RATATOUILLE demonstrates and celebrates what Pixar does best: center a film on a simple but solid story with plenty of emotional resonance, then tell their tale in animation that is classically inspired and cutting edge.  Based on the company's track record, the extra element which extends an already proud tradition of success is director Brad Bird, who has cooked up an ingeniously entertaining triumph.

Perhaps one of the highest compliments I can pay to RATATOUILLE is that one can easily forget this is an animated film, although Remy — a blue-tinted gourmet rat with a dream — couldn't exist in any other motion picture format.  Like Brad Bird's previous Pixar hit, The Incredibles, computer animation is the wizard's tool to craft a fantastic illusion, not technical trickery used to its own end.  He and his talented collaborators design and compose scenes like a live action director would shoot real world actors — Bird's thespians just happen to be pixelized chefs and talking rats.

An early sequence follows Remy on a dizzying rapids ride through the Paris sewers that any studio's action flick would proudly highlight, here made all the more stunning that every splash and swell is a digital creation.  But watch the subtle stillness and genuine empathy develop between a rat and a human who share dreams of gourmet excellence, and you quickly realize how starved most summer films are for such emotional satisfaction.  Proven before and underscored again, Brad Bird possesses an unparalleled eye for staging physical comedy, panoramic wonder and emotional intimacy in animated film, topped a generous helping of joy which makes RATATOUILLE a treat for all to savor.

Still such directorial skill and cinematographic splendor amount to nothing but technical bravura without an emotional heart beating at the center — a recipe for success Pixar follows faithfully once more.  Remy, a very un-Mickeyfied rat with a gustatory flair, dreams of becoming a top chef in Paris as guided by the counseling spirit of Auguste Gusteau.  Alas, rats tend not to be welcome in any restaurant's kitchen, especially not in Gusteau's, which is now run by the undersized and uptight head chef Skinner.  Yet Remy finds a vessel to realizing his dream in the gangly, clumsy human form of Linguini, the new-hire garbage boy sweeping up scraps and stirring up trouble amid the kitchen hierarchy.

Of course, this unlikeliest pairing produces the long-odds teamwork which gives Remy his chance to cook and Linguini his bumbling first success on staff.  The deliciously co-dependent duo cook up gourmet dishes and guffaws as Remy struggles to 'puppeteer' Linguini into a competent chef in a clash of social convention and species compatibility.   Linguini is nearly as much of an interloper in the kitchen as his rat friend, as the young man confronts Skinner's snobbish attitudes which contradict Gusteau's founding motto that "Anyone can cook."

That simple premise is the main ingredient of RATATOUILLE as a tale encouraging all who yearn for acceptance to pursue their dreams by being true to oneself.  Much hilarity ensues as Remy and Linguini join forces, both living a lie created to please others which naturally makes both partners laughably miserable.  Linguini's fortune rises in the kitchen as Skinner exploits his culinary creations, while Remy's cooking skills compete with sous-chef Colette who has Linguini completely smitten in puff pastry love.

How it all works out is best left to learn in theaters for yourself, but suffice it to say the delightful denouement of RATATOUILLE ranks the film among Pixar's best efforts — which is saying a mouthful indeed.  So cleverly does the story weave together the main plot of Remy and Linguini's personal partnership with the subplot of restoring Gusteau's reputation in the face of the sour-souled food critic Anton Ego, that the results feel both surprising and inevitable.

The superb character casting also makes this triumph possible, with an outstanding vocal performance by comedian Patton Oswalt as Remy — an undisputed success in Pixar's casting magic.  Oswalt enacts a broad range of emotional highs and lows with exaggerated humor and emotional deftness which never once hit a false note.   You will believe a rat can talk... and cook, complain, kvetch with the best of his human counterparts, so well is Oswalt's voice matched with Remy's character.

Kudos as well to Lou Romano who invests Linguini with heartfelt and daffy humanity, Ian Holm whose otherwise easily recognizable voice is consumed by the brilliant characterization of Skinner, and Janeane Garofalo who might well have served up the best performance of her career as Colette.   While both actors voice smaller-volume roles, high marks are earned too by Brad Garrett as the figmentary spirit of August Gusteau, and living legend Peter O'Toole as the darkly dissatisfied food critic Anton Ego.

The animators' work is cutting-edge and top notch as expected, but so realistically conceived and so well directed by Brad Bird that RATATOUILLE truly raises the state of the art one notch higher in cinema history.  Michael Giacchino's delicious, romantic Parisian score may not be as bold and booming as his work for The Incredibles, but this film would definitely lack its sweet undertones without his consistently brilliant contributions.

As with any of Pixar's previous hits, and just as true for any delectable gourmet dish, RATATOUILLE transcends the sum of its ingredients to meld into one delightful offering which will remain as fresh and satisfying on its fifth viewing as its first.  Film fans like myself can't help but wonder how John Lasseter and his creative cohorts keep topping themselves time and again, and RATATOUILLE's unquestioned success only makes the quest seem more impossible.  With Lasseter now heading up creative control of Walt Disney Animation Studios, let appetites for more classic animated features enjoy a lengthy banquet of five-star delicacies to come.