filmfan's diary

Unedited versions as sent to pugwashnews, one made it, the other didn't.

Make dinner plans, you’ll want a feast after this foodie-film.

Like Disney/Pixar’s recent offerings, this Paris-set tale of Remy, a rat with Gordon Ramsay’s skills and the looks of a young Roland Rat opens with a cracking short. An appetiser-with-aliens it perfectly introduces the gentle humour and visual style of director and writer Brad Bird. He directed and wrote ‘The Incredibles’ and ‘The Iron Giant’, worked on almost 200 episodes of The Simpsons and directed the music video ‘Do the Bartman’. With that CV, Bird faced an audience hungry for more. Thankfully, Ratatouille (pronounced, the Remy-guided trailer tells us ‘Rat-a-2-e’), doesn’t leave a bad taste in the mouth. Instead, as Remy follows his culinary ambition by helping a lowly kitchen worker become a chef, the recipe is sweet, the journey smooth and the characters exquisitely moulded. With a smorgasbord of voice talent, not least Peter O’Toole as a ghoulish food critic and Bird himself as his butler, Ratatouille c’est magnifique!