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I actually saw Ratatouille a couple days before Harry Potter, but for whatever reason I never got around to writing a review. This sort of procrastination isn't uncommon for me; there are still two movies I saw in June (Ocean's 13 and Paris, Je T'Aime) that I never reviewed at all. I'll get around to them eventually. xp

Anyway, I was skeptical about Ratatouille because Pixar took such a horrible wrong turn with Cars, a film aptly described by a friend as "Doc Hollywood with cars" and one of the most insufferably boring, clichéd messes I've ever seen. Fortunately, Ratatouille doesn't suffer from any of its predecessor's weaknesses. Its only real flaw is that most of its Parisian characters don't speak with recognizable French accents; otherwise, this is one of the best animated films in recent memory.

The movie tells the story of Remy, a rat born with an extraordinary sense of smell and refined taste in food. His talent gets him appointed to check his clan's food for poison, but it's not a fulfilling job, and his unrefined father and brother are constant annoyances. After an attempt to prepare a gourmet dish goes terribly wrong, Remy winds up in the kitchen at Gusteau's, a restaurant in decline after the death of its namesake chef. After some more mishaps, Remy teams up with the restaurant's hapless, culinarily challenged cleaning boy, Linguini. They work out a system where Remy hides beneath Linguini's hat and pulls on his hair to guide him to the correct ingredients and seasonings. Naturally, it all works well at first, until a series of complications threatens to destroy their partnership.

But to go into more detail than that would be to spoil the plot; and part of the joy of Ratatouille is seeing that plot unfold in ways that aren't entirely expected. The film was directed and co-written by Brad Bird, previously responsible for The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, and like those films it possesses a degree of narrative sophistication and character development that belies the way Disney's promoted it as a kids' film. Its diverse cast is believable and human (odd thing to say about a rat, but it's true), and the plot unfolds in ways that are true to their personalities rather than strictly obeying the standard devices. (This is especially apparent in the ending, which undercuts what looks to be a clichéd "heartwarming" finale with an unexpected touch of realism.) At heart, Ratatouille is about the relationships between its characters-- the partnership between Remy and Linguini, the budding romance between Linguini and sous-chef Collette, and Remy's efforts to convince his family of the value of fine cuisine and that humans aren't all bloodthirsty exterminators. The voice actors all do a fine job with their parts; but the best of the lot is Peter O'Toole, as the cadaverous restaurant critic Anton Ego.

It almost goes without saying that Pixar's films are visually stunning, but somehow Ratatouille manages to outdo its antecedents in this department as well. The Parisian skyline is rendered in loving detail, and the dishes prepared at Gusteau's are as complexly textured and vivid as the real thing. The chase sequences are the best I've ever seen in a computer-animated film, with a sense of speed and fluidity that makes Dreamworks's rodent-themed Flushed Away look stodgy in comparison. And Pixar's animators have fortunately resisted the temptation to make their human characters look photorealistic; you won't find any creepy motion-captured Polar Express-style mannequins here. It's a wise choice, as these more cartoony faces are far more emotionally expressive.

I never would have expected it, but Ratatouille is one of the best films I've seen all year. Only Inland Empire beats it for overall quality, and I doubt there will be a better animated film this year.

Rating- 9.5/10