreme Omnivore family thinks you're just being unnecessarily picky and B) you're more likely to be slaughtered than be allowed into a proper kitchen?
• Career Not Taken: Remy starts out as a "poison checker" (someone who smells food and determines if it's poisoned), but wants to cook for humans instead. He eventually gets his dream upon befriending a human restaurant employee named Linguini.
• Civilized Animal: Lampshaded when Emile asks him why he walks on his hind legs. He responds that he doesn't want to get his paws dirty.
• Deadpan Snarker: Makes quips from his family to Linguini.
• Expressive Ears: With his ears, you can tell if he's sad, disappointed, or happy.
• Fat and Skinny: With Emile. He's the Skinny.
• Four Legs Good, Two Legs Better: He walks on his hind legs to keep his forepaws clean for eating and cooking. Emile teases him for walking like a human.
• Head Pet: Not really a pet, but he is Linguini's Non-Human Sidekick and is kept under his hat for the most of the film, as pulling on Linguini's hair allows him to control his movements.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: Remy wants to become a chef, but this is made difficult by the fact he's a rat. While he gets along with his clan just fine, humans are either terrified of or disgusted by him and don't want him anywhere near a kitchen, so he has to use Linguini as a puppet.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Linguini. Though their partnership was initially built off of mutual convenience, they quickly grow to regard each other as equals and eventually become best friends.
• Honor Before Reason: His decision to not eat a piece of bread (which the owner almost certainly wouldn't notice or miss), because his Imaginary Friend tells him not to be a thief.
• In-Series Nickname: Linguini always refers to him as "Little Chef". Justified in that Linguini can't understand anything Remy says, so Remy can't correct him.
• Interspecies Friendship: Remy, a rat, befriends Linguini, a human.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Being criticized time and again by his father (and others) for his passion for cooking, along with having nothing but trash to eat, has made him somewhat bitter at the story's beginning. He starts off being a bit selfish and drags his brother around rather thoughtlessly but he quickly grows out of it once he finds himself alone.
• Made of Iron: For a rat, Remy's surprisingly tough. He survives being struck by lightning, washed away in the sewers, and his first trip into Gusteau's has him both take a long fall and get repeatedly knocked around the kitchen with minimal injuries.
• Missing Mom: His mother is never mentioned.
• My God, What Have I Done?: After he and Linguini come to blows midway through the movie and he gets temporarily sidelined, Remy brings his clan to the restaurant's kitchen to raid the food stores as payback. Halfway through, Linguini, whose temper has cooled down by this point, comes in to try and apologize for his earlier outrage, which quickly causes Remy to deeply regret letting his anger get the better of him, doubly so when Linguini sees the other rats and breaks off their partnership for good.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Inverted; he's the hero of the movie and Linguini is his sidekick.
• The Nose Knows: He has an excellent sense of smell, and it's useful for both cooking and sniffing out poison.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Since he's presumably unable to write like a human, Linguini never learns his actual name, merely calling him "Little Chef."
• Picky Eater: Due to his strongly keen senses of smell and taste, Remy prefers the far more flavorsome and delectable haute cuisine over the decaying discarded food his family consumes.
• Puppy-Dog Eyes: Pulls a mild version of these on Linguini when he is about to drop the jar holding him into a river.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: Particularly if you find rats cute in the first place.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Emile. Remy wants to do his own thing, but Emile follows what their dad wants them to do. Remy wants to cook good food with great flavor, while Emile is willing to just eat whatever's lying around.
• Silent Snarker: When he's around the humans and can't talk. When Linguini admits that he can't cook, Remy doesn't persuade him otherwise—just shakes his head, "No, you really can't."
• The Speechless: Around the rats, he can talk, and he's got a lot to say. However, Remy cannot talk to humans, so anytime he's with one, he's rendered as speechless as any other rat.
• Superior Successor: He is basically one to Gusteau himself, as he manages to take an infamously bad recipe declared by the chef to be an Old Shame invoked and transforms it into a well loved and popular recipe, on top of managing to succeed in winning over Ego, which Gusteau could never do.
• Supreme Chef: His talents don't have much opportunity to shine in his rat clan, but once he makes his way to Gusteau's, Remy proves that he is a master in the kitchen. His first-ever dish is a soup that instantly gains the praise of a food critic. The ratatouille he creates at the end of the field (invented for the film by a Real Life master chef) completely delights the dour Anton Ego and has him relinquish his criticism of Guesteau's old saying, "Anyone can cook."
• Technician/Performer Team-Up: Colette is an experienced Technician chef who follows recipes exactly as instructed while Remy as the Performer has him experimenting while cooking. While this makes them rub elbows at first (especially when Remy's controlling Linguini) they prove to be an excellent pair when they prepare Ego's Ratatouille dish together. This partnership continues after they open "La Ratatouille" together at the end of the film.
• Technician Versus Performer: The performer to Colette's technician. Colette is all about following the recipe and not trying to pull any stunts, while Remy is inventive and wants to try new things. This creates friction between her and Linguini (Remy's human puppet), as she thinks he's trying to be a showoff.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Remy starts out as a bit of a selfish jerk, embittered by spending so long in an unappreciative rat clan with nothing to eat but garbage, but this largely softens once he's in Paris. He intends to just leave Linguini in the dust when he sets him free, but looking back at the poor guy has Remy change his mind.
• Translator Microbes: Remy hears French people and rats speak English.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Remy is never quite understood by his father, but despite this, he wants to be appreciated by him.
• What Measure Is a Non-Cute?: Lampshaded. Rémy's major struggle is the fact that humans think rats are gross—getting caught in Gusteau's kitchen nearly gets him killed. The movie shows them as just mischievous and self-interested at worst.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Remy gives into peer pressure and starts supplying Emile and his friends with food from Gusteau's kitchen. Annoyed with Linguini not appreciating him enough, he leads a full raid on the place. Linguini tears into Remy for stealing from the kitchen and betraying him, and kicks him out (though later comes back to apologize.)

Alfredo Linguini

Voiced by: Lou Romano

Linguini's a bumbling, horribly awkward young man who comes to work at Gusteau's as a request from his late mother, who was close with the deceased Gusteau. When Remy creates a dish that gets praise from a critic, everyone assumes that Linguini was the one who created it—in truth, he's an absolutely horrible cook. He and Remy make an agreement for Linguini to take the credit of being the chef while Remy does the cooking.

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• Acquired Situational Narcissism: Downplayed. Linguini starts to enjoy the life of being a famous chef after it's revealed to the public that he's Gusteau's son, and he starts taking Remy for granted. However, he realizes that he hasn't been fair to Remy and tries to make amends with him...only to discover that Remy, in his frustration, had brought the whole rat colony to steal food from the kitchen.
• Amazon Chaser: When Colette's been assigned the task to teach Linguini, she nails his sleeves to the bench with knives while performing a Badass Boast and telling him who he's dealing with. When finished, she pulls out the knives and walks away. Linguini's response to her behaviour? "Wow!"
• A Boy and His X: A Man and His Rat. He even calls Remy, "Little Chef". He cares greatly for Remy, whom he treats as his equal and best friend.
• Buffy Speak: Linguini is not very articulate, as proven time and time again.
  "I am not your puppet! And you are not my puppet... controller... guy!"
  "Appetite is coming and he's going to have a big ego! I mean Ego! He's coming...! The critic? And he's going to order... something. Something from our menu! And we'll have to cook it!"
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Is seen as this In-Universe. Remy controls his movement under his toque, but because no one knows, all they see is Linguini flopping and flailing through the kitchen and somehow still making delicious food.
• Chekhov's Skill: While on a date with Colette, he shows off some surprising roller-skating skills—he uses this later when he's a waiter, and a very good one at that!
• Didn't Think This Through: One of his main Fatal Flaws is his impulsive streak:
  • After accidentally knocking a pot of soup over, Linguini tries to fix it even though he knows he can't cook. The resulting concoction tastes horrible, and had Remy not fixed it at the last minute, Linguini would have been fired on the spot.
  • When he and Remy fall out, Linguini kicks the rat out of Gusteau's. Linguini is subsequently left without his best chef and — lacking any cooking skills of his own — is left unable to cook anything when Anton Ego comes.
• Distracted by the Sexy: After their first kiss, he's constantly getting distracted by Colette, unfortunately for Remy. This is also what causes him to spill the soup fixed by Remy, setting the stage for their first meeting.
• Edible Theme Naming: His first name, Alfredo, is a white cream sauce popular for pasta dishes, and his surname comes from a real-life type of Italian pasta, Linguine, sometimes written as Linguini.
• Graceful in Their Element: As mentioned below, he's ordinarily The Klutz, but put him on roller skates and he's the deftest, speediest waiter you've ever seen.
• Heroic Bastard: Gusteau's Bastard, specifically. And still a Nice Guy before and after his rise to fame. He does get a bit caught up in the attention and lashes out at Remy when he calls him out on it, but makes the first step to apologize.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Remy. Though their partnership was initially built off of mutual convenience, they quickly grow to regard each other as equals and eventually become best friends.
• Interspecies Friendship: Remy, a rat, befriends Linguini, a human.
• The Klutz: His whole first night in the kitchen is filled with him bumbling around and crashing into everything in sight—he almost kills Remy when he accidentally knocks his glass jar into the river. He's somehow more graceful when Remy is controlling him like a crazy puppet. That said, when he's waiting on roller skates at the film's climax, he proves himself to be very adept at the job.
• Lethal Chef: His first attempt at cooking made him immediately vomit. The smell almost made Remy throw up (and trivial fact, rats are physically incapable of vomiting).
• Like Father, Unlike Son: Gusteau was a Supreme Chef renowned throughout Paris. Linguini... is not.
• Lost Orphaned Royalty: Maybe not in the "royalty" sense, but his father Gusteau is critically famous and has specified Linguini as the next heir to his restaurant, much to Skinner's despair.
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Feminine Boy to Colette's Masculine Girl. He's not overtly feminine, but is a great deal more soft-spoken than the aggressive Colette.
• Meaningful Name: His name is derived from Linguine Alfredo, a classic and simple Italian pasta dish.
• Nice Guy: Overall, Linguini is a kindhearted, yet klutzy person who tries his best to help others and moves people with his kindness and honesty.
• Non-Human Sidekick: Inverted: he's the human sidekick to Remy.
• Non-Specifically Foreign: He is likely part-Italian; he's named after an Italian dish, and his mother's name Renata is mostly an Italian name.
• Odd Name Out: By having an Italian name in a French environment, it serves to illustrate that he doesn't fit in with his coworkers. Not that he shouldn't be in a restaurant at all, just that he shouldn't be cooking in one.
• Official Couple: With Colette roughly halfway through the film. They break up when she discovers the truth about Remy, but eventually come back together.
• People Puppets: Remy controls his movement by pulling on his hair beneath his toque. This is how Remy uses him to create delicious food, albeit at the cost of Linguini flopping around the kitchen like a madman.
• Punny Name: Loose play on the pasta dish fettuccine Alfredo.
• Quirky Curls: Bumbling, awkward, and horribly inarticulate, Linguini's red curls reflect his quirkiness.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Colette is assigned to teach him how to properly work in the kitchen. She doesn't take kindly to him first, but when he actually listens to her advice and takes her seriously, she warms up to him. The two kiss about halfway through the film and become an Official Couple thereon.
• Took a Level in Badass: Goes from clumsy garbage boy to competent waiter on roller skates.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Briefly near the end of the second act when he lets his fame and his budding relationship with Colette go to his head, causing him to ignore Remy's teachings in favor of Colette's and took credit for all Remy's cooking achievements (though to be fair, nobody would have believed that a rat is the actual reason behind Linguini's 'talents'). This caused them to have a Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure near the third act, though Linguini has a Heel Realization and apologizes to Remy about it... just in time to discover that Remy had bought his rat colony to steal the food in the restaurant in retaliation for Linguini being a jerk to him earlier, causing them to go through another friendship failure.
• Youthful Freckles: To show how easily excited he can be, and how out-of-place he is among the much more seasoned chefs of Gusteau's.

Gusteau's Restaurant

Auguste Gusteau

Voiced by: Brad Garrett

One of the most renowned chefs in all of Paris, Gusteau lived by his motto, "Anyone can cook." Unfortunately Gusteau has passed away by the plot's beginning, seemingly out of a broken heart by a harsh review from critic Anton Ego. Gusteau appears henceforth as a figment of Remy's imagination.

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• Big Fun: A portly, cheerful and friendly man.
• Big Guy, Little Guy: The "big" to Skinner's "little" back when he was alive. The dynamic is more evident in earlier drafts of the script with Gusteau being the larger, louder, but less energetic of the two while Skinner talks fast and moves fast as he tries to sell him his latest frozen food hustle.
• Character Catchphrase: "Anyone can cook."
• The Conscience: His spirit encourages Remy to do good whenever he can, telling him not to steal food and nudging him into fixing the soup instead of escaping the kitchen.
• Death by Despair: The actual Gusteau died shortly after Anton Ego gave him a negative review, suggesting this as his cause of death.
• Disappeared Dad: He's Linguini's father, but was not involved in his life—Linguini was not aware that they were related until Remy showed him the will he left behind.
• Imaginary Friend: A figment of Remy's imagination, first appearing when Rémy is lost in the sewers and starving. He serves as both a friend to listen to Remy's excited babble about the kitchen, and The Conscience, voicing Remy's guilt about stealing and other things.
• Like Father, Unlike Son: He was a Supreme Chef in life, his son Linguini is very much not.
• Luke, You Are My Father: When Remy discovers that Gusteau is Linguini's father, Gusteau's sprite is just as shocked as Remy. Due to the ambiguity around whether the sprite truly is Gusteau's ghost, it is never explicitly revealed if the real Gusteau knew of Renata's pregnancy or not, however Renata claims in her letter that she never informed him.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Whether he's supposed to be Remy's Imaginary Friend, conscience, Gusteau's actual ghost, all of the above, or something else entirely isn't clear. Interestingly, the script refers to him as "the Gusteau sprite". He himself says he's a figment of Remy's imagination, but even this doesn't clear things up as he's somehow capable of physically grabbing Remy and yanking him around.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Gusteau's life story is modeled after that of Bernard Loiseau, an acclaimed chef who committed suicide in 2003 after a negative review by food critic François Simon knocked his restaurant, La Côte d'Or, down three points in Gault Millau. Director Brad Bird had previously visited the restaurant while in France.
• Old Shame: His "Sweetbread a la Gusteau", which even he wrote off as a complete disaster due to its unappetizing mix of unusual ingredients—cuttlefish tentacle, a seaweed salt crust, dried white fungus, etc. It takes some rapid-fire improvisation by Remy to completely reinvent the dish.
• Posthumous Character: He died before the start of the movie, seemingly of a broken heart brought on by Ego's scathing review of his restaurant. He appears for the rest of the film as a figment of Remy's imagination and voiced conscience.
• Spirit Advisor: As a figment of Remy's imagination, he sways Remy to go topside to Paris and pursue the opportunity to cook in a real kitchen. However, he also voices Remy's guilt, and tries to convince him not to steal from the kitchen.
• Supreme Chef: Was one of the best and most famous chefs in the business when he was alive.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: An optimist by nature, and recognized that anyone might have an unexpected talent.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: His final conversation with Remy is him affirming that Remy doesn't need his advice in order to have confidence in himself or his skills, and he never really did.

Colette Tatou

Voiced by: Janeane Garofalo

Colette is a seasoned chef at Gusteau's who takes Linguini under her wing (reluctantly) and teaches him the ins and outs of being a proper chef. Colette upholds the late Gusteau's old motto, "Anyone can cook," but is also a believer in following the recipe and not trying to pull any tricks.

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• The Ace: She is "the toughest cook in [the] kitchen", and makes sure Linguini remembers that.
• Angry Chef: A fierce, hot-tempered woman who wants to work her way up in the kitchen. Since the job is male-dominated, she had to be twice as tough to get to the top. She eventually softens up to Linguini.
• Badass Boast: Performs one for Linguini when she's been assigned to teach him.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: She starts off rather harsh towards Linguini, but softens up to him over time because he actually takes her advice seriously.
• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is short and neatly cut, most likely so it doesn't get in the way while cooking.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Starts out harsh towards Linguini, but only so he can succeed. She quickly becomes more friendly once she realizes that Linguini actually listens to her and appreciates her guidance, and even becomes a couple with him.
• Determinator: Colette was willing to go through hell to become a top chef in a patriarchal workplace.
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Colette shouts at Linguini a lot, waves knives threateningly at him, and actually hits him in the face on several occasions when she is upset with him. He never complains and she is still presented as completely sympathetic throughout the film.
• Face Palm: When Ego looks through Gusteau's kitchen after tasting Remy's dish.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: Inverted. Colette makes it clear that it's very difficult for a woman to get into haute cuisine, due to the sexism which is endemic to the system, and that the only reason why she managed to become a professional cook was because she was willing to go through hell.
• Good Is Not Nice: While she gradually warms up to Linguini, the demands of her occupation mean she'll punish him if he slips up.
• Hair Color Dissonance: Her hair is dark brown, but appears to be violet in some scenes.
• Hot-Blooded: Oh yes.
  Colette: [to Linguini] I'll make this easy to remember. Keep your station clear, or I WILL KILL YOU!
• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: The Masculine Girl to Linguini's Feminine Boy. He's not overtly feminine, but is a great deal more soft-spoken than the aggressive Colette.
• Motor Mouth: When she rambles about cooking.
  Colette: You think cooking is a cute job, ay? Like Mommy in the kitchen? (rapidly chopping vegetables as she talks) Well, Mommy never had to face the dinner rush when the orders come flooding in and every dish is different and none are simple and all have the different cooking time and must arrive at the customer's table at exactly the same time, hot! And! Perfect! Every second counts and you CANNOT BE MOMMY!
• Neat Freak: "Keep your station clear, or I WILL KILL YOU!" Justified: a cluttered kitchen station will cause delays which can easily snowball into a disaster.
• Official Couple: With Linguini, eventually.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Of all the French accents in the film, Garofalo's is the one who slips the most in and out.
• Slasher Smile: Delivers a couple to Linguini while telling him why she is the only woman in the kitchen. Doesn't help that she is playing with knives in that scene as well.
• The Smurfette Principle: She's the only woman in the kitchen. She actually brings this up and the reason why when she laid down the law for Linguini. She's pretty much the only major female character in the entire movie, with most of the others being very minor by comparison.
• Stern Teacher: Initially harsh on Linguini when teaching him how to handle cooking, though she softens over time.
  Colette: (seeing dirty dishes at Linguini's station) What is this? Keep your station clear. (chucks dirty dishes into the sink) Dinner rush come, what will happen? Messy station slow things down. Food doesn't go, orders pile up, disaster. I'll make this easy to remember: Keep your station clear, or I WILL KILL YOU!
• Teacher/Student Romance: Since she's been assigned the task to teach Linguini about cooking in a small portion of the film, and that they later become an Official Couple, this qualifies.
• Technician/Performer Team-Up: Colette is an experienced Technician chef who follows recipes to the letter while Remy being the "Performer" has him experimenting while cooking. While this makes them rub elbows at first (especially when Remy's controlling Linguini) they prove to be an excellent pair when they prepare Ego's Ratatouille dish together. This partnership continues after they open "La Ratatouille" together at the end of the film.
• Technician Versus Performer: The technician to Remy's performer.
• Tsundere: Type A. Colette is harsh and hot-blooded, but is also loyal, kind, and softens to those who earn her respect.
• You Go, Girl!: She was willing to go through hell to get a job in a gourmet kitchen; a place only men are allowed to work. This fact is also Truth in Television.

Skinner

Voiced by: Ian Holm

Chef Skinner (also known as "Skinner") is the head chef of Gusteau's, who sells said late owner's image to make cheap TV dinners. Skinner has a personal vendetta against Linguini, and when he gets an inkling that something is up with his inexplicable cooking skills, he makes it his mission to find out what it is.

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• Ambiguously Brown: He has noticeably darker skin than the other characters, but his ethnicity is never mentioned.
• Angry Chef: A diminutive, bad-tempered head chef frequently shown barking orders to his employees.
• Bad Boss: He goes from Mean Boss to this first when he finds out that Linguini is Gusteau's son and tries his best to keep Linguini in the dark about it so he can fire him and continue his frozen foods line unopposed and then when he steals Lalo's scooter at one point to chase after Remy.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: He and Anton Ego are the two primary antagonists of the film, with Skinner's efforts to undermine Alfredo and uncover Remy driving much of the film's events.
• Big Bad Wannabe: When first introduced, he's set up to seemingly be the main villain of the film by virtue of both how much he visibly doesn't want Linguini around at the restaurant and how he proves quite ruthlessly going to any lengths necessary to expose Remy. But while he does continue to serve as the primary antagonistic force throughout the entire film, his level of true importance in the narrative and overall threat is significantly reduced once he's ousted from the restaurant after Linguini discovers the truth about him being Gusteau's son and legal heir and subsequently claims his inheritance. From there, Skinner is reduced to a minor nuisance compared to the real threat to Linguini's rising success; Anton Ego. While Skinner does lay the foundation for the restaurant's eventual closing (namely calling in a health inspector) and even traps Remy with plans to force the rat chef into becoming his business partner, the real climax is Remy cooking up to Anton's standard and proving him wrong on his disdain for Gusteau's philosophy; Remy's rat family even ensures Skinner's attempts to sabotage the efforts at cooking a meal to suit Anton's standard are thwarted quickly while also likewise ensuring that the health inspector's work at exposing the apparent rat infestation to the appropriate people is delayed long enough for Linguini and Remy to cook and serve the all-important meal.
• Butt-Monkey: He constantly suffers misfortune, such as having a door slammed in his face, falling off his stolen moped and accidentally jumping into a river while chasing Remy. After being ousted from the restaurant, he's not taken seriously anymore.
• Cassandra Truth: Due to his neurotic, dramatic and temperamental behavior everyone who hears him rant about Remy just thinks he's nuts despite being absolutely right.
• Celebrity Resemblance: Skinner is based on the French star comedian Louis de Funès. He also looks a little like Adolph Caesar.
• Creative Sterility:
  • He is clearly a competent chef, but he lacks the creative prowess that made Gusteau such a success. The best he can do is market a line of frozen meals based on Gusteau's recipes and a bunch of food that isn't even French, let alone Gusteau's (such as corn dogs).
  • This continues to when he has Remy dead to rights. His only idea to exploit his ill-gotten animal master chef is to create a new line of frozen meals.
• Disc-One Final Boss: Linguini throwing him out and claiming his rightful inheritance is only the first half of the movie. Even after that, Skinner still tries to sabotage Gusteau's, though he proves pretty pathetic outside of almost kidnapping Remy and (eventually) getting a health inspector sent out who shuts the restaurant down when he finds rats in the kitchen.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Threatens to have Linguini drawn and quartered when he catches him cooking his soup. He was obviously exaggerating, but the sentiment is quite real... and justified, considering Skinner (the head chef) just found the recently-hired garbage boy daring to cook in Skinner's kitchen.
• Dropping the Bombshell: Skinner reveals during a discussion with his lawyer that he is paranoid about the rat, thinking Linguini is trying to psyche him out. Skinner's lawyer notes that he had to take a second sample of Linguini's hair. When Skinner asks why, the lawyer says:
  Lawyer: The first time, it came back identified as rodent hair.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Due to a series of coincidences, he comes up to the conclusion that Linguini is aware of Gusteau's will and of the fact he's Gusteau's son (therefore supposed to inherit the restaurant). Skinner ends up believing that Linguini is playing dumb and is using Remy as part of an elaborate plan to gaslight him and to take control of the restaurant. Of course, he's completely wrong, as Linguini truly is clueless, and Remy only comes across the documents by chance.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Despite the fact that he is a greedy, selfish schemer, he takes his job as chef seriously, and doesn't want to see Gusteau's closed down forever; hence his initial hostility to Linguini during the soup incident. The one time he does not, it backfires on him.
  • He's willing to sell out Gusteau's name to sell a line of frozen TV dinners, but tells the artist (who drew Gusteau as a dog in a giant corn costume for a box of corn dogs) that the design must at least have some dignity.
  • When he learns that Linguini's mother has died, his condolences are sincere and he appears to be shocked at the news.
• French Jerk: Speaks with a thick French accent and is a volatile jerk to almost every named character in the film. And that's before he attempts to keep Linguini from finding the truth of his heritage solely to keep control of the restaurant and sell his line of frozen foods.
• Hated by All: It's heavily implied that Skinner's volatile and unpleasant demeanor made him very unpopular with the other chefs at Gusteau's. Colette wastes no time kicking him out when she learns that Linguini is the heir to the restaurant, the group gleefully burns the frozen foods line Skinner spent time trying to profit from, and Horst angrily throws him out on the street when he catches him spying on the kitchen.
• Hidden Depths: Early versions of the script (from before Gusteau was made a Posthumous Character) suggest that he and Gusteau were long-standing partners, but that working in the restaurant business made him more and more jaded over time, especially as Gusteau's started to lose popularity driving him to making the frozen foods as means of "keeping up" with modern times.
• Inspector Javert: After getting glances of Remy and Linguini working together he begins to rightfully suspect that the two are a team, but his desperation and methods to prove it only accomplish making him look like an insane freak.
• It's All About Me: Skinner wants full ownership of Gusteau's so he can personally profit off his frozen foods. and when he learns that Linguini is Gusteau's son, he tries to do anything in his power to keep him from getting it. Afterwards he calls in the health inspector to shut down Gusteau's due to Remy's presence while he captures the rat chef himself in a bid to profit off his cooking.
• Karmic Transformation: Metaphorically speaking. Skinner hates rats (especially Remy), but when Linguini inherits the restaurant and replaces him as the new head chef, Skinner gets banned from the restaurant and treated by his former employees as if he were a rat too.
• Kick the Dog: It's easy to miss, but making Linguini serve the Gusteau sweetbread recipe was nothing other than pettiness on Skinner's part. The only reason to do so was to undercut Linguini (and Remy).
• Large Ham: He's always prone to dramatics about anything, from his cooking to Remy and Linguini, even his lawyer is taken aback by his hamminess.
• Laser-Guided Karma: He planned to fire Linguini after obtaining full ownership of Gusteau's. Once Linguini finds the truth of his parentage, he inherits the restaurant and fires Skinner.
• Mister Big: Skinner is in charge of a restaurant where all of his employees are about twice his height and he needs a footstool to see through the window on the door to the dining room. In contrast his predecessor was Gusteau, who we could safely assume to have been the largest person in the room. The animators even confirmed they made Skinner's hat large so he would be visible in the crowded kitchen scenes.
• Mean Boss: Skinner repeatedly demeans his employees (especially Linguini). He's basically Pixar's Gordon Ramsay, without the Hidden Heart of Gold.
• Meaningful Name: Named after scientist B. F. Skinner, who performed experiments on rats to study animal behavior.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: He successfully exposes Linguini's working with rats and gets Gusteau's shut down, but Linguini, Colette, and Remy just open another equally-popular restaurant called "La Ratatouille" with Ego's help and keep on working there. What's more, he can't complete his plan to make a new line of frozen foods as Remy was freed from his clutches.
• The Napoleon: The shortest in the kitchen and with the most anger issues.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: He practically does all of Linguini's homework for him in proving he is Gusteau's son. Hell, Skinner insisted that Linguini coming forward with less than a month left on the will's stipulation could not be a coincidence, when in fact it was. Nothing hinted that Linguini even knew or cared who his father was; the boy just wanted a job and even his mother never told him the truth.
• Oh, Crap!: Both Skinner and the health inspector after barging in the kitchen and seeing all the rats.
• Only in It for the Money: Is much more interested in whoring out Gusteau's image for a line of frozen foods than restoring the restaurant's reputation, and doesn't especially care about how this move has damaged Gusteau's standing in the culinary world. Though it is justified from a financial perspective, as the restaurant's rating (and by extension its popularity) that attracts customers is lower than it used to be in Gusteau's heyday, and the frozen food sales are at least keeping the staff paid and the lights on.
• Pet the Dog: In spite of his usual behavior, Skinner has a couple moments where he acts decently. However, these moments were before he finds out Linguini's heritage and undergoes Sanity Slippage in response.
  • He's genuinely taken aback when he finds out Linguini's mother has died and tries to offer condolences.
  • Despite all his threats beforehand, he gives Linguini a reasonable chance to recreate the soup that Remy modified. He even gives him as much time he needs, even if all week. After he seemingly does, Skinner willingly allows Linguini to join his kitchen as a chef with only a stern but fair warning not to get complacent. Of course this doesn't last once he finds out Linguini is Gusteau's son.
• Properly Paranoid: He is right about a rat being a chef, as Remy is the real talent behind the dishes that bring Gusteau's back to popularity; too bad for him he's too egotistical, dramatic and jerkish to ever seem like anything but an insane man with a ridiculous conspiracy.
• Reassignment Backfire: Skinner, trying to get Linguini kicked out of the kitchen, gives him the task of cooking a recipe that Gusteau himself said was a disaster. To his shock, Remy quickly fixes the recipe to the point where it is so delicious that everyone else in the restaurant wants it, running the cooks ragged to keep up with orders and convincing everyone else in the kitchen that Linguini is a master chef.
• Sanity Slippage: He goes through this throughout the entire movie, to the point he made conspiracy theories of the rat chef. Even his lawyer asks if he should be worried about his client.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Played with; he's certainly not an idiot, but he lacks the creative prowess of his former boss and for that the restaurant has struggled to rebuild its reputation in Gusteau's absence.
• Uriah Gambit: Tries to spring a non-lethal one on Linguini by forcing him to make a dish Gusteau himself hated, saying he's just doing it as a challenge for the "budding chef", thus ensuring that whether he can cook it per recipe or tries to improvise he'll screw up and be on grounds for him to fire as he pleases. Thankfully, Remy's around to make it into something that's actually good ruining his scheme.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • Skinner is justifiably angry when he catches Linguini "cooking" since these dishes are prepared at professional standards and one screw-up could cost the restaurant another star.
  • He tells Linguini to get rid of Rémy outside of Gusteau's (when the latter hadn't started a partnership with him) because if it was found out that there was a rat in the kitchen, Gusteau's could be closed down. He is ultimately proven right when the health inspector orders the restaurant shut down due to a rat infestation. Though it loses some validity when he is the one who calls the inspector and did so purely to screw over Linguini while he tried to kidnap Remy to make him work for him.

Horst

Voiced by: Will Arnett

Of German descent, he is the sous-chef of the kitchen meaning he is in charge when Skinner isn't around.

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• Brutal Honesty: Horst just cuts to the chase on anything. From informing Skinner that Linguini's mother died or that he was hired as a garbage boy.
• Germanic Depressives: He has a stern and serious demeanor, though he is also The Comically Serious because of how he keeps changing his story about how he was sent to prison.
• Implied Death Threat: When he finds Skinner spying in on the kitchen, he merely shows Skinner his thumb he claims he killed a man with. We then cut to Skinner being bodily thrown out of the restaurant.
• Lean and Mean: Played with; he has a criminal record and is rather imposing in the kitchen, but isn't at all that malicious otherwise.
• Multiple-Choice Past: Keeps changing his story of how he ended up in jail.
  "I defrauded a major corporation."
  "I robbed the second-largest bank in France using only a ballpoint pen."
  "I created a hole in the ozone over Avignon."
  "I killed a man...with this thumb."
• Mysterious Past: How did Horst wind up in jail?
• Noodle Implements: One of his Multiple-Choice Past stories is that he robbed the second-largest bank in France with only a ballpoint pen.
• Once Killed a Man with a Noodle Implement: "I killed a man... with this thumb."
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Leaves with the rest of the kitchen staff after Linguini reveals Remy was the real chef. Unlike Colette, he doesn't come back.
• Suddenly Shouting: Horst has a habit of exploding half way through a sentence when things are going south.
  "He changed it as it was going out the door!"

Remy's Rat Colony

Emile

Voiced by: Peter Sohn

Remy's younger/older brother. While he's not nearly so judgmental as his father, Emile still doesn't really "get" Remy's passion for cooking. He cares very little for good food and flavor—as long as it's edible, he'll eat it.

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• Big Eater: Unlike Remy, he's not picky at all and would munch on pretty much anything.
• Big Fun: He's chubby and the nicest rat around.
• Big Little Brother: Contrary to popular belief, Emile is Remy's younger brother, not older. During the movie, Emile calls Remy "little brother", but this is simply meant to be Emile teasing Remy about literally being physically smaller than he is. Tie-in material of the movie actually mentions this trope. In the "Guide to Remy's World" book, Emile himself even says that he likes "hanging out with my little brother (and I mean size, not years)".
• Easily Impressed: Remy calls him this word for word. Indeed, Emile's debut scene in which he bursts out of a slice of cake he and Remy were eating shows him finding Remy's acute senses of smell and taste amazing and even calling them "powers".
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Emile's introductory scene shows him bursting out of a slice of cake he and Remy are eating and reacting with unbridled enthusiasm to Remy's highly developed senses of taste and smell, effectively setting him up as a friendly, if slightly dim, Big Eater.
  • In the teaser trailer, Emile is seen nonchalantly snacking on a piece of trash he found and telling Remy he should rethink his life and start acting more like a regular rat, much to Django's approval.
• Extreme Omnivore: Like most rats, Emile will eat virtually anything. Thanks to their relationship, he provides a contrast to the pickier Remy, who tries to teach him about the subtleties of flavor and texture, which is unfortunately lost on Emile.
• Fat and Skinny: Emile is the fat brother, while Remy is the skinny one.
• Fear of Thunder: Shows signs of this in the movie, and the book mentioned above outright states that he hates lightning.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Flip-flopped between the brothers. More often than not, Emile is the Foolish to Remy's Responsible.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Emile is not a jerk by any means, but, like his father, he's extremely cautious around humans and lightly berates Remy for spending too much time in Mabel's kitchen looking for ingredients, which he finds rather dangerous. He also thinks that Remy sneaking away to take ingredients which don't belong to him is a more serious crime than taking trash and discarded food that humans don't want anymore.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He gets a little hostile toward Remy when he's looking for ingredients at Mabel's kitchen, which he perceives as a "crime" (Considering that the rat colony only takes trash and rotten food the humans obviously won't be eating anytime soon, he's not exactly wrong). and also doesn't approve of his brother reading and watching TV, which he believes, goes against rat nature. He nonetheless loves his brother the way he is.
• Loose Lips: Emile is happy to keep Remy's secrets about food at first, but he spills the beans that his little brother has prime access to a gourmet kitchen to his friends. Cue hordes of rats showing up night after night.
• Nice Guy: He's pretty cheerful and sweet much of the time. Remy even mentions that while Emile may not understand him, he can be himself around him. Emile accepts his brother's abilities and doesn't rat out his brother, no pun intended. That being said, he isn't fond of Remy spending too much time around humans and also wishes his brother would be more happy with living a more simple life like his fellow rats.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: With Remy. While he's a simple-minded Big Eater, his brother is a sophisticated dreamer.
• Stealth Insult: Gives one to Remy.
  Remy: (trying to get Emile to understand taste) Chew it slowly... think only about the taste. See?
  Emile: Not really.
  Remy: Creamy, salty sweet. An oaky nuttiness? You detect that?
  Emile: Oh, I'm detecting nuttiness.
• Spanner in the Works: His first time bringing over his friends to eat Gusteu's food is how Remy finds out that Linguini is the true heir.

Django

Voiced by: Brian Dennehy

Django is Remy and Emile's traditionalist father and leader of their family. He harshly disapproves of Remy's dream to cook, believing that humans will only reject Rémy at best and outright kill him at worst.

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• Big Ol' Eyebrows: The "Guide to Remy's World" book even mentions this.
• "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: Insists to Remy that their scavenging garbage for food is acceptable practice, since "It's not stealing if nobody wants it."
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: He's quite adamant about this. Justified since by it's very nature, the relationship between humanity and rats, at least wild ones, is incredibly antagonistic.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Despite being a dick about it, he DOES have a point with his disapproval of Remy's pickiness and him befriending a human. Scavengers like rats can't afford to be picky about what they eat, and humans, while capable of liking rats, almost certainly won't react well to a wild one.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Gruff and tough when he needs to be, but is actually a pretty jolly guy and clearly loves his boys.
• Large and in Charge: He's the leader of his colony and is quite huge, second to Git, the lab rat.
• Mundane Utility: When he finds out that Remy has very advanced sense of taste and smell, even for a rat, he is suitably impressed, but to Remy's annoyance, instead has him become the colony's food tester, making sure that the food they find isn't poisoned through scent.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Said to be named after Django Reinhardt, the famous Romani jazz musician, which explains Django's (the rat) fondness for this type of music, and why they snuck a Reinhardt stamp into the Your Friend the Rat short.
• Papa Wolf: He's very protective of his kids and really doesn't want any harm to befall them at the hands of humans.
• Parental Favoritism: Implied. Django seems to slightly prefer Emile a bit over Remy due to his agreeable, non-rebellious nature and more rat-like behavior. Nonetheless, he dearly loves both of his sons.
• The Patriarch: Can easily command an entire clan of rats and will leap right into the action himself to help out Rémy if the situation calls for it.
• Perpetual Frowner: He has his reasons, though he does finally seem happier by the movie's end.
• Unnamed Parent: His name - Django - is never stated in the film itself, only in the credits and supplementary material. Rémy and Emile just call him "dad".
• The Voice: Was this in the teaser trailer, in which only his voice was heard berating Rémy for his overly selective taste in food and happily agreeing with Émile for telling his rambunctious brother he should rethink his life.

Others

Anton Ego

Voiced by: Peter O'Toole

"In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face is that, in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is probably more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."

Ego is an infamously harsh food critic. Prior to the start of the story, he left such a scathing review of Gusteau's (and the chef's motto, "Anyone can cook") that it apparently killed Gusteau via a broken heart. When he catches wind of Linguini's talent, he sees an opportunity to once again write another unforgiving review.

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• Animal Motifs: He has a vulture-like appearance to make him look more menacing.
• Anti-Villain: Ego is merely doing his job as France's top food critic, and even though he inadvertently caused Gusteau's death and damaged his reputation, with no remorse for the majority of the film, he finally changes his tune (along with his appearance) after tasting Remy's ratatouille. He admits in his monologue at the end of the film that harsh criticism is "fun to read and fun to write," and that as a critic, he's gained some sense of authority to decide whether something has value or not.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: After tasting the ratatouille Remy's made for him, Anton finally begins to smile and his complexion improves considerably. In the epilogue, he's shown with a much healthier skin tone and brighter attitude than he did at the start of the movie.
• Bring It: He comes for his second review of Gusteau's as if it's a battle he's already won.
  "Tell your chef, Linguini, that I want whatever he dares to serve me. Tell him to hit me with his best shot!"
• Big Bad Duumvirate: He shares the role of Big Bad of the film with Chef Skinner, with the climax of the film centering around earning a good review from him.
• Caustic Critic: He's a prime example. Ego is infamous for how scathing and merciless his reviews are, and he shows no remorse for it. However, the ratatouille at the end of the film causes him to take a good look at himself and reevaluate. In his monologue, he notes that critics such as he can sometimes be caught up in the "fun" of harsh criticism and the authority being a critic brings.
• Character Development: He's a massive Caustic Critic who lambasted Gusteau's "anyone can cook" motto. Showing no remorse for his actions and took a personal pride in restaurants going out of business that failed to live up to his impossibly high standards. That said, Remy impressing him with his rendition of the titular dish, and The Reveal that the one who made it was a rat, gave him reason to reflect, and understand the true meaning of Gusteau's words, becoming much more humble in the process.
• Cold Ham: He spends almost the entirety of the movie being dour and quiet. Despite this, both his body language and speech have a distinct dramatic flair to them.
• Comfort Food: What's the one dish that finally, genuinely impresses him? A simple plate of ratatouille, which triggers a childhood memory of when he scraped his knee after falling off his bike, and his mother made the dish for him to cheer him up.
• Dark Is Not Evil: While he looks like a potential villain^note His office is even structured like a coffin., with his dark wardrobe and pale complexion, he's just a very harsh critic. He has high expectations, wanting to see at least one restaurant give him an experience to remember.
• Deadpan Snarker: As befitting of such a dour person, Ego is merciless with his snarking at others for a good 3/4 of the movie:
  Anton Ego: (about the restaurant) Finally closing, is it?
  Servant: No...
  Anton Ego: More financial trouble?
  Servant: No, it's...
  Anton Ego: ...announced a new line of microwave egg rolls, what, what? Spit it out!
• Dramatic Drop: He drops his pen when he first tastes Remy's dish in slow-motion and with a dramatic BANG as it hits the floor.
• The Dreaded: His taste buds are so hard to please that even Gusteau, Remy's indirect mentor, couldn't do so. Ego is so infamously picky in Paris that if he announces his intentions to visit a restaurant, it's treated like the death knell of said restaurant's rating since absolutely no-one has been able to satisfy him.
• Drink-Based Characterization: He seems to have a preference for the incredibly rare and expensive Cheval Blanc 1947. Fitting as he's a notoriously hard-to-please critic.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: He could pass for a vampire. After tasting Remy's ratatouille however, his skin starts gaining color as he finds himself actually enjoying a dish for the first time in a long time.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: "Bad" may be a bit too strong of a word to describe him, but Remy's ratatouille reminding him of the kind his mother used to cook kicks off the film's resolution and denouement.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is ridiculously deep, low and menacing, in order to make him sound more villainous. Despite his evil and gaunt looking appearance, he's not an evil person, but rather a hard-to-please critic.
  Ego: I don't "like" food, I love it. If I don't love it, I don't swallow.
• Final Boss: Satiating his taste buds is Remy's final real challenge.
• French Jerk: Downplayed; he is usually quite disdainful in his reviews and has a discriminatory appreciation of fine cuisine, but he's never malicious. (He also speaks in an English accent.)
• Foil: To Remy. They're both picky eaters and have an interest in food. There are some major differences however. Ego is completely harsh with his opinions, is utterly cold to others, and is, well, a human-being who judges cuisine. Remy is more careful with his criticism, treats others more graciously, and is a rat who cooks food.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Played with; he isn't necessarily evil, but his unforgiving criticism paired with his powerful reputation can singlehandedly destroy a restaurant's reputation, as Gusteau's can attest to. It takes the culinary genius of a rat to bring out a much warmer side in the man.
• A Glass of Chianti: Suiting his antagonistic role and the subtly undead tones of his aesthetic, Ego is twice seen savoring a sumptuously crimson glass of red wine. Pairs nicely with Wine Is Classy, as Ego lords over the Parisian haute cuisine culture and he orders an entire bottle of Cheval Blanc '47 during his review of Gusteau's. ^note As noted below, this is one of the rarest and most expensive bottles of wine in the world. Only 110,000 were made, and such bottles regularly go for $12,000 at auction.
• The Grim Reaper: Clearly modeled after one, and he effectively acts as the Death of Restaurants. Not only is he pale and gaunt, but also his typewriter has a skull motif and his study is shaped after a coffin. His in-universe nickname is even "The Grim Eater", and at one point he drove a chef to Death by Despair through his scathing review.
• Heel–Face Turn: While he was never actually evil, he had a particularly antagonistic relationship with the staff of Gusteau's in the past, and was indirectly responsible for the death of Gusteau himself. Despite this, after tasting Remy's cooking, he instantly becomes much friendlier towards them, even to the point of sacrificing his own career and reputation in order to assist them in starting up a new restaurant after the old one is closed.
• Heel Realization: Downplayed, Remy's cooking and its effect on him forces him to reevaluate nearly everything he's preached his entire career, and makes him realize his criticism should not be taken as gospel like it has been. He was wrong, anyone, even someone from the lowliest origin imaginable, can cook.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Non-fatal version. His glowing review of Gusteau's at the climax is also his last - Ego's reputation and credibility as a critic are destroyed the instant Skinner and the health inspector reveal the "rat infestation". He's able to bounce back by becoming a small-business investor, fortunately enough.
• It Amused Me: His speech at the end implies that his harsh standards developed in part because he found tearing into restaurants with negative reviews more enjoyable than writing positively.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is initially shown as a Jerkass critic who gives out scathing criticism to anyone who doesn't meet his expectations. He causes Gusteau's death through despair by not just condemning his cooking, but slamming his beliefs "that anyone can cook", and he remains totally unrepentant for his actions throughout the film — until the end, that is; after Gusteau's is forced to close, it's heavily implied that he helped front the money to open La Ratatouille, and he's a regular customer there. He's also one of the few people who respects and appreciates Remy's talent even after finding out that he's a rat; he even sacrificed his job and reputation to give Remy's cooking the praise it deserves.
• Lean and Mean: A tall, angular and rail-thin man who is a legendarily harsh food critic. His extremely thin frame despite eating food for a living further supports his reputation of being able to determine the quality of a dish from only a single bite, and since he refuses to swallow food that doesn't meet his culinary standards, implies just how often those standards are not met.
• Looks Like Cesare: Despite not actually being evil, Ego's appearance, paired with his reputation, is enough to immediately indicate that he is an antagonist. It also says something, that when he Takes a Level in Kindness, his pale complexion becomes much more healthy.
• Meaningful Name: The name Ego is from the Latin meaning "I" or "self", but is now associated with egotism (narcissism) or egoism (self-interest). This would allude to a certain level of vanity and arrogance on the part of Anton.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: His appearance was inspired by French actor and director Louis Jouvet. It's also been claimed (though not confirmed) that Ego was based on theater critic Kenneth Tynan, who was close friends with Peter O'Toole in real life. Furthermore, his scathing judgment of dishes and intimidating personality bring to mind Gordon Ramsay.
• No Sympathy: It's implied that he actually takes pride in the fact he caused Gusteau's death, and the restaurant's slow decline by extension.
  That is where I left it. That was my last word, the last word.
• Pensieve Flashback: When he takes a bite of ratatouille, he instantly thinks back to his mother making him ratatouille years ago. It's safe to assume that she's the reason why he became a food critic. And all of this is done without a line of dialogue.
• Perpetual Frowner: Spends close to all of the movie frowning, befitting his status as an unpleasable food critic.
• Picky Eater: Is an infamously harsh critic, judging dishes with a single bite. Justified in that this is his job.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Perhaps he's overly harsh, but as a critic, it's his job to give bad ratings to restaurants he doesn't like.
• Rags to Riches: Depending on how much you read into Colette's claim that ratatouille is a "peasant dish". In any case, the flashback to Ego's childhood at the very least strongly implies that he comes from if not an outright poor, then at least a modest background.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Even when it's revealed that Remy was the one who prepared his dish, he was more than willing to dub him the finest chef in France (and keep quiet about the fact that they're breaking the rules about not having rats in a kitchen).
• Red Baron: In the opening TV segment about Gusteau, Ego appears with a title listed under him as "the Grim Eater".
• Secret-Keeper: He wrote his review without mentioning that "the genius now cooking at Gusteau's" is a rat, in order to protect the employment of "the finest chef in France," but the Health Inspector and Skinner shut down the restaurant because of rats either way. That said, he does foot the bill for a new restaurant officially run by Linguini and Colette, and, for obvious reasons, he's more than willing to keep the secret afterwards.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Especially his ending narrative is incredibly hard to understand as a kid. Then again, he's a sophisticated critic.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: Ego's clothes are black and purple throughout most of the film, tying into his Grim Reaper-esque character. In the final scene, though, he's switched to a much warmer and richer shade of brown (complete with matching beret), indicating that he's now a happier, friendlier person.
• A Sinister Clue: Anton uses his left hand for eating and handling glasses, although he's shown using his right more often when in public. Downplayed in that he is not evil, just a very strict critic.
• Spit Take: Subverted; he suddenly stops in the middle of one to he make sure the wine he’s drinking is okay to spit out. Given that eagle eyed viewers can spot that it's a bottle of Cheval Blanc '47, one of the rarest and most expensive wines in the world, he very understandably decides to swallow it instead.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: His positive review of Remy's cooking costs him his job and reputation as a food critic after Skinner and the health inspector reveal the rat infestation. However, Ego has enough money saved up to invest in Remy's new restaurant, which is a huge success. More importantly, Ego is also genuinely happy after joining forces with Remy, as he's seen enjoying food and being generally more pleasant to people around him.
• Took a Level in Cheerfulness: After tasting Remy's cooking and having his initial belief that only a select few can become great chefs shattered, Ego becomes much more cheerful and less cynical. During the ending, he happily greets people from his table and is clearly excited to see what Remy's cooking, a far cry from the cynical, pretentious loner he was at the start of the movie.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Tasting Remy's cooking and learning that it was made by a rat causes him to completely reevaluate his lifelong belief that only a select few are truly capable of being great chefs. This results in him overall becoming a much more pleasant guy, as seen when in "La Ratatouille" restaurant, where he can be seen greeting people from his table, getting along with Linguini and enthusiastic about what Remy has in store for him.
• Unexplained Accent: He was voiced by Peter O'Toole, famous for his mixed English-Irish accent, and as such, is the only French character without an accent. In-universe it may be a regional accent, possibly Norman given that region's historical connection to both England and Ireland via conquest and invasion, but Anton's place of origin is never brought up.
• What You Are in the Dark: Anton genuinely loves Remy's ratatouille but he knows that a rat is still a rat in the public's eye and that Gusteau's restaurant is doomed to closure regardless of what review he gives if the secret gets out (and it did). Anton could just easily write a condemning review and keep his critic reputation intact. Instead, he decides to risk his entire career to give well-deserved praise to Remy's skills as a chef and recant his disbelief with Gusteau's motto "Anyone Can Cook", proving his worth as a genuine critic even if the rest of the world tears him to shreds for writing a positive review for a rat-infested restaurant.
• When He Smiles: After tasting Remy's ratatouille, he smiles for the first time in the film (and knowing him it's also probably the first time he's smiled genuinely in years). It's absolutely adorable.

Renata Linguini

The deceased mother of Linguini and the secret lover of Gusteau.

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• Posthumous Character: Passed away some time before the movie began and, as a result, never appears despite being mentioned frequently.
• Secret-Keeper: Renata never tells anyone about Linguini being Gusteau's son, not even Linguini himself or Gusteau. She even asked Skinner in a letter not to reveal it either, while asking him to give the boy a job.

Talon Labarthe

Voiced by: Teddy Newton

Skinner's sophisticated lawyer who was called by Skinner when he finds out Linguini's heritage in Renata's letter.

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• Affably Evil: Not really evil in the real sense since he's just doing his job but he is complicit in Skinner's attempts to keep Linguini from inheriting Gusteau's business and then firing him after Skinner gets full ownership, at the same time he is very polite to his client and holds no real malice towards Linguini as well.
• Amoral Attorney: He is definitely this if he has no problem with Skinner's greed, scheme to keep Linguini from learning the truth of his heritage solely to further his planned business and even advises him to fire Linguini once the deadline passes.
• Everyone Has Standards: Amoral Attorney he may be, even he is unnerved by Skinner's conspiracy rant about the rat and is worried for his sanity.
  "Should I be concerned about this? About you?"
• Punch-Clock Villain: He has not taken part in Skinner's worst acts and he is simply doing the job a lawyer usually does, even if he's being a little morally questionable about it.
• The Stoic: Both scenes he's in
• What Happened to the Mouse?: He is never seen again after his second scene. It is also unknown what happened to him after Skinner is fired.

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