You gotta love Brad Bird. While Pixar is milking sequels every chance it gets, one of the few classics that has yet to receive a continuation is Bird’s “Ratatouille,” an absolute animated masterpiece.
Bird has now shut down any chance of a sequel. Nearly two decades after Remy first stirred his way into the kitchen, the beloved Parisian rat chef will be spared, and that’s despite Pixar consistently nudging for one.
Here’s Brad Bird shutting down any thoughts of a sequel to Collider:
Pixar has made little feints towards that to see how I would react. They’ll crack a joke, but the joke will be a bit serious, like, ‘Would you?’ And I’m like, ‘No, we told that story.
It has been a growing trend for Pixar, which has been leaning harder than ever into sequels and legacy IP. “Inside Out 2” and “Toy Story 5” dominated the global box office. Up next are “Incredibles 3,” “Coco 2,” and “Monsters, Inc. 3” — it’s clear Pixar has decided its future might just depend on its past.
Still, “Ratatouille” is a sacred cow. Brad Bird’s 2007 film is considered by many — this site included — to be among Pixar’s finest, a work of visual and emotional elegance that has only deepened with time. The idea of returning to that world is dangerous. There’s no word yet on whether Bird is involved, and without him, it’s hard not to wonder whether a sequel would risk missing the original’s quiet, beating heart in favor of something louder, broader, and safer.
Listen, I’ve made my peace with Pixar: its golden age of releasing classic after classic is long gone. From 1995 to 2010, the studio could do no wrong, delivering one great film after another: “Toy Story,” “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Finding Nemo,” “The Incredibles,” “Cars,” “Ratatouille,” “WALL-E,” “Up,” and “Toy Story 3.” What a run of films — 15 years, and the only sequels were those great “Toy Story” follow-ups.
Things started to get wobblier once Pixar decided to focus more heavily on sequels, and its original films suffered creatively as well. Don’t get me wrong, there have been a few good original Pixar films released since then — “Coco,” and “Soul” spring to mind — but none of them have come close to the magic of that golden era.
Bird’s refusal is exactly what makes “Ratatouille” special. Not every great story needs another chapter, and not every beloved character needs to be dragged back onto the screen for one more adventure. There’s something refreshing about a filmmaker looking at a masterpiece and simply saying: we already got it right the first time.
Lars Von Trier is working on the 15th—and likely final—film of his career, “After,” and according to his producer, Peter Aalbæk Jensen, the screenplay is supposed to be completed this month