Caught it this weekend and loved it. Another Pixar classic.
Yes, totally improbable but animations about "taste" and combining tastes, how a good kitchen is staffed and run, even the conflict between dedication to good food and the temptation to use fame to roll out a line of commercial frozen food is spot on.
The overarching influence of the food critic, and his amazement that a restaurant could become "popular" without his imprimatur, was hilarious, as were many of the slapstick scenes during which the rat controlled his bumbling chef by pulling on his hair.
Amidst the madcap carrying on, my kids learned something elemental and true about food, exploration and culinary imagination. Finding them at work in the kitchen today making a lunch of tuna salad, coleslaw with two different dressings and a platter of cheese nachos was evidence they were inspired to explore. Their warming up tortillas filled with Nutella, in an effort to duplicate crepes for dessert, just made the case and left Dad with a smile.