MovieChat Forums > Ratatouille (2007) Discussion > 3 gaping plot holes with the ending

3 gaping plot holes with the ending

posted 12 years ago by killermike2178
35 replies | jump to latest

1. With the amount of time Linguini spent in the kitchen with Remy controlling his movements, watching what Remy was having him make, you would think by the end of the movie that Linguini would have learned how to cook some of those things and he wouldn't have been hopelessly lost without Remy, unless he was a complete idiot.

2. The health inspector says to Skinner over the phone it would take him 3 months to go to Gusteau's to conduct his inspection, unless "somebody cancels their appointment." However, he shows up pretty much the next day, meaning, unless he was just speaking figuratively to Skinner, that every single person who he had an appointment with for the the course of those 3 months cancelled within a day, which has snowball's chance in Hell of happening. And since when do restaurants schedule appointments for the health inspector to conduct their inspections? Don't health inspectors usually show up unannounced, to catch those in violation with their pants down? That's pretty much what he does at Gusteau's, which leads me to...

3. The health inspector has Gusteau's shut down, upon discovering that rats have been in the kitchen. So, Linguini, Collette, Ego, and the rats start their own new restaurant, that has its kitchen run by rats. But if the health inspector comes in unannounced to catch them with their pants down, like he did with Gusteau's, the place will only stay open a year, if not a month, before it gets shut down, too. What a depressing ending.

[–] quasimodox 10 years ago

Questioning these "plot holes" is like grammer checking Shakespeare. While you are at it, why not question how a rat can cook and read or control a human by pulling hair? I think you are missing the point of this film.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] TheAdvocator 9 years ago

You don't know what a plot hole is.

The Legend of Korra Book 4 is the biggest dip in quality of any show ever.

[–] electric_storm 9 years ago

1. As far as I can tell the events of the movie only took place over a couple of weeks. You cannot go from being a complete novice to a chef capable of cooking fine cuisine in that space of time if you have no natural aptitude for it, especially not if you're doing so under automated instruction with no idea WHY you're doing anything you're doing. Add to that the stress he was under and the added distraction of Collette and is it a surprise? Maybe he could cook some basic things by the end of it but restaraunt level? No.

2. The Health Inspector said he couldn't come unless he had a cancellation. Generally when people work by appointment they don't attempt to ring every one of their clients and move up their appointment if they get a sudden cancellation so clearly that's what happened. At worst this is a plot convenience.

3. This one is a bit more of a legitimate question mark because while this is a fantastical story that stretches incredulity it is established that there are health inspectors in this world who shut down restaraunts run by rats. My guess is there was a clause in the business set-up, rats could cook if strict health regulations were still upheld and consumers were aware and happy with the arrangement. I never got the impression it was supposed to be a secret, hence the place being named "La Ratatouille".

[–] michaeltrenton 8 years ago

I was more concerned with Ego getting fired as food critic after the place got shut down for rat infestation. Surely his skills as a food critic wouldn't be on the line here? Unless it somehow leaked out that the food he had given a positive review was actually made by rats? 

[–] Origamipaper 8 years ago

To me none of those are plotholes really.

1) The first half of the movie took place over a short amount of time. Not enough for Linguini to become a well-rounded chef. In the new bistro who is to say he can't cook? Maybe he acknowledges Remi's superior talent and lets him take the creative lead.

2) hardly a plothole

3) As someone pointed out. The rats aren't running the restaurant. It's Remi and Colette and possibly Luingini involved in the cooking. It's a small bistro so it could be Colette mostly by herself with guidance by Remi.

Also look carefully. The other rats aren't even in the building. They are on top of the awning on the outside of the building.

"The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering" - Bruce Lee

[–] syntinen 8 years ago

And the OP doesn't seem to have noticed the big fat plot-hole right at the beginning: Linguini, who can't cook and knows it, doesn't want to be a cook, and knows he's lucky to have been given a job as a garbage boy, immediately sidles up to a panful of soup that he hasn't even seen being made (so he hasn't a clue what's already in it) and starts surreptitiously throwing random extra ingredients into it. There's no possible motive for him to do this.

I know they needed to create a reason for Remy to need to rush in and save the soup, but this is just not good enough, because it's flat against all character logic. We know Linguini is a complete klutz; why could they not have made him, for instance, knock some random ingredient into the soup (which now needs Remy to re-calibrate its flavours to accommodate this) accidentally, rather than start tinkering with it on purpose?

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] Rockhound6165 8 years ago

You're looking for plot holes in an animated movie about a gourmet cooking rat?

[–] hoosierdaddy500 8 years ago

1. You were spot on with your guess: he is a complete idiot.

2. Didn't have a problem with this one at all. The inspections that were scheduled for 3 months were probably mostly routine inspections, and when one of them got cancelled for some reason, he probably thought "you know, that guy the other day seemed pretty convinced that there are rats at Gusteau's, so maybe I'll go check it out". Not hard to believe at all really.

3. This is a halfway legitimate one, but I think it's only Remy that is actually IN the restaurant, the other workers are humans, whereas there were hundreds of rats at Gusteau's. Ego probably went public with his praise for the rat and convinced enough people to try Remy's cooking, assured them that they take every precaution to make sure Remy is clean. and it eventually caught on and got popular.