Good but not that good comedy doesn't hit its stride until the last half hour

Rating: 7/10 (30 June 2007)

The story of Remy a rat with a unique sense of taste and smell who wants nothing more than to cook. Ending up in Paris at the restaurant run by his idol Remy links up with a garbage boy named Linguini in the quest for culinary greatness.
Sue me I'm not in love with this film. Certainly the voice cast is great with a wonderful turn by Peter O'Toole and another by Ian Holm, and the animation pushes American animation farther than its gone before but the story was too unfocused and too much of been there done that.
I'm a heathen I know but while I was watching this all I could think of was where I had seen this before from Looney Tunes to Pinky and The Brain to Peter Greenaway to Fantasia 2000 to Iron Giant to I don't know how many other films that seem to have been cribbed from. I don't mind borrowing but please don't give me the time to notice all of the riffs as I'm watching the movie. Clearly I've seen way too many movies for my own good since so much of this film seems borrowed.
Its doesn't help that to me the film is unfocused for much of its running time. Once the film gets set in motion and Remy is introduced the film sort of staggers about trying to find its footing. There is no real conflict of consequence until the final half hour. Certainly there is the question of whether Remy and Linguini will make a team, but its not much of a threat since you know how it will have to play out, and the same can be said for Ian Holm's Skinner who is such a non threat that they have to add in a couple of out of left field plot twists just to keep things going (The letter from Linguini's mother and all that follows). Its not until Peter O'Toole's food critic resurfaces in the final reels that the film really begins to fire on all cylinders.
This isn't to say its a bad film, it not, its just not the spectacular one that everyone sees in its animated frames. There are some great set pieces, the escape from the farm is wonderful for example, that are wonderfully animated pieces of art. And with out a doubt the final sequences as Remmy and Linguini have to come up with a plan to over come the "evil" O'Toole are some of Brad Birds best work, but it comes at the end of a long meandering journey, which both lifts whats gone before and diminishes whats there.
I like the film, probably more than I realize (hence the 7 out of 10 rating) but I'm not in love with it.