Your Friend the Rat
Encyclopedia
Your Friend the Rat is Pixar
's first short film to feature traditional animation
. At 11 minutes, it is also the longest Pixar short to date. Along with 2D animation, the short also includes stop-motion animation, computer generated imagery (CGI) and live action, much like the children's television show, A Little Curious
. Like the feature length film on which it is based, Your Friend the Rat also features a musical sequence.
The short takes on the form of an educational film
and stars Remy and Emile, two brown rats who argue for the reconciliation of humans and rats. They use historical facts presented to various styles of animation.
Your Friend the Rat won the Best Animated Short Subject category at the 35th annual Annie Awards and was released on DVD
and Blu-ray with Disney·Pixar's Ratatouille
(November 6, 2007).
, pointing out that it was caused by fleas not rats, resulting in the death of one third of Europe's population.
Remy further presents the Brown rat
's (Rattus norvegicus) history, mentioning their part in ending the Black Death, their honorable position
in the Chinese zodiac
and their sacredness in India
for being the transport vehicle of the Hindu god Ganesh
. The symbiotic relationship between rats and humans is introduced before the second appearance of Remy and Emile in 3D animation. Emile pulls a scroll from the side and presents through 2D animation the benefits of rats for the human. He says that Jack Black
was a rat catcher for Queen Victoria and that he kept the rats he captured as pets. Their use for laboratory testing and as pets show that they can have a good relationship with humans. Concluding the presentation Emile and Remy sing a song about the relationship between rats and humans. At the film's end, a long and drawn-out (mostly satirical) disclaimer is shown asking children to stay away from rats, while Remy and Emile stand in front of it and try to remove it, urging the audience to ignore the warning and complaining about freedom of speech and lack of food, respectively.
The idea of a 2D short was initiated by Jim Capobianco after Brad Lewis sent an e-mail asking for extras for the DVD. Capobianco thought of an educational film bringing together all the information they gathered about rats in a funny way to the audience. The production of the short started during the last year of the Ratatouille production time and was finished in less than a year.
The animation is a mixture of CGI and 2D animation. Emile and Remy appear in CGI while their presentation is in 2D, which encompasses most of the short movie. The 2D Animation in most scenes was done through traditional paper based animation with digital ink and paint while a few scenes such as the Canada
vs Rats Video Game were done in Toon Boom. There is also a snippet of live-action film, a clip showing an Oriental rat flea.
During the production a book called Your Friend the Rat: A Little Golden Book, which includes the music and lyrics to the song "Plan B", was created by Jim Capobianco.
Pixar
Pixar Animation Studios, pronounced , is an American computer animation film studio based in Emeryville, California. The studio has earned 26 Academy Awards, seven Golden Globes, and three Grammy Awards, among many other awards and acknowledgments. Its films have made over $6.3 billion worldwide...
's first short film to feature traditional animation
Traditional animation
Traditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
. At 11 minutes, it is also the longest Pixar short to date. Along with 2D animation, the short also includes stop-motion animation, computer generated imagery (CGI) and live action, much like the children's television show, A Little Curious
A Little Curious
A Little Curious is a children's television show which has aired on HBO Family since 1998, lasting for just two seasons , and...
. Like the feature length film on which it is based, Your Friend the Rat also features a musical sequence.
The short takes on the form of an educational film
Educational film
An educational film is a film or movie whose primary purpose is to educate. Educational films have been used in classrooms as an alternative to other teaching methods.-Cultural significance:...
and stars Remy and Emile, two brown rats who argue for the reconciliation of humans and rats. They use historical facts presented to various styles of animation.
Your Friend the Rat won the Best Animated Short Subject category at the 35th annual Annie Awards and was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray with Disney·Pixar's Ratatouille
Ratatouille (film)
Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the eighth film produced by Pixar, and was directed by Brad Bird, who took over from Jan Pinkava in 2005...
(November 6, 2007).
Plot
The short starts in a three dimensional animation with Remy introducing himself and Emile to the audience and speaking on behalf of oppressed rats everywhere. Emile starts frowning about having to speak out, while Remy pulls a scroll and a two dimensional animation starts by presenting the relation between a human and a rat in contrast with human-dog and human-cat relationships. Remy points out that humans regarded rats in former times as sacred and luck bringing. He says during the Roman Empire that if a white rat crosses your path, good luck, if a black rat crosses your path, it brings bad luck. He moves on to discussing Black rats (Rattus rattus) and their connection to the Black DeathBlack Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
, pointing out that it was caused by fleas not rats, resulting in the death of one third of Europe's population.
Remy further presents the Brown rat
Brown Rat
The brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....
's (Rattus norvegicus) history, mentioning their part in ending the Black Death, their honorable position
Rat (zodiac)
The Rat is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, the Year of the Rat is associated with the earthly branch symbol 子...
in the Chinese zodiac
Chinese zodiac
The Shēngxiào , better known in English as the Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year mathematical cycle...
and their sacredness in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for being the transport vehicle of the Hindu god Ganesh
Ganesha
Ganesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati , Vinayaka , and Pillaiyar , is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
. The symbiotic relationship between rats and humans is introduced before the second appearance of Remy and Emile in 3D animation. Emile pulls a scroll from the side and presents through 2D animation the benefits of rats for the human. He says that Jack Black
Jack Black (rat catcher)
Jack Black was rat-catcher and mole destroyer by appointment to Her Majesty Queen Victoria during the middle of the nineteenth century. Black cut a striking figure in his self-made "uniform" of scarlet topcoat, waistcoat, and breeches, with a huge leather belt inset with cast-iron rats.He is known...
was a rat catcher for Queen Victoria and that he kept the rats he captured as pets. Their use for laboratory testing and as pets show that they can have a good relationship with humans. Concluding the presentation Emile and Remy sing a song about the relationship between rats and humans. At the film's end, a long and drawn-out (mostly satirical) disclaimer is shown asking children to stay away from rats, while Remy and Emile stand in front of it and try to remove it, urging the audience to ignore the warning and complaining about freedom of speech and lack of food, respectively.
Cast
- Patton OswaltPatton OswaltPatton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, writer, actor and voice actor. He is best known for portraying Spencer Olchin in the popular sitcom The King of Queens, voicing Remy from the film Ratatouille and Thrasher from the Cartoon Network original series Robotomy.-Early life:Oswalt was born...
as Remy, a grayish-blue colored rat, who complains about the way people treat rats. - Peter SohnPeter SohnPeter Sohn is an American animator, voice actor and storyboard artist at Pixar Animation Studios.,Sohn started his career with Pixar in the art and story departments for Finding Nemo. He also worked on The Incredibles, Ratatouille and WALL-E. Sohn also performed the voice of Emile in Ratatouille...
as Emile, a brown rat. He loves to eat and sing, and seems to complain about the same subject as Remy does. - Lou RomanoLou RomanoLou Romano is an animation production artist and voice actor. He did design work on Monsters, Inc. and The Incredibles, and he provided the voices of Bernie Kropp in The Incredibles, Snotrod in Cars and Alfredo Linguini in Ratatouille.Romano had an interest in drawing and painting at an early age...
as Linguini, who appears in 2D primarily to depict the majority of human characters in different costumes. - Tony Russell as Disclaimer Guy
- Sigmund Vik as Norwegian Rat
- Jim Capobianco as Director Voice
- John RatzenbergerJohn RatzenbergerJohn Deszo Ratzenberger is an American actor, voice actor, and entrepreneur. He is best known for his role as Cliff Clavin in Cheers.-Early life:...
as P. T. Flea, a cameo appearance as "the flea", which is revealed by Remy to be false (the wrong fleaFleaFlea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood...
).
Production
The animation is a mixture of CGI and 2D animation. Emile and Remy appear in CGI while their presentation is in 2D, which encompasses most of the short movie. The 2D Animation in most scenes was done through traditional paper based animation with digital ink and paint while a few scenes such as the Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
vs Rats Video Game were done in Toon Boom. There is also a snippet of live-action film, a clip showing an Oriental rat flea.
During the production a book called Your Friend the Rat: A Little Golden Book, which includes the music and lyrics to the song "Plan B", was created by Jim Capobianco.