The chef calls the Ratatouille Basil because he puts quite a lot of basil in it

Pixar will have to swim upstream-tee hee-to do better than Finding Nemo; Brad Bird will have to put in a lot of hours to make anything closer to perfection than his Iron Giant. But Ratatouille is a great film, showing the Pixar team back on track after the unmemorable Cars, and Bird has surpassed, IMO, The Incredibles.



The filmmakers keep the movements fast but always clear. Sequences like the one where our star rodent is separated from his family and washed away down into the sewers of Paris will dumbfound appreciators of animation.

It can fairly be said that few of the rat characters are really exceptional apart from that star.



But the humans make up for it.



The plot creaks a bit in places, with some scenes feeling obligatory. You can almost hear the filmmakers saying "Ok, let's get this over with...so we can go back to the fun!"

And fun it is. How fun?

Imagine watching a young Jerry Lewis or Steve Martin at or near the height of their powers as physical comedians, in a film directed by Blake Edwards at his peak as a director.

That fun.

There's also something of what I think they call meta when one animated character says to another "You're an illustration! Why am I talking to you?"

PS: Be sure to stay through at least the first part of the end credits-the most beautiful I have ever seen and worthy of an Academy Award in their own right if there were such a category (is there?).

PPS: And after you've seen it (but only after you've seen it) come back and follow this link to Brad Bird talking about the role of the critic in the film.