Metacritic Film

Ratatouille

Starring Patton Oswalt, Ian Holm, Lou Romano, Brian Dennehy, Peter Sohn, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo, and Will Arnett

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Buena Vista Pictures
Animation  |  Comedy  |  Family/Kids
110 minutes | Color
USA
Released In Theaters June 29, 2007

Welcome to a entirely new and original world where the unthinkable combination of a rat and a 5-star gourmet restaurant come together for the ultimate fish-out-of-water tale. (Disney)

WRITTEN BY
Brad Bird (also story)
Jim Capobianco (story)
Jan Pinkava (story)
Emily Cook and Kathy Greenberg (additional story material)

DIRECTED BY
Brad Bird

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

96 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 The Hollywood Reporter
Brad Bird and Pixar recapture the charm and winning imagination of classic Disney animation.
100 Variety
Ratatouille is delicious. In this satisfying, souffle-light tale of a plucky French rodent with a passion for cooking, the master chefs at Pixar have blended all the right ingredients -- abundant verbal and visual wit, genius slapstick timing, a soupcon of Gallic sophistication -- to produce a warm and irresistible concoction that's sure to appeal to everyone's inner Julia Child.
100 New York Magazine
Bird clearly knows the great silent clowns: The slapstick he devises is balletic.
100 Chicago Tribune
Its sense of humor is more sly, more sophisticated and more interesting than most PG-13 or R-rated comedies at the moment. The film may be animated, and largely taken up with rats, but its pulse is gratifyingly human.
100 The New York Times
A nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive portraits of an artist ever committed to film. It provides the kind of deep, transporting pleasure, at once simple and sophisticated, that movies at their best have always promised.
100 Wall Street Journal
The characters are irresistible -- why would anyone want to resist a hero who so gallantly transcends his rattiness? -- the animation is astonishing and the film, a fantasy version of a foodie rhapsody, sustains a level of joyous invention that hasn't been seen in family entertainment since "The Incredibles."
100 New York Post
If there is a genius working in Hollywood today, it's animation director Brad Bird, who tops the delightful "The Incredibles" with arguably the finest 'toon in the Pixar canon, Ratatouille.
100 Baltimore Sun
Ratatouille is a sublime dish of a movie, and the company's piece de resistance.
100 Los Angeles Times
Ratatouille is as audacious as they come. It takes risks and goes places other films wouldn't dare, and it ends up putting rival imaginations in the shade.
100 Charlotte Observer
The most difficult task in Pixar's 20-year history: to make an un-Mickey-like rodent appealing enough to admire.
100 Chicago Reader Staff (not credited)
Superbly rendered CGI animation.
100 New York Daily News
A gorgeous, wonderfully inventive computer-animated comedy.
100 Premiere
The slapstick-comic set pieces involving Remy and Linguini's cooking struggles might solicit the admiration of Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati.
100 Salon.com
Bird is one of the great modern animators -- as well as an astonishingly gifted filmmaker, period -- precisely because he doesn't set out to wow us.
100 San Francisco Chronicle
Ratatouille is a classic.
100 Newsweek
A film as rich as a sauce béarnaise, as refreshing as a raspberry sorbet.
100 Time
The subtle colors and textures of the food alone make Ratatouille a three-star Michelin evening.
100 The New Yorker
In Ratatouille, the level of moment-by-moment craftsmanship is a wonder.
100 Chicago Sun-Times
This is clearly one of the best of the year's films. Every time an animated film is successful, you have to read all over again about how animation isn't "just for children" but "for the whole family," and "even for adults going on their own." No kidding!
100 Empire Ian Nathan
That feeling you have as you leave the cinema - that buzzing in the fingers and lightness in the heart - is called joy.
91 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Long for an animated feature and too demanding for very young children, but it's also filled with delights.
91 The Onion (A.V. Club)
Bird and his co-writers leave room for quiet moments and gentle morals, but for the most part, they send visual gags and verbal punchlines tearing past at an enjoyably demanding speed, whipping up the film's energy at every turn.
91 Portland Oregonian
Hilarious. And more proof that Pixar is in a class of its own.
90 Village Voice Scott Foundas
Ratatouille is as much a feast for the senses as it is food for thought.
90 Washington Post
Observed mostly from Remy's rat's-eye view, Gusteau's kitchen is a memorable world-in-miniature with its vivid old-fashioned stoves, bright, brassy pots and general air of frenzied industry; never did sliced red onions or simmering soup look so fresh and real.
89 Austin Chronicle
Pixar's animation is simply flawless; colorful, deeply realized, and ably conveying both the chaos of the kitchen, and the sensual allure of food well prepared.
88 Rolling Stone
What makes Ratatouille such a hilarious and heartfelt wonder is the way Bird contrives to let it sneak up on you.
88 Boston Globe
All the voice work here is excellent, especially Oswalt's. He sounds like Paul Giamatti but with a greater capacity for confidence.
88 Philadelphia Inquirer
Remy, the little rat who stars in the big, beautiful, funny Ratatouille, isn't gross at all. In fact, he's adorable.
88 USA Today
Like the best French cuisine, Ratatouille is ambitious and delightful.
88 The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
A French rat as a master chef? Absurd. But a brilliant French chef with an American accent? C'est grotesque!
88 TV Guide
A clever, ingeniously animated film filled with many shining moments.
83 Christian Science Monitor
As was also true of Pixar's last movie, "Cars," Ratatouille is better at pleasing the eye than the other senses.
80 Film Threat
Stunningly animated, cleverly scripted, and genuinely humorous.
75 Miami Herald
Has the sort of richness and dimension that are the hallmarks of master storytellers at work.
75 Entertainment Weekly
Ratatouille is a blithe concoction, as well as a miraculously textured piece of animated design.
75 ReelViews
For parents looking to spend time in a theater with their kids or adults who want something lighter and less testosterone-oriented than the usual summer fare, Ratatouille offers a savory main course.

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