Ratatouille is a pretty good movie. While it is not in the same league as The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, it is still a pretty darn good movie.

The Kids Test: My three kids, ages 7,5, and 3 all enjoyed the movie. The movie seemed to keep their attention and they talked a lot about the movie after it was over. From my kids point of view, it is a good movie

Will I Buy It Test: As a parent, I have grown accustomed to mindless children’s movies. Such as when my 3 year old daughter wants to rent Barbie Princess or Princess Pony…They are terrible movies. Being forced to sit through them should be a violation of the Geneva Convention. That is why when a good movie comes along, I have no problem buying the DVD. I figure that the kids will want to rent it numerous times and that the cost of the rentals and the inevitable late fees will more than cover the cost of the DVD. That is why Nemo, Bugs Life, The Incredibles, Cars, both Shrek movies and both Ice Age movies are part of the WunderFamily DVD collection.

I can sit through any of those movies and still enjoy them. Even though they have been played on a loop for the past 200 hours…

So, would I buy Ratatouille? It’s hard to say. Right now it is a toss up.

The movie is just like all other kid movies. The hero, Remy, is misunderstood. Being separated from his family allows him to discover who he really is on the inside: a chef. After settling into a nice routine, the long lost family returns and he has to make a choice to stay a chef or to return home. Of course he has to stand up to his Dad and of course in the end, his Dad accepts him for who he is.

In the middle there are the usual villains and adventures and love…not for Remy, but for poor Linguini.

The ending is fast paced as you would expect from a Pixar movie and to me, was the best part of the movie.

In the end, Remy is true to himself and his buddy, Linguini, finds his true purpose.

Remy and Linguini

The characters are great, especially this guy:

Good ol’ What’s His Name

The whole shtick about his past cracked me up. He has some French title that I obviously have no idea how to spell.

The evil chef is a great snapshot of many typical French stereotypes.

Skinner

I have to say that one of the best characters is Anton Ego (Peter O’Toole) the evil, and I do mean evil, food critic. I do not want to spoil the movie for you, but the scene with him when he eats the dish he is to critique is a great scene.

Anton Ego

The graphics are superb as you can imagine seeing how it is a Pixar movie.

All in all, it was an enjoyable movie. It kept the kids entertained and I had several good laughs. I read one critic that said the lack of big name stars hampers the movie. I tend to agree. Not from the kids perspective, but from a parents. One of the better things about Nemo, The Incredibles and Cars (as well as most other recent, successful kids movies) was that they all had big name actors. It made them better movies because Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen was believable, as was Craig T. Nelson as Mr. Incredible. Like I said, it doesn’t matter to the kids, but it does help me enjoy the movies better.

So will I buy it? It depends on the kids. If they start wanting to rent it when it comes out on DVD, then maybe I will buy a previously viewed copy. I did that with Cars and it worked out well for us.

But…

If the kids drop it, I am fine with never owning a copy.

Score: A-…and I really, really, wanted to give it a B, but it was an enjoyable movie.