I'd like to introduce you to the first real contender for Best Film of 2007. Brad Bird is the best American director working in animation today. Knowing that he came onto the project midway is amazing, because he has made the best American animated film since TOY STORY 2 and his own IRON GIANT. He has also pushed the boundaries of American animation into a more adult realm. It's still a film for the whole family, but I suspect parents will get more out of it than their kids.
Remy (Patton Oswalt, TV's THE KING OF QUEENS) is a rat with a keen sense of smell. He loves fine cooking, which puts him at odds with is moldy meat-and-potatoes father, Django (Brian Dennehy, COCOON) and simple taste brother, Emile (Peter Sohn, story artist at Pixar). When they get forced out of their home in the country, the rat clan ends up in Paris. Remy gets separated from the rest and is inspired to check the city out by a figment of his imagination in the form of his favorite chef Gusteau (Brad Garrett, TV's EVERYONE LOVES RAYMOND). He ends up in the deceased Gusteau's famed restaurant, which is now run by the short tyrant Skinner (Ian Holm, LORD OF THE RINGS), who is more interested in using Gusteau's fame to sell a line of frozen foods than to run the once five-star eatery.