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BY MAGGIE SCOTT

Not since Stuart Little has there been such a lovable rodent as Remy, a little country rat who dreams of inheriting the legacy of one of France’s finest gourmet chefs.

Pixar Animation Studio’s newest release, “Ratatouille,” from director (The Invincibles) Brad Bird, is truly a feast for the eyes, with five star characters and story that will leave you not only completely satiated, but begging for seconds. Remy (voice of Patton Oswalt) knows he’s meant for finer things than smelling rat poison in the farm’s compost pile. His father says don’t raid food from the kitchen, and stay away from those murderous humans.

But Remy figures that’s where the best food is coming from. When the lady of the farmhouse takes a shotgun to the rat pack, Remy’s paws are set on the road to realizing his dream. For inspiration, he’s got a copy of the gastronomic classic, “Anyone Can Cook,” and the ghost of its author, Auguste Gusteau (voice of Brad Garrett), to advise him (“Only the fearless can be great”).

Luck takes Remy to Gusteau’s Paris restaurant, which fell out of the culinary firmament when it received a critical review (comparing Gusteau to “Chef Boyardee”) from “the Grim Eater,” Monsieur Ego (voice of Peter O’Toole), and went from a five-star rating to one.

The shock sent Gusteau to an early grave, but his spirit pops up to advise Remy, who soon literally finds himself in hot water amid the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. For at least one of the workers, this is Hell’s Kitchen, with So You Think You Can Cook pressure. Linguini (voice of Lou Romano) is a klutzy garbage boy who gets mistaken for the creator of a soup that impresses a visiting food critic. When Skinner (voice of Ian Holm), the head chef, orders Linguini to recreate the soup, the flummoxed youth has no choice but to turn to the soup’s real creator…a creature only minutes before he was trying to drown in the Seine, on orders of Skinner.

Thus begins an unlikely and truly captivating partnership that will take two completely different beings to the same destiny of discovering their true selves and proving their true worth.

There’s danger, hard work, love, intrigue, and lots of fun along the way. Every satisfying ingredient of this sure-to-be Oscar-winner is the result of not only innovations in rendering such things as bread, gravy and “peach fuzz” on rats ears. But Bird’s piece de resistance script, and the result of extensive research by his creative team of everything from live rats and the best way to light food, to French chefs and French movies.

Every undulating rat hair, moist morsel of food, gleaming copper pot, grimy appliance smear and cutting board discoloration is rendered in stunningly life-like detail. Forget your diet. Stuff yourself with this blue ribbon special. Walt Disney Pictures release, rated G.
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