A Response to the Below Review of Ratatouille

Ah... a Siskel and Ebert moment.

After reading my partner Chuck's brief review of Ratatouille I felt I must respond. It's a shame that the two of us were unable to view the movie together (the miles make it impossible); it would have resulted, no doubt, in an interesting discussion.

My rebuttal begins by saying that Pixar is right on track with this bold and unique idea. Not one to repeat itself, the studio resists the temptation to beat a dead horse (Shrek 3, anything with penguins) and is willing to take a chance on offering a vision that is fresh and unique.

Though not a perfect film, Ratatouille is warm and funny, and proffers an genuinely felt interspecies relationship between the rat Remmy and the boy Lunguini. The animation is rich and lushly realized, and the voice characterizations are vivid and compelling.

Granted, the whole "rats in the kitchen" element is not for everyone, and perhaps Pixar renders them too realistic toward the end for all tastes.

Chuck did not think the movie ever "kicked in," and maybe the resolution to the conflicts which were presented in the film were a little obvious. But to me, the bottom line here is friendship. At first, Remmy and Linguine merely needed one another, but in the end it was their affection for one another that won the day.

His kids loved it; so did mine. And that's another thing I'll give Pixar: Ratatouille is a great family film with little or no objectionable content. Which is more than I can say for many "family" movies these days.