Ratatouille director Brad Bird is confident that Pixar’s first all-out physical comedy is distinctive enough to flourish in a crowded summer season full of highly anticipated sequels. All images © Disney/Pixar. All rights reserved.

Brad Bird was like a proud expectant father as he ushered us into his edit bay at Pixar Animation Studios in March, where editor Darren Holmes was ready to play some footage from Ratatouille, the Disney/Pixar feature that opens June 29, 2007.

Bird even quipped that maybe he should just go ahead and add a number to the end of Ratatouille, since he's competing against several heavy hitting franchise sequels this summer, including Spider-Man 3 (May 4), Shrek the Third (May 18), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (May 25), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (June 15) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13). Yet Bird is quite confident that Pixar's first all-out physical comedy about a rat that surreptitiously becomes a popular chef is distinctive enough to flourish in a crowded summer season.

Bird finds that one of the wonderful things about the film’s premise is that rats are death to a restaurant and a restaurant is death to rats, which ups the ante on both sides and is ripe for animation.

However, this lush-looking, character-driven farce has a multitude of twists and turns: Inspired by Hamlet-like visitations from his idol, the late, great master chef Gusteau (voiced by Brad Garrett), Remy the rat (voiced by Patton Oswalt) hides out in Gusteau's Paris restaurant, conjuring delectable meals and bonding with a hapless garbage boy named Linguini (voiced by The Incredibles' production designer Lou Romano), who pretends to be the chef with Remy instructing him behind the scenes.

"This is a story about a rat who has extraordinary senses of smell who finds himself drawn into cooking and doesn't have any idea of becoming a chef," Bird suggests. "Suddenly, literally, Remy falls into the kitchen through the skylight… One of the wonderful things about this premise is that rats are death to a restaurant and a restaurant is death to rats -- and so this ups the ante on both sides and is ripe for animation that thrives on the mother's milk of caricature."

Among the scenes Bird previewed included Remy and brother Emile (voiced by Pixar animator Pete Sohn) discussing his dangerous passion for food in the kitchen of a country house; Remy going on a wild ride through the sewers and emerging on a rooftop overlooking Paris; Remy running away from Linguini and then having a poignant change of heart; Remy fleeing from the clutches of the maniacal chef Skinner (voiced by Ian Holm); and a glimpse of the powerful food critic Anton Ego (voiced by Peter O'Toole).

Ratatouille seems more spontaneous than previous Pixar films, due to the nature of the project as well as the circumstances. Two years ago, Bird took over the reins from another director and rewrote and redesigned the film.

If Ratatouille seems looser and more spontaneous than previous Pixar films, it's partly due to the nature of the project as well as the circumstances. Two years ago, Bird took over the directing reins from Jan Pinkava, who made the Oscar-winning short, Geri's Game, and not only rewrote Ratatouille but also redesigned the rats and cast Oswalt as Remy.

"One of the things that has been a real challenge is selling this farfetched idea about how these two characters are going to get together," Bird continues. "And rather than fast forwarding through that premise and getting them instantly able to compete, I wanted to use some screen time in showing how they arrived at this very difficult situation. Linguini doesn't know the first thing about cooking; they're expecting him to cook so he has to bring the rat with him into the kitchen but he [has to hide him]. How does he communicate with the rat? How does he get the rat to help him cook? We realized there was this tremendous opportunity for comedy and to bring the audience along step by step. And I think that we've dedicated about 10 minutes of screen time to how they figure this out. I think you can buy this very hard to believe idea step by step. But we really are excited about making the unbelievable believable. It has been a challenge and a delight because it's such a physical comedy."