Hit – Starring Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Ian Holm, Peter O’Toole, Janeane Garofalo, Brad Garrett, Peter Sohn, Brian Dennehey

A young rat, who is an aspiring chef, finds himself living near a once-famous Paris bistro. Determined to see his dream become a reality, he pairs up with a new “clueless when it comes to cooking” chef who needs his help to keep his job.

This movie is the animated hit of the summer (sorry Surf’s Up)! Ratatouille delivers big laughs for such a small hero. This story is easy to follow with visually stunning backgrounds that are consistent with the French lifestyle (according to my friend who is savvy when it comes to the French way of life). The voice actors do a nice job of meshing their voices with their characters. I particularly enjoyed Peter O’Toole as the rigid food critic.

There are some moments of this movie that are not easy to watch – pretty much anything that deals with the rat colony is pretty disgusting. I don’t want to see a bunch of rats scurrying around trying to make their nests bigger – yucky.

The movie runs a little on the long side and could have been tightened up.

Bottom Line: Ratatouille is a hit for the whole family.

Animation

Rated G

Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes.