Ratatouille Rocks

If you have not seen Pixars latest offering, Ratatouille, run - don’t walk - to the theaters. In a long line of flaccid summer entertainment, this charming movie about a rat who wants to be a gourmet chef and cannot relate to his family who eat like, well - rats, is the best movie of the summer. 

Remy, the rat in the movie, is a frustrated gourmet who accidentally ends up in the kitchen of a failing restaurant made famous by his culinary idol, Auguste Gusteau. Remy then finds himself in the position of puppet master to the garbage boy, mistakenly believed to have created a fantastic soup actually created by Remy. Remy must teach him how to cook behind the scenes, or more accurately, from under the boy’s chef hat.

The animation is gorgeous, the food looks good enough to eat, and the characters are delightful with engaging personalities. Adults and children alike will find themselves enchanted by this story about living and pursuing your dreams no matter what your station in life may be or what your family has to say about it.

If other movie makers would invest as much time into plot and character development as the makers of Ratatouille have, the rising ticket prices would be a little easier to swallow. I, for one, am tired of big budget flicks that cost millions to make but fail to have a compelling or even coherent plot and characters that fail to engage or interest the viewer. If I walk out of the theater and never think of the movie again, it is not a success.

Ratatouille delivers and I highly recommend it to all.

Posted by Gregg.