Ratatouille

Anyone else get a chance to catch Bird's latest? Not only was it visual eye-poppery (the fur and textures are grade-A renders), its affirmation that morality and choice supercede any sort of inate programming is a return to themes explored in Bird's own The Iron Giant. Coupled with familial issues tackled before in his Incredibles picture, this light-hearted picture carries formidable maturity and gravitas.

Did I also mention it's damned funny? Bird's eye and ear for humor is seriously wicked, finding comic moments in dialogue, but even more formidable, in characters' actions/motion within the frame. Many segments resemble silent films, and Giacchino's music splendidly enhances.The critic character Anton Ego may look like he walked out of Tim Burton's sketch book but his ending revelation is a moment of great beauty.

This is the animated stuff our kids should be seeing (teens + adults too, no doubt); not unwatchable, demoralizing shit like Happily N'ever After, Shrek 3, so it goes.

How ya doing, buddy?