If I don't like it, then I won't watch it again

Rating: 9/10 (28 August 2007)

I identify with the passion of one of this film's characters who declares to be "hungry for more" after having seen this work by Brad Bird. I absolutely loved "The Incredibles", and yet figured that Brad Bird would stick to his schedule of only making a movie every few years or so. I certainly wasn't sure that he'd team up again with Pixar. And then I saw that he had chosen this project. I was a little trepidant approaching this movie's opening. Could lightning strike twice or was Bird doomed to wander into a wasteland of storytelling like M. Night Shyamalan? I am now confident that Brad Bird will not dwindle away his talent. This movie was as richly fulfilling as the feasts it displays and I'll try to stop with the food metaphors from here on. I had thought the story was going to be about urban rat adventures in the same way as "Flushed Away", "The Great Mouse Detective", or "The Secret of NIMH". But then I saw the teaser which informed that instead it would focus on the delight of making and eating fine cuisine. With rats? Yes, with rats. It encouraged me that are others out there who know that real reason haute cuisine is so snobbish is because it has the wealth of flavors that you won't get from The Olive Garden or McDonald's. I watched with shear joy as food was woven into the plot and displayed with such magnificence. My mother who was an art major in college said that this was the finest animation she had ever seen, and this from a woman who has watched "Toy Story", "Beauty and the Beast", "Snow White", "Pinocchio", and "Wallace and Gromit". All you have to see is the breathtaking vistas of Paris and you also will want to shout Bravo! Finally, what I've started noticing and liking about Pixar versus the sequel maniacs at Dreamworks is their ability to cast characters. "The Incredibles" could've had bigger names than Craig T. Nelson or Elizabeth Pena, but they would not have matched character as flawlessly. That continues here as you will not immediately recognize most of the cast (Lou Romano?), but you will agree that no else could've matched so perfectly. Another skill I attribute to Brad Bird. I now eagerly await "1906", confident that it will be one more feather in the cap of someone who is making a claim as the greatest animated filmmaker ever.