Ratatouille
Universally enjoyable.
Review by Sirus

“Ratatouille” is the latest movie directed by Brad Bird, the director of the fantastic 2004 movie, “The Incredibles”. Brad Bird does it again in a strangely magical tale of a rat that has a dream. Remy is a rat that has an amazingly acute sense of smell. While the rest of his family is content with munching on garbage, Remy knows better. Remy’s father is not in the least bit impressed by his talents until he realizes that Remy is able to detect when trash is poisoned. Discontented with the food available in the trash, Remy boldly ventures into the main area of the house in which they hide. He spends so much time in the kitchen that he reads an entire cookbook and develops a solid set of culinary abilities. Remy gets a little too ambitious for his own good and causes a chain of events that finds Remy and his entire crew banished from their safe, homely attic. In the entire ruckus, Remy is separated from his family and all alone. When Remy finally gets up the courage to explore the city, he finds himself in the company of a new chef who has no talent whatsoever. Somehow the combination created from their meeting forms an unlikely friendship. The remainder of the movie is filled with all sorts of twists and turns as the couple attempts to cope with the situation they are in.

“Ratatouille” doesn’t rely on any big named actors to sell itself. This makes the movie that much more lovable for what it does rather than for the actors who lend it their voices. That isn’t to say that the voice talent in the film is anything but excellent. Every character has a voice that portrays his personality perfectly. The music is equally excellent and becomes epic and solemn to fit the mood of the movie. Everything about “Ratatouille” is smart enough that it will attract and excite adults who get dragged along by their children. At the same time, the movie is exciting enough that even the children who aren’t charmed by the rats will enjoy themselves. Because of its mass appeal, a good portion of the audience will be small children who don’t know how to watch a movie in silence. Thankfully, the movie is so well crafted that most of the children will be too into it to yap constantly. The first half of the movie made me think that the movie was going to be simply good, but the finale, although moderately formulaic, was beautiful and touching such that only heartless viewers wouldn’t feel anything. If you are a fan of Pixar movies, you are likely going to see this movie regardless. If you have written off recent Pixar movies as being for kids, you owe it to yourself to give “Ratatouille” a try because the experience is universally enjoyable.

Final Score: 5/5