Ratatouille serves up recipe for success

July 02 -- It will not be the first time that a wise-cracking rodent has come to the rescue.

Roland Rat once reversed the plummeting ratings of a breakfast TV channel; now Ratatouille, with its verminous hero, marks a spectacular return to form for Pixar, the Disney-owned animation studio.

Pixar was not exactly in crisis but, after an unbroken string of critical and box office triumphs with the Toy Story movies, A Bug's Life and The Incredibles, its 2006 release Cars looked gleaming but underpowered.

Ratatouille is more engaging than Cars, the characters more loveable. Its mix of comedy, high-speed action and even a tentative love story will appeal to the widest of audiences.

The film opened at number one in America on Friday, taking $16.5 million (£8 million) on its first day. The first British screening - exclusively for Daily Telegraph readers - was in London's West End yesterday.

The star rat in Ratatouille is Remy, who develops a taste for haute cuisine after being struck by lightning at the crumbling cottage in rural France where he lives.

Almost immediately he and a vast rodent colony are driven out by a shotgun-wielding old lady and swept down the river to Paris.

Remy scurries into the kitchen of a once great restaurant, where the ghost of chef Gusteau reveals the secrets of fine food to him. Remy then befriends Linguini, a goofy young plongeur, who becomes an overnight gastronomic sensation with Remy's help. The look of the film is startlingly vivid. Flaming sunsets, rushing rivers, red wine swirling in a glass - all are rendered with extraordinary delicacy.

In Ratatouille, which opens on October 5, director Brad Bird has assembled all the right ingredients and cooked up a hugely satisfying treat.