Ratatouille

There are some things in life which are too epic to be comared with anything else. These things are, and I'm sure legions of others shall agree with me: pirates, cowboys, ghosts, zombies, monkeys, bunny rabbits, chocolate milk, flying monkeys, giant insects, giant arachnids, dinosaurs, chickens, wizards, bears, penguins, robots, aliens, and a few others besides. 'Ratatouille' doesn't contain any of these, but Pixar have just added another memorable, least-likely member to this list. Rats.

'Ratatouille' is about a Norwegian rat named Remy who has a highly-developed sense of taste and smell, and wishes to become a fine chef. However, him being a rat and all, not many people are interested in allowing a rat into their kitchens. At least not anybody I know (excepting me). Enter Linguini, a French garbage-boy who is accidentally bumped into the concept of cooking for Gusteau's restaurant.

Linguini discovers that Remy, who has very recently lost his family, can cook and understands humans, and so they combine their advantages together (Remy being an excellent cook and Linguini being able to appear human) to become the heart of one of both Pixar's and 2007's best films. 'Ratatouille' is unique and significant and charming and visually-stunning and well-written with an awesome concept and excellent musical score.

With the DVD/BRD of 'Ratatouille' comes two very enjoyable short films, 'Lifted' and 'Your Friend The Rat'. The awesome alien comedy 'Lifted' won't mean much to you if you have the first volume of the 'Pixar Short Films Collection', but the 'Ratatouille' spin-off 'Your Friend The Rat' is just as epic. Not only does it manage to be humourous, but also very educational and interesting and boasts an awesome song at the end titled 'We'll Follow You To Mars', a compilation which is hard to come by these days.

If you're a fanatic of Pixar's feature-length portfolio, 'Ratatouille' is pretty much essential and if you liked the 'Pixar Short Films Collection' then 'Your Friend The Rat' is a satisfactory addition. There's nothing which screams perfection like 'Ratatouille', a tradition which appears to have been realised since 'The Adventures Of Andre & Wally B.' all those years ago. And don't forget to look out for some past (and future) Pixar film references in both the feature-length film and the two short films.

Five Out Of Five.