Ratatouille

"Ratatouille" is the newest visual feast coming from the geniuses at Pixar, who Disney was smart enough to keep on board. Unfortunately, while the computer animation is amazing, the storyline never comes close to satisfying your hunger.

The story follows Remy, a rat who longs to be a great chef in Paris. Surprisingly, he has an uncanny ability to create delicious dishes that satisfy even the pickiest critic. In order to pull off this feat, he pairs up with Linguini, a hapless human lad who also longs to be a chef but can't seem to make a decent slice of toast. Together the two achieve their lifelong ambitions.

Honestly, that's all there is to the story. Will they eventually be busted in their deception? You know they will. Will they figure out a way to overcome their problems? I would put money on it. The story is sadly lacking in depth and in characters to care about. Remy is great, but is surrounded by a lot of rats that look alike. Linguini comes across as a character from an animated short that was never intended to be longer than five minutes. We rarely care about him. There is the sadistic head chef who is good for a laugh or two, but really few others. This had to be a challenge for the Happy Meal people.

Again, it is beautifully crafted and another amazing (I already used that word before) visual achievement. If only they had put more time and effort into the actual story. "Ratatouille" was the appetizer that left me waiting for the main course that never came. I give it a C+.

"Ratatouille" is rated G with a running time of 110 minutes.