RATATOUILLE: A dish best served with popcorn

7:38pm Wednesday, Jul 18, 2007

Every once and awhile, a movie sneaks on to the list that I didn't intend on seeing. A movie that for some reason or another presented itself in a way where I don't have to spend money to watch it (someone offers to pay for the theatre ticket, ect...). A movie that I was borderline to add to the official list but decided to cut because I didn't have enough interest. This isn't a bad thing. It's just that with so many good movies coming out this summer, I had to be choosy.

That movie is: Ratatouille. And thus...becomes the first unlisted entrant into my Rankatron.

Now, we've all seen the previews: the rat is a great cook, finds an inept young man who works in a kitchen, and together they form an uber-chef of silly proportions that only Pixar can do justice.

This movie has as much heart, character, and story as Toy Story and Monsters Inc. There's a little less hilarity but all the characters have this sweet redeeming quality about them (Even the cold heartless food critic who could've been a distant cousin of the Grinch as far as personality goes). Not to say there aren't funny parts...there are...when Linguini (the young man) and Reby (the rat) try to work out how they're going to operate together, these scenes of physical comedy rival some of the stuff you'd see Chaplin do...if his body was made of half-cooked er...Linguini noodles.

Great story, great fun, great characters, DEFINITELY safe for the whole family (unless you have someone in the family creeped out by hoards of rats running out of a restaurant fridge). It was surprisingly better than I expected...but didn't blow me away either...kind of like eating a nice home cooked meal: satisfying but not spectacular...and free of rat poison (gratuitous movie joke).

I'm not as stone cold as the critic in the movie. And though there was room for improvement in Ratatouille, I give this service a 4-star rating...or, since I've got to follow my own formula and do it out of ten:

7.8 full helpings out of 10.