Hey folks, Harry here... We're all big Brad Bird fans here on AICN - THE IRON GIANT, THE INCREDIBLES... before that... THE SIMPSONS and FAMILY DOG. Oh yes, we're BIG HONKING FANS of Brad Bird.

It's taken longer though with RATATOUILLE to find my excitement for this - as a Brad Bird project. I didn't need a talking rat movie again. Oh sure - that's like saying "I didn't need another buddy cop flick" - but HOT FUZZ will cure your ass of stupidity like that. It's just - with Brad - I like that his animation isn't just that basic Disney formula. It's kinda - a special Brad Bird thing. Where he takes the humor and the endless possibilities of animation... hits you with them right up front, but then slowly but surely makes you forget that it is animation as you invest so much emotionally - that suddenly... blissfully... you're caught up in whatever bit of outrageous, yet emotionally intimate - form of drama - suspense that he's laid out for you.

I just wasn't seeing that in RATATOUILLE's glimpses that we were getting. It seemed like another story about wise-cracking rats up to non-rat things... and frankly, that will never be done better than THE SECRET OF NIMH.

Then this latest trailer hit! And suddenly I got it. Brad Bird and Pixar are adapting the classic Chuck Jones Looney Tunes ONE FROGGY EVENING - only - the man and animal form a co-dependent relationship - for each to achieve their dreams. I like it. I like it alot.

Right now - over at Yahoo in the mind-numbingly aggravating Windows Media format is a Behind the Scenes feature on RATATOUILLE featuring the maestro, BRAD BIRD and we even get a wonderful earful of Michael Giacchino's lush scoring work for the film. So give it a watch - and - listen - if the format doesn't choke on ya!