Still tastes good but Pixar forgot to add the final ingredients - 75%

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2007)

As much as I love Pixar films (and believe me, I do), there is a nagging sense that nothing will top Brad Bird's superhero masterpiece "The Incredibles". "Cars" gave it a good run for its money but I felt that it just wasn't as colourful, entertaining or fun as the adventures of Clan Incredible. Having said that, "Cars" was a lot better than I was expecting despite having what I thought might have been a dodgy premise. Sadly, their latest effort reverses that trend - maybe I was expecting too much or maybe the premise was too bizarre to pull off but I just felt that there was something missing from this recipe.
"Ratatouille" (pronounced 'rat-a-too-ee') introduces us to Remy (Patton Oswalt), a rat with highly developed senses of smell and taste as well as a fascination for humans and the art of cooking. After a disaster which separates him from his family, Remy finds himself in Paris and at the doorstep to the famous French chef he idolises, Gusteau (Brad Garrett). But things aren't going well at Gusteau's restaurant - after a viciously cruel review by critic Anton Ego (Peter O'Toole), the great chef has passed away and the restaurant staff are now bullied by fiery midget head chef Skinner (Ian Holm). Striking up an unusual partnership with the restaurant's garbage boy Linguini (Lou Romano), Remy takes it upon himself to turn the fortunes of Gusteau around.
It's not worth me talking about how beautiful this film looks - each Pixar picture gets better and better in terms of visual splendour and "Ratatouille" is probably the best yet. In fact, the sheer processing power required for the chaotic final reel alone is enough to give me a migraine thinking about it! Paris at night shimmers with a wonderful glow and everything looks and feels as it should, as you'd expect. You'd also expect a top-notch vocal performance and indeed, "Ratatouille" doesn't disappoint either. Holm is superb, almost unrecognisable as the main obstacle to Remy and Linguini's success. Even John Ratzenburger's obligatory appearance is well disguised - I had to look it up on IMDb to see who he played! It's also funny although not as funny as "Cars" or as much fun as you-know-what. And this is where I feel things start to unravel. "Ratatouille" has a highly unusual premise which I felt worked against it - it's just too weird for it to be credible enough to enjoy. The pace is a little slow in the middle and it is too long so younger children may find their attention drifting before the frenetic buzz of action before the end.
I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy this film, nor that it is a bad movie. It's fantastic - a country mile better than almost any other non-Pixar animation you could think of, if you haven't already forgotten about the likes of "Open Season" or "Barnyard". It's just that I didn't enjoy "Ratatouille" as much as I thought I was going to. Maybe my expectations were impossibly high but for me, this film isn't as good as "The Incredibles". It is better than "A Bug's Life" and "Finding Nemo" but overall, I thought that they might have taken the foot off the gas a bit. I do hope Pixar aren't running out of ideas because they keep me entertained for endless hours. But dare I say it, are Pixar starting to rest of their laurels? A brilliant family film but not the strongest effort from the masters of modern animation.