'Ratatouille'

Brad Bird's 'Ratatouille' is so audacious you have to fall in love with its unlikely hero. If we are living in a golden age of animation — and we are — one of the reasons is writer-director Brad Bird. That's somewhat ironic, because as his new "Ratatouille" demonstrates, what makes Bird so unusual is that he doesn't really think of himself as an animator at all.

By Kenneth Turan

June 29, 2007