Why an animation feature deserves inclusion in IMDb's top 100

Rating: Null/10 (2 August 2007)

Before I saw this movie, I kept telling myself there must be a reason why an animation feature can attain such a high ranking in IMDb (has actually dropped slightly since then, to #65 and 8.5/10). Having now seen it, I do see why, although I still don't see any sense of ranking animation together with "real" movies that have human actors. But I would certainly give this movie a #1 among all the animations I've seen.
First off, Pixar is indeed impressive as ever. With the depth and light-and-shade, some scenes look more real than real scenes shot with a camera. Facial expressions are also just as good as real. And there are so much admirable details in each frame that you'll miss more than you can take in.
Behind the astounding visual are characters and stories rich in creative imagination. It is a cartoon and the movie never pretends to be otherwise. But it's impossible not to marvel at the ingenious plot -the ghost of a top chef, or just a fragment of the hero's imagination, helps that hero, a rat, to become a top chef by working, in turn, through a young floor-sweeper who does the actual cooking. How? Through hiding in the young man's chef's hat and pulling his hair as one manipulates the strings of a marionette. Now, why didn't I think of that! And then, there are many layers in the plot, not contrived or pretentious, but just offered to you naturally as part of the story: family value, office politics, aspiration vs reality, peaceful co-existences between races (in this case, humans and rats). There are of course poignancy and uplifting moments, which are, however, never over done. This is a sensible movie that entertains you hugely, moves you gently, and makes you think a little as you go along.
I am not an animation person but this one gets my vote