While the animation was amazing in this film, overall I felt much of the content was too deep and/or dark for a G rating. There were several incidents involving gun usage (Remy see a domestic dispute involving a gun) and other forms of aggression (Collette pins Linguine down with knives). The characters don't speak to each other very nicely. Most disturbing of all was when Remy's dad takes Remy to a shop whose window is filled with dead rats hanging in traps. It was upsetting to my 4 year old. I also think that many of the complexities of the message regarding stealing and giving credit where credit is due are too nuanced for small children to understand.

There are a couple of scenes that could have been left out (the dead rats in mousetraps hanging, stomachs to the window, in a dark storefront window at nighttime in the rain - scared my kids) and the overly long gun scene at the beginning. The animation is awesome, and the story/message is great. I also personally didn't like hearing the father rat say "Shut up" to his son. All in all though, it is nice to see a Disney movie that has a G rating that is appropriate for little kids. The movie is one we enjoyed enough to buy the DVD.

I took my 3 and 5 year olds to see this movie. I would not have taken them had I seen it first. There is a LOT of violence and implied violence, including gunshots, knives, and abduction (two bound and gagged characters whose later release is not shown nor made clear enough for young viewers). The language (stupid, idiot, loser, shut up) was a problem, too. Parents of kids under 8 should preview this film. I don't allow my children to play with "toy" weapons, threaten others, or use impolite language. There is one mild "love" scene with kissing, but nothing that kids haven't already seen Mom and Dad do in the kitchen. The main problem is the violence. Think twice about taking preschoolers or young grade schoolers.

Some kids will love it, others won't. Kids may get bored, because it is mostly about cooking. There is a lot of name calling, but using words like "fancy pants" shouldn't be a huge concern for parents. There is one part where the boss says to a man "Welcome to Hell" Depends on what your child is interested in.

This was my 4-year-old son's first real movie-theatre movie. It was a mixed bag from his point of view, not interesting enough to hold his attention for the whole time (he announced he wanted to leave about 3/4 of the way through). He has watched "Cars" over and over again, but this one seemed to leave him cold. [SPOILER FOLLOWS] I was surprised that the "social behavior" category in the CSM review didn't mention the very central plot point that Linguini is Gusteau's son with his, ahem, very close friend, Madame Linguini. "Madame" means that she was a married woman, and her last name means that it wasn't to Gusteau. Very French, but not very kid-friendly, although if your kids are old enough to notice it, they might ask and give you a chance to talk to them about what it means to be faithful to your spouse (and not). Tricky territory, and not exactly suited for discussion with young ones. Skinner plying Linguini with wine could be a questionable scene for no-alcohol households, but possibly also a good opportunity for discussion afterwards. Speaking of Skinner, my son found him very scary for some reason. Maybe it was all those close-ups of his big teeth and pencil-thin moustache. ;)

My nearly 4-year-old daughter cried and wanted to leave partway through the film and was in my lap for more than half of it. (We stayed, uncertainly, because we thought she'd be better off tonight knowing the movie ended happily.) Disney is awfully enamored of angry, loudmouth characters and scenes of terrifying peril. (Think the fire scene in Bambi, the loud crashes and yelling in Cars, or the toothy shark scene in Nemo.) In this film, the big thing is YELLING and PERIL. I would venture to say that more than half of it depicts characters being frantic, frustrated, or angry -- gesticulating wildly, talking at the tops of their voices, and running around with wild-eyed scary faces. It was sorely lacking in lighthearted fun. My daughter was particularly scared of the head chef, Skinner, who was supposed to be the primary "bad guy" and was therefore depicted with a evil face that puts Cruella Deville to shame. Her fear got worse when the food critic came on the scene, looking way too much like Nosferatu himself. Other reviewers here have mentioned the shooting and drinking. I'm not particularly fond of seeing those in a G film either, but they did sort of go over my child's head. What struck me as being far more troublesome was the violence. Aside from some brief moments of physical violence, there is a nearly constant flow of angry, loud tongue-lashings. (Most parents I know teach their children that violence comes in many forms, not the least of which is verbal violence.) What's more, there really aren't a lot of scenes with the rats. Isn't that what the kids want to see? The talking rats? The fat, fuzzy, wide-eyed rats that eat garbage and love it? I would have liked to see a whole lot more of the rats pigging out and adventuring through Paris, but what we got was a whole lot of near-death scenes for the rats and too much screaming from characters with French accents -- accents that are hard for young kids to understand, I might add. Last but not least, there is a scene where the main rat is shown lots of dead rats hanging in a store window, and the film lingers there a bit too long. Your child will definitely get a good look at the main character coming face-to-face with death -- and in doing so, may get a face-to-face moment with the concept of death himself/herself, too. (It's the Disney trademark, I know.) Ratatouille was a dealbreaker for us: It will be the last Disney film we watch until our children are closer to 8 or 9 years old. It goes to show we need a Pre-G rating, for films like "Milo and Otis," for films that don't move so fast, yell so loud, and deal with such dark and scary themes. Preschoolers are too young for this stuff.

I saw the preview for this movie, and I couldn't wait to get the video on DVD. I saw the movie last week, and I really enjoyed it. I think the message the movie gives is a positive one; be yourself instead of someone you are not.

The number of shots granny takes seems a little excessive (and loud), but what about that couple when Remy first explores Paris? They are wrestling with a gun threatening to kill each other and seconds later they are kissing passionately - in a kids' movie?! There are an excessive number of loud, knife wielding chase scenes that seem only for video game purposes. There are far too many for just plot. My son really didn't care for the scene when Linguini considers drowning Remy. With an anthropomorphed character it seems like murder. And Linguini's girlfriend introduces herself by driving three knives into a cutting board millimeters from his arm. And I thought the drunk Linguini scene was a little too cute. I didn't realize drunks were fun. All that said, my six-year-old liked it. My nine-year-old didn't.