With practically a 100% approval rating all around from most critics Ratatouille, the latest tail from Pixar of a rat who can cook, had a lot to live up to. Remy, the rat in question, has an insatiable (pardon the pun) passion for food and all things related to it so his senses are unquestionably offended when his fellow rats persistently eat anything and everything around them – rubbish included. In a major upset to his world Remy’s home is destroyed so all are forced to flee. In the melee he finds himself separated from his family and friends only to discover that he has miraculously turned up in Paris and in the kitchen of a restaurant he has only dreamt about.. There, in concert with kitchen boy Linguini who becomes his puppet, he is able to create the wonderful masterpieces that are just bursting to get out. Along the way he helps cement a romance between the inept Linguini and the incredibly, surprisingly, hot lady chef Collette, solves a few moral dilemmas, re-establishes the restaurant as one of the finest in Paris (though ultimately also results in it being shut down for health reasons by a health inspector voiced by none other than Jamie Oliver) and ultimately finds a way to be his true self.

The film was brilliantly animated and at times it was easy to forget it was in fact an animation (for a rat Remy was unbearably cute at times.) The script was witty though surprisingly the film was much more family-oriented than I’ve come to expect in these big blockbuster animations. Having said that there was plenty for the adults in the audience. Not outrageously funny the movie was nevertheless entertaining, emotional and truly fascinating from the visual perspective. Mirela and her sister thoroughly enjoyed it if their reactions during the movie was anything to go by. It gets my thumbs up too.