Flipping over the Bird

Brad Bird is the new god of animation. I offer this considered opinion after a weekend viewing of Ratatouille, which has all the warmth and storytelling sophistication that Bird brought to his first two films: The Iron Giant, the last great traditionally animated film; and The Incredibles, his first for Pixar.

Even though Ratatouille began under another director, the finished film’s thematic preoccupations (chiefly being permitted to strive for greatness, regardless of circumstances) are of a piece with The Incredibles, and the attentiveness to detail are on par with both films. Brad Bird is now in a class by himself.

(The previous titleholder, Hayao Miyazaki, may yet win it back from Bird. Howl’s Moving Castle, the last Miyazaki entry, played like a hash of leftover material from Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, but he’s at work on a new film and that’s always cause for optimism.)

The story (a rat named Remy who dreams of becoming a master chef in Paris) is part of the long tradition of tales about animals that want to rise above their station in life, but by the end of the film I wasn’t thinking about Babe. I was reminded of Babette’s Feast and the way it showed the humanizing effects of pleasure — the pleasure of a fine meal, the pleasure of working at a peak of artistry, the pleasure of being able to prove oneself in a way that benefits everyone.

The visuals are superb — that’s a given with Pixar. But Bird has a highly individual, uncannily apt instinct for picking out vocal talent for his characters. It was one thing to match up Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter as Mr. and Mrs. Incredible, but getting NPR correspondent Sara Vowell to do the voice of Violet was a masterstroke.

Bird pulls off a similar coup by getting stand-up comedian Patton Oswalt for the voice of Remy. Even the celebrity voices — Brian Dennehy, Ian Holm, Janeane and, best of all, Peter O’Toole as a ghoulish restaurant critic named Anton Ego — are so perfectly matched to their roles that they blend into the story. It’s only later, while reading the credits, that you realize how many big names were in the cast.

Unlike many of the movies that catch the attention of my kids, Ratatouille is a flick I look forward to seeing and hearing over and over once it hits DVD.