Ratatouille

Starring: Ian Holm, Peter O'Toole
Seen at: Blu-ray

I didn't expect to like Ratatouille so much. The trailers left me rather lukewarm (even though I loved the previous Pixar feature films), so I didn't have high expectations. But when I went to see it in the cinema last year, I was pleasantly surprised. Pixar yet again managed to produce a heartwarming tale, and it's presented in an eye-popping fashion: the details of the CG here are astonishing, the animation top notch, the voice acting spot on. Whoever thought a story about gourmet kitchening couldn't possibly work will eat their words after seeing this flick. It's funny, it's touching and it's entertaining, and can be enjoyed by anyone regardless of age.

The Blu-ray release is impressive to say the least, with a pristine 1080p picture totally free of noise, grain and other impurities. The beginning of the film might appear a bit soft and subdued, but as the movie progresses, you'll start to see more and more scenes that literally pop out. Likewise, the soundtrack is equally superb, with an uncompressed audio track provided for those with the right equipment. The extras provided aren't too shabby either: an interesting featurette that tries to draw parallels between movie making and fine cuisine, two Pixar short films, deleted scenes, movie trailers and an interactive cooking game.

All in all, this disc definitely deserves a 9 from me. If you are a new owner of a BR player, and want to show your friends something impressive, this might just be the disc to show them.

Score: 9 out of 10