Why So Popular?

Rating: 6/10 (6 January 2009)

Please understand that I write as someone who thoroughly enjoyed prior Pixar efforts: Toy Story, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, etc. However, as That_American_Chick wrote recently, the animation is the only exceptional quality of "Ratatouille." There's nothing particularly wrong with the movie; it's just lacking in anything particularly good. The story line and the attempts at humor are, by and large, very predictable. Considering some movie critics put "Ratatouille" in their Top Ten lists for 2007, I expected something more. Granted, you could do worse; there's nothing off-putting here, but when the movie ended, my wife and I looked at each other and said, "That's it? What's the big deal?"