3 – Ratatouille

Remy and Linguini from Ratatouille. Film image. © Disney Enterprises Inc./Pixar Animation Studios.

Director Brad Bird once again takes us on a long journey into a fully realized story. Similar toThe Incredibles in length, Ratatouille needs its’ 111 minutes to completely tell the story of Remy and Linguini. The best critique had to be my wife’s: “It’s not just a great animated movie, it’s simply a great movie.” Any animated film where you can forget that you’re watching something animated and get completely lost in the story is both a success and a rarity at the same time. Brad Bird and Pixar seem to pull this off on a consistent basis.