Ratatouille is a wonderful movie about creative work, yet people miss the central message. It’s NOT, “Anyone can cook.”

Chef Gusteau’s full line: “Anyone can cook, but only the fearless can be great!”

My favorite moment in the movie isn’t the critic’s reaction. It’s this exchange between the chefs Colette and Linguini.

• 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲: I know the Gusteau style cold. In every dish, Chef Gusteau always has something unexpected. I will show you. I memorize all his recipe.

• 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗻𝗶: [writing in notebook]  Always do something unexpected.

• 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲: No! Follow the recipe!

It’s a perfect critique of the attempt to replicate a successful creation, rather than understanding what made it successful in the first place.

We see this endlessly in the game industry.

Executives understandably try to de-risk projects by forcing them to replicate the mistakes of the past.

I know one product lead that was told repeatedly to stop trying to “reinvent the wheel” and just copy the strategy of a successful game in the genre her boss liked.

Later that same game hired her to reinvent their wheel instead. Her former boss spent the next few years copying her work instead.

Oops.

Change for change’s sake is useless, but thoughtless copying is worse. Every legendary game is filled with problems, mistakes, and compromises. More importantly, it’s filled with opportunities.

Learn from them, dig out the diamonds, copy what works and reinvent what doesn’t.

Thoughtless copying doesn’t meaningfully reduce risk, it just feels that way. It’s terrifying to tell your team, “Most of this is wonderful, but this part here… I think we can do better.”

Creative work is about courage in the dark. We embrace the unknown, unsolved problem. We feel our way through dark caverns, groping towards dead ends. Somewhere in the mountain is gold. There’s crevasses too. Relish them.

Besides, Copycat games fail all the time. You might as well make something you believe in.

The last words of Ratatouille are spoken by the food critic, and they aren’t “anyone can cook”.

What are they?

“Surprise me!”