Review: Ratatouille

First off, let it be known that the author of this review suffers from a massive bias towards Pixar, believing it to be truly one of the best things coming out of the modern film industry.

That being said, Pixar’s latest offering, the rodent-ridden Ratatouille forces us to ask the question, “Can Pixar actually make a bad movie?”

The answer: Probably, but we’ve never seen one.

Ratatouille was written and directed by Brad Bird, who we also have to thank for The Incredibles, arguably the best Pixar film ever. Bird (who, by the way, was the voice for the hysterical Edna Mode), has created a subtly charming, raucously funny, constantly changing piece in Ratatouille that literally had me walking out of the theatre thinking I’d seen a live-action film.

That is probably the biggest compliment I can pay this film. The sheer quality of this film is sublime. Here are three reasons why you owe it to yourself to see this film.

• Screenplay/Dialogue – A subtle thing I happened to catch on to rather quickly was that this film never lagged, never let itself get too bogged down in emotionally drawn out scenes where the protagonist deals with conflict. The scenes where Remy (the rat) and Linguini (the kid mop-by turned Chef) deal with their conflicts are neat and tidy, and never let us get too comfortable before springing back into the manic action Pixar does so well.

• Animation – After Finding Nemo, Pixar pretty much staked its claim that it could replicate anything and make it look real. In this film, it’s the food. It looks real. Really.

• The Voices: Top notch vocal acting in this film. The rat is voiced by no name comedian Patton Oswalt, Linguini by a production designer from Pixar. But the inflections in this film are so genuine and believable that they really helped sell the premise (a rat communicating with a human). Brian Dennehy shows up as the rat’s father, but the gold star for vocals goes to Peter O’Toole, who voiced the creepy restaurant critic Ego. Absolutely spot on.

To recap: awesome flick, which retains the usual two-tiered approach of have a kid centered plot with enough above-the-head jokes to keep adults snickering (it takes place in France . . . ‘nuff said.)

We respectfully submit for consideration of the mighty Dack a rating of eightDacks.

(Many thanks to Dack for trusting his reputation to his humble servant.)