REVIEW: Ratatouille

The other half and I saw Ratatouille last Friday, the day it came out, primarily because we are fans of Brad Bird, the director of the film, who was also the main creative force behind The Incredibles, my favourite film of 2004. Plus, Pixar's track record at making computer animated films with intelligence and heart, has been impressive and consistent.

Ratatouille is no The Incredibles, but happily, it's not Cars, either. In fact, over at Oliver Willis blog I have been adding my comments on Oliver's rating of Pixar's entire oeuvre, in order of best to worst. I think my list would look something like this:

The Incredibles (2004)
Finding Nemo (2003)
Toy Story (1995)
Ratatouille (2007)
Monsters, Inc. (2001)
Toy Story 2 (1999)
A Bug's Life (1998)
Cars (2006)

What's amazing is that a movie about rat in Paris who wants to be a chef got made at all. One does not usually think these elements would make a compelling animated (which unfortunately is usually a synonym for kid-oriented) film: vermin, food and France! But somehow the film works, despite the lack of highly-paid voice talent and somewhat disjointed pacing. The film is highly creative in its depiction of the mysterious magic of cooking and taste; in fact cooking can really be thought of as a metaphor for any creative artistic endeavor. The plot is a bit silly but the strong points are the villain(s), the animation itself, especially in the more frenetic "swarm of rats" scenes and the character denouement of the food critic.

GRADE: B+/A-.