Ratatouille: Blu-ray disc DVD Review (2007)

What this magnificent movie captures isn't just the culinary heart of Paris--itself a feat--but also the hearts of audiences.

It does so through one determined, lovable little rat named Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt), who may have been raised to eat trash, poor thing, but who nevertheless dreams big of becoming a master chef and full-on gourmand.

Still, how to do so when a rat in the kitchen isn't exactly as welcome as, say, the beets in a borscht?

For Remy, it helps if you have the support of a five-star chef like Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), regardless of whether he's dead, which he is, as well as a likable, no-talent lug like Linguini (Lou Romano) to stand in as your puppet, which he does--at least for a while.

From writer-director Brad Bird, “Ratatouille” is as much a love letter to the City of Lights as it is a valentine to those who enjoy the pleasures of le table. What’s essential to its success is that it understands that for some, good food isn't just an artistic expression and creation--it's passion itself.

After all, if a mere noodle can bring together Lady and Tramp, imagine what a perfectly prepared Provencal soup, with its halo of herbs, can do for someone who truly appreciates such a subtle sleight of hand.

With Janeane Garofalo as the saucy Colette and Ian Holm as the evil Skinner, the movie is at its best with Peter O'Toole's Anton Ego, a grim food critic steeped in bitters whose character is so nicely defined, he helps to lift this movie straight into contention for the Academy Award.

Rated G. Grade: A