Pop-Art of a high order ... but perhaps not one for the kids.

Rating: 8/10 (24 October 2007)

I must confess that a movie about a rat who can cook, ('anybody can cook' is the film's motto), and becomes 'the greatest chef in all of France' didn't real seem my cup of red-eye but egged on by a five star review in Empire magazine together with my friend Nuno's assertion that this was the best film he'd seen this year kind of swayed me so I did something I rarely do if ever and dragged myself off to an early screening where I was the sole adult without kids. Oh, and on top of recommendations from Nuno and Empire there was always the fact that the writer and director was Brad ("The Incredibles") Bird. 'If it's a Brad Bird film,' I said to myself, 'it must have something'.
So a five star movie? Best film of the year? Well, not quite. I hate to sound churlish but the script's a bit on the thin side and it isn't that funny and from the silence of the little lambs in the audience is it not a mite too sophisticated for the younger tots? I know pirates may be dastardly and wizards can be scary but this is the 21st century and children have grown hardy, blood-thirsty even, in their quest for adventure so a movie about a Parisian rat with a penchant for haute-cuisine? I don't think so.
Well, that's me being picky. As I pride myself on being a 'sophisticated' adult let's just say I loved it and am convinced that perhaps it wasn't the tots Mr Bird was aiming at. This is a clever, invigorating, 'grown-up' movie which might explain why I am prepared to criticize the script for being 'too thin' and for the paucity of humour; (I laughed but less than I had hoped to). It's good enough, (and the last quarter is very good indeed), for me to wish it had been better, (and at almost two hours it is a bit on the long side).
Technically and visually it's a marvel. Bird is canny enough to adhere to the old-fashioned values of animation, (I like the way he constructs backgrounds that could be taken straight from the best Disney cartoons), while using all the techniques available to him to give the film a 'realistic' look. This is pop-art of a very high order but only adults will appreciate that.
It starts well and it ends terrifically. There is a bit too much padding in the middle, perhaps, so I'm knocking a mark or two off for that but you still come out on a relative high and if you're a real movie buff you can't help but get a buzz out of Peter O'Toole's voicing of the food critic Anton Ego. This is Parma Ham cut thick, a master actor savouring the opportunity to have a bit of fun. I could have been doing with more of him. So Nuno, it's not the best film of the year but it's still a treat, nevertheless.