Ratatouille (Walt Disney/Pixar)

Brad Bird
Jan Pinkava (co-director)

Writers:

Brad Bird (screenplay)
Brad Bird (story)

http://imdb.com/title/tt0382932/

Not since The Lady and the Tramp and The Jungle book have I enjoyed an animated movie this much. Today animation is done on computer in 3D using such programs as MAYA or 3D Max or similar. Whilst this often gives the look a more realistic appeal the magic is often lost.

The story and character development takes aback seat as the COMPUTER NERDS take over the process of animation. Ratatouille however is a marked change from this. The look of the backgrounds and characters pays much homage to earlier Disney work, intentionally or not. One does forget it is 3D and is totally absorbed in the story. This is due to the talents of Brad Bird Director/writer who seems to have captured the essence of old Disney.

Remy is a rat with a distinctively great talent at cooking. He likes to live amongst humans and after a near miss with death at the hands of an old woman with a shotgun finds himself in Paris at the restaurant of his dead hero Chef Gusteau. There he accidentally improves the soup being cooked for the night and manages to get the garbage boy Linguini given the credit. The two then join forces to perpetuate this illusion in order to save Linguini’s job.

Five stars for this movie, it has reinvigorated my love for animation.

By Robin Jacob