Ratatouille

Leave it to an animated movie – and to Pixar – to feature one of the most profound and touching treatises on what it means to be a critic. In the 2007 movie Ratatouille, the food critic Anton Ego (what’s in a name) bravely questions his own profession and proclivities in a memorable monologue.

 

“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. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new. “