Last night I caught a preview screening of Ratatouille, which is easily the best Pixar movie since Finding Nemo. The plot's a little thin—it feels like the premise for a great twenty-minute cartoon stretched out to two hours—and it lacks the rich supporting cast of the best Pixar features, but in its ambition, intelligence, and respect for its audience, it stands as a massive rebuke to such movies as, say, Shrek the Third. No gimmicky celebrity voices or snarmy pop cultural references: just good storytelling and amazing animation—probably the best I've ever seen. And Remy, the central character, is the most charismatic rat (or mouse) in the history of the medium.

Best of all, I also managed to snag a free pass to a test screening of this movie on Tuesday. Needless to say, I'm a little excited.