2007 / Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava > Is Brad Bird the West’s answer to Miyazaki? For a while, I thought that was the case. Both Iron Giant as well as The Incredibles showed off an intense originality that had been missing under the shadows of Japanese animation. Now, I’m not so certain: Ratatouille is a fine film, enjoyable from beginning to end and very warming to the heart. But I just can’t get over the fact that it feels to me as if Bird’s vision has regressed, that he’s fit his story into a sort of a mainstream mold that caters to preconceived notions of what Pixar should do. This feeling of the gut is what keeps this tale from being a classic—or you could just argue that the cynic in me has won this battle.