Ratatouille Gets Golden Tomato

Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille is 2007's best film, in both wide release and animated categories.

Enough critics loved Ratatouille to make it the best-reviewed film of 2007, says film site Rotten Tomatoes.

The site, which gives each film a percentage rating compiled from film reviews in print, online and broadcast sources, gave the Brad Bird film a whopping 96% Fresh rating. That put it over such critical favourites as No Country for Old Men, Knocked Up, Juno and the Michael Moore documentary Sicko, and earned Ratatouille the Golden Tomato for Best Wide Release of 2007.

Not surprisingly, Ratatouille also nabbed the Best Animation category, beating out (in descending order) Twentieth Century Fox's The Simpsons Movie, Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical Persepolis, Satoshi Kon's surreal anime Paprika and Sony's Surf's Up.

The live-action musical drama Once captured the Best Limited Release award, getting an even more impressive 98% rating. At the other end of the scale, the so-called comedy Because I Said So received the Moldy Tomato award, earning a dismal 5% rating.

“This year was a phenomenal year for top-notch movies that captivated audiences and critics, as evidenced by the reviews we aggregated on the site,” Steven Horn, vice president and executive entertainment editor for Rotten Tomatoes, told Business Wire. “The Golden Tomato Awards recognize the best of the best in moviemaking each year and offer a roadmap for our users to see critics’ choices in award-winning cinema in 2007.”