The Ratatouille Post.

Pixar's Cars was a bit of a disappointment, all told. So Ratatouille's indication that it was just a blip is a relief, as well as testament to Brad Bird's unwillingness to rush his movies (see the gaps between this, The Incredibles and The Iron Giant).


The movie works so well, even though I hate rats, because it skips so many of the obvious turns for something like this - if this had been from another company, mentioning no names (coughDreamWorkscough), you can bet that at some point we'd have heard Fergie or some such doing a version of "Rat In The Kitchen." This never happens here.


We also don't get emphasis on plot points you'd think would be of major, massive, climax-depending importance - when we hear about Linguini's link to Gusteau the expected ending (i.e. of his winding up owning the restaurant) does not come, and the expected romance between him and Colette is also not all that important to the movie... it's all about the food. And the characters.


It's funny but it's not really a comedy; Remy does look more cartoony than the other rats, but the movie never trades on his cuteness (and kudos to writer-director Brad Bird for having Remy communicate with Linguini without going the talking route), and though the animation's fabulous - the icing on the cake is the cel-animated end credit sequence - it never takes over the proceedings.


Add a rafter of marvellous voice actors (Patton Oswalt, Brian Dennehy, Ian Holm, Peter O'Toole, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett, Brad Garrett, John "No Pixar movie is complete without him" Ratzenberger...), throw in delightful Michael Giacchino scoring, and what have you got?


A gem.


Which only leaves the question of why this is illustrated with Monica Bellucci, Jessica Alba, Hayden Panettiere and Erica Campbell.


Simple. I still hate rats...