The Auteur From the Provinces

A.O. Scott has a supremely enthusiastic review of the new Brad Bird/Pixar movie Ratatouille. The double billing of both director and studio is important, as Scott notes:

[W]hile the visual effects in “Ratatouille” show a recognizable company stamp, the sensibility that governs the story is unmistakably Mr. Bird’s. A veteran of “The Simpsons” and a journeyman writer for movies and television, he has emerged as an original and provocative voice in American filmmaking.

Scott goes on to compare Bird's movie favorably with Vincent Minnelli's musicals. He also says that

“Ratatouille” is a nearly flawless piece of popular art, as well as one of the most persuasive portraits of an artist ever committed to film. It provides the kind of deep, transporting pleasure, at once simple and sophisticated, that movies at their best have always promised.

Dang. That sounds pretty good.