Willard is a meek social misfit with a strange affinity for rats. He lives in a large mansion, with only his cranky and decrepit mother for company. On his 27th birthday he leaves the party out of embarrassment. While sitting outside he sees a rat and tosses it pieces of birthday cake. His mother gets upset with him for leaving the party and she scolds him later while also discussing how badly the house is falling apart. The next morning he goes out and feeds another rat (this one has babies with it) while imitating their squeaks. His mother starts telling him that he needs to kill the rats that have been running around their yard, to which Willard refuses.

Ratatouille is a 2007 American computer-animated comedy film. The film stars Remy, an anthropomorphic rat who is interested in cooking; Linguini, a young garbage boy who befriends Remy; Skinner, the head chef of Auguste Gusteau's restaurant. The plot follows Remy, who dreams of becoming a chef and tries to achieve his goal by forming an alliance with a Parisian restaurant's garbage boy. Remy directs the rats, while Linguini serves as waiter. For Ego (and Skinner), Remy and Colette create a variation of ratatouille, which brings back an astonished Ego memories of his mother's cooking. When Ego requests to see the chef, Linguini and Colette make him wait until the rest of the diners have left before introducing Remy. Ego writes a glowing review for the newspaper the next day, stating that Gusteau's chef is "nothing less than the finest chef in France."