Together, Remy and Linguini navigate a relationship that, if exposed, would prove to be rather detrimental to both of their livelihoods. So, with Remy's gourmet cooking skills, and Linguini's human appearance, they form a cooking powerhouse that takes the cooking world by storm while they break down the barriers that exist between their two species.

The movie is so much more than a "rat that can cook" story. There is a moment early on when Remy's brother, Emile (Peter Sohn) asks him about why he goes into the house, and the dangers of humans. Remy responds with something along the lines of "Look at what they can do, what they can create." I do not remember the exact words, but it had an effect on throughout. The scene gives this wonderfully optimistic outlook that pervades the rest of the film. It is only strengthened later on with a scene between Remy and his father where Remy says that it only takes one person to begin change. Combine that with Chef Gusteau's quote, "Anyone can cook," and you have the core of this movie. You can do what you put your mind to. It is a great story of friendship that has gravity and a sense of the real world it. Sure, Remy can move Linguini around like a marionette, but I am allowed to give up that conceit as it works quite well.

What works very well for this movie is the writing; it follows a natural progression, has nicely developed characters and is just a delight to listen to. The approach is not to create a talking-animal comedy, rather to create a film where the characters come alive. Compare this to Shrek the Third. In the ogre movie the characters are there to set up the gags, whereas in in Ratatouille the gags are created organically out of the characters. It is very good writing.

The film as a whole is reminiscent of the old screwball comedies, with well-written characters placed in zany situations leading to physical comedy. The jokes throughout this movie are very good, plenty of jokes in the dialogue, lots of physical gags. All of this is told with some of the most gorgeous animation to grace the big screen yet, right there with Cars as the best seen yet.

Brad Bird just keeps turning out great films. From his debut with The Iron Giant to the Pixar masterpiece The Incredibles to this, he can do no wrong. He has a wonderful grasp on how to create these vivid characters and create the situations around them out of them, rather than letting the outside desire to reveal plot or tell gags be the driving factor or the stories. Plus, he has some great talent providing voices, particularly Patton Oswalt as Remy and Janeane Garafolo, with a great French accent, as Colette. There is also nice work from Peter O'Toole as Anton Ego, a food critic who serves as the villain of the piece, and is one of the finest representations of a critic that has ever been made.