Your Friend the Rat (2007)

Remy and Emile plead the case for rats by illustrating the historical and scientific facts about the species and their interaction with humans.

Director:

Jim Capobianco

Writers:

Jim Capobianco, Jeff Pidgeon (story)

Stars:

Patton Oswalt, Peter Sohn, Lou Romano

1 win.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Patton Oswalt	...	Remy (voice)
Peter Sohn	...	Emile (voice)
Lou Romano	...	Linguini (voice)
Tony Russel	...	Disclaimer Guy (voice) (as Tony Russell)
Sigmund Vik	...	Norwegian Rat (voice)
Jim Capobianco	...	Director Voice (voice)

Storyline

A forthright Remy and his reluctant brother Emile speak out for oppressed rats everywhere. Remy rolls film explaining that rats see themselves as on a par with men, who, instead, make war on rats. Remy gives a history lesson: heroism in India, black rat migration from the Middle East to Europe during the Crusades, the Black Death of 1347 to 1352, and Remy's contention that the flea was the villain. Enter the brown or Norway rat - from China. Both travel on ships around the world, with the larger brown pushing out the smaller black, and both live symbiotically with man. Then, Emile explains what's cool about rats. Trade phobia, Remy tells humans, for utopia. Any chance of that?

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Plot Keywords:

rat | ship | flea | europe | china | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short | Comedy | Family

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

WILHELM SCREAM: (at around 8 mins) A chalkboard drawing of an astronaut gets frightened by a rat.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Remy: Hello, I'm Remy and this is my brother Emile.
Emile: Hi.
Remy: We're here to speak out on behalf of repressed rats everywhere. Rats who don't have the access to media that our movie escorts us. Yes, we have to. We rats have to take a stand.
Emile: You said we'd sing something. You know, joke around. You did not say we were going to take a stand.
Remy: This is important. Humans need to know, humans need to...
Emile: Feed us. That's what you need to do. Leave some garbage out and we won't bother you. Just leave the lid ...
[...]

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Connections

Spun-off from Ratatouille (2007)

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Soundtracks

Plan B
Music by James G. Dashe
Lyrics by Jim Capobianco and James G. Dashe
Arrangement by Jennifer Hammond and Michael Giacchino
Performed by Patton Oswalt, Peter Sohn, and James G. Dashe
Music recorded at Skywalker Scoring Stage

User Reviews

Uh...

This is one of the two shorts on the 2-Disc Special Edition of Ratatouille. I think it is one of those that you love or hate. It wasn't my cup of tea, but if you're a big fan of the flick itself, you may like it. I get that this may have been fun to do when working for a long time on one project, to blow off some steam, the way special effects people will sometimes playfully do key-frame stuff that obviously will not wind up being used in the film. And I'm, of course, not blind to how many different styles of animation that this uses, and how unusual that is. It is pretty creative, well-edited, never stands still. If you are not up for all the information(which I can neither confirm or deny the truth of, I don't know enough to judge it), or the intentionally and jokingly preachy tone, well, you'd better be up for the comedy, or this will not be for you. The voice acting is fine. I did not personally find this particularly funny, except for maybe the ending, though I can definitely imagine that others will. There's nothing offensive in this. I recommend this solely to those who think this might interest them. 6/10

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 November 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Your Friend the Rat

Company Credits

Production Co:

Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

11 min

Color:

Color