Ratatouille

Trying to get over the blip that was the turgid Cars, Pixar serves up Ratatouille (that's rat-a-too-ee if you're as dumb as the film's posters think you are), a fun but slightly empty 'toon that could have done with another five minutes in the oven. Remy (voiced by Oswalt) is a gastronome rat who makes his way to the best restaurant in Paris where he teams up with idiot chef Linguini (Romano) against a nasty chef (Holm) and a vicious food critic (O'Toole). As ever with Pixar, it's a work of art but, most unusually for them, there's not a lot to love. The plot is muddy and neither Remy nor Linguini is as remotely memorable as some of the great characters from the studio's past (Woody, Buzz, Dory). And it's probably a strange criticism to level at an animated film, but the central conceit is just too outlandish. A talking rat is fine, a talking rat that can cook, no problem. But a talking, cooking rat who is guided by the ghost of a dead chef and can control a man's movements by pulling his hair? That's just silly. [Paul Greenwood]