Ratatouille.

‘Tis a busy midsummer week, as far as the movies go. (And how funny it is that June 29 — one week after the actual beginning of summer — is considered “midsummer” in movie terms.) Several high-profile films opening this week, and more in just a few days. So no dawdling!

“Ratatouille” is the latest film from the Pixar geniuses, and it’s almost as lovely and warm and funny a story as they’ve ever done. I recommend it to you in the strongest of terms.

I note, however, that it is not necessarily a children’s film. There’s nothing wrong with it for kids, and kids may well love it, as it is animated, and it does feature talking animals. But more than ever, this Pixar entry feels like a movie for grown-ups, with complex relationships and multiple interwoven themes. Maybe it’s one that kids and adults will love equally. I don’t care, because I’m not a kid, and I thought it was awesome.

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Some kids don’t understand the Internet. They see their favorite celebrity’s name mentioned in a movie review, and they think whoever wrote the review knows that celebrity personally. So they write to the reviewer and ask, “Do you have Raven-Symone’s e-mail address?”

This causes the reviewer to post a blog entry making fun of these people — which only makes the problem worse, because now when you Google “Raven-Symone e-mail address,” the reviewer’s site comes up even higher on the search results. This causes more dumb kids to write asking for Raven’s address.

This causes the reviewer to post ANOTHER blog entry, which of course exacerbates the problem even further, Google-wise.

Finally, the reviewer posts a blog entry saying, “Here is Raven-Symone’s e-mail address: symone.raven@gmail.com. By the way, that’s not really her address. I registered it myself; the e-mails come to me. I’m posting it to see if you idiots actually write to it, which I’m sure you will, because you probably are not reading this sentence.”

Post-finally, people reprint that e-mail address all over the Web (without the “it’s not real” disclaimer, of course), and “Raven” gets hundreds and hundreds of e-mails. They are reprinted for you here as:

CHILDREN’S LETTERS TO RAVEN-SYMONE

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“The Yiddish Policemen’s Union” is the latest novel from Michael Chabon, whose stunning mastery of language and gift for storytelling make him one of the best living fiction writers. This book doesn’t approach the genius of his Pulitzer-winning “Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,” but I guess that’s the hazard of winning the Pulitzer Prize for literature: It’s all downhill from there.

“Yiddish Policemen’s Union” is still a delight, though, a mixture of Jewish mysticism and hard-boiled detective fiction that only someone as clever and imaginative as Chabon could come up with.

It imagines a world where, instead of the nation of Israel being established in the 1940s, the Jews were given a reservation in Alaska to call their own. Now, 60 years later, that territory is about to revert to American control, and the Jews will be dispersed for the umpteenth time in their history.

The story is about a police detective working to solve a murder in the waning days of the Jewish reservation. The book uses many of the old elements of detective stories — including the alcoholic loose-cannon cop who has his badge taken away but keeps working on the case anyway — and drops them into this Jewish culture, with its Yiddish slang, its traditions, and its religious subcultures.

Chabon paints a rich, detailed world of modern Jews living in uncertainty and hoping for redemption, both on a personal and a national level. His writing is humorous, insightful, and evocative. When he uses figurative language to describe a feeling, you know exactly the feeling he’s describing. It’s another fine novel from this very fine author.

Our year-long celebration of the 10th anniversary of “Snide Remarks,” in which we spotlight a different column each Wednesday, continues apace with “Zombie for Mayor.” This “Snide Remarks” Classic, #290, was published May 29, 2002, and it was met with a lot of blank stares and head-scratching because it was the first time I’d ever written a column that was a work of complete fiction. Usually I talked about news stories, or related things that had happened to me, or just rambled about whatever was on my mind. But this time, I made up a fictional character and a fanciful situation, and the abrupt shift from the norm threw a lot of people off.

I really liked the character, though, and have brought him back on two subsequent occasions. I’ve also done a few complete-fiction pieces since then, and messed with the traditional “Snide Remarks” format quite a bit, so I think readers aren’t as baffled by it as they once were.

Tinkerbell: Not coming to a DVD player near you, thank goodness.

I want to mention a couple of Disney-related news items that have come from Jim Hill Media, and then I want to make fun of the way Jim Hill writes.

Hill’s site focuses primarily on Disney, and Hill is a thorough Disney-watcher who has come to be the go-to guy when it comes to Mouse House news. For example, he broke the very encouraging news last week that Disney is doing away with its dreadful straight-to-video sequels to its classic films. That means no “Cinderella III: Stepsister’s Revenge” or “Dumbo IV: Doin’ It Dumbo Style!” or “Peter Pan III: The Third Part of Peter Pan.” Sorry, 3-6-year-olds!

What led to this sudden change of heart? Weren’t those DVDs making obscene profits? Why yes, yes they were. But someone in charge realized that the sequels were usually complete crap, and that they sullied the good name of the originals.

That hero is John Lasseter, head of Pixar.

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“Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star,” by Brandon Mull, is the second book in the young-adult fantasy series, and if there was any question before that Mull deserves to inherit the soon-to-be-available Harry Potter audience, this should settle it. It’s even more inventive, more whimsically outrageous, and more fun than the first book.

It’s the ongoing saga of a young brother and sister whose grandparents are caretakers of a magical preserve, and the overarching story has an evil group attempting to collect a series of magic artifacts that will unleash havoc upon the world. Like the Harry Potter books, “Fablehaven” has an unseen magical world existing side-by-side with the regular world, and there are lessons to be taught as the young heroes learn more and more about Fablehaven and its inhabitants.

In “Rise of the Evening Star,” Mull continues to write funny, realistic dialogue for the siblings, and raises the stakes by introducing all manner of death and injury (though not graphically described, don’t worry). His imagination continues to be the most impressive thing about his work, though. This installment incorporates shrinking potions, ax-wielding monkeys, demon poop, and a phantom whose weapon is fear itself, to name just a few. It all makes for a fast-paced, exciting story, one that will have readers breathlessly anticipating Volume 3 — and I don’t usually even read fantasy novels.

If you find yourself near Provo, Utah, tonight, do not despair! There is still a reason to live. That reason is the Thrillionaires Improv Theatre, performing at 8:15 p.m. tonight at the Velour Live Music Gallery, 135 N. University Ave. Admission is $5 at the door.

The theme this time is “French Foreign Film,” which causes one to wonder what other kinds of French films there are besides foreign ones. The Thrillionaires’ usual plan is to do a 45-minute improvised play in the chosen style, take a break, then do a 30-minute improvised musical in the same style. I’ve seen the group twice and have been delighted by their skill for merrymaking. And I’ve seen most of the individual actors perform dozens of times in other venues, and they usually make me laugh until I cry great teardrops of laugh-tears. So I heartily recommend tonight’s Thrillionaires show, is what I’m saying.

Socialite and political prisoner Paris Hilton.

Monday already?! I know, I can’t believe it either. To help soothe the pain, I offer you a new “Snide Remarks” column, entitled “Reaching for the Stars.” It is part of the occasional series where we show you quotes from celebrity gossip magazines and then tell you what those quotes really mean. That is the “premise,” as we call it in comedy circles.

The column has its accompanying podcast, as usual, which you can listen to right there on the page. It’s also here, and you can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or whatever you kids are using nowadays with this URL.

Also, I should mention that the column has pictures. Pictures! Those are always fun.

A side note regarding “Snide Remarks”: I recently swept through the entire archives and reread all 540+ columns. Well, “recently” in the sense that I started back around Christmas and just barely finished. (I got sidetracked here and there. Plus there were a lot of them!) In the process, I updated the Comments & Reaction sections as necessary, repaired broken links, and fixed formatting problems, typos, and other minor problems. This should give you a trouble-free experience as you browse the older columns, but if you encounter any broken links, typos, or other errors, please let me know via e-mail. (Don’t post a comment on the page, because then I’ll have to delete it after I fix the problem — or else leave it and let people wonder what you’re talking about.) We may fall short of perfection, but it will not be for lack of trying!

It’s days like this that a guy can start to feel insecure about his opinions.

I saw “Evan Almighty” last week and thought it was good enough, not great, improved quite a bit by the presence of Steve Carell. I wrote my B- review accordingly.

Then I began to hear from other critics, and I discovered two things. One, no one liked “Evan Almighty.” At all. And two, no one seemed to have liked “Bruce Almighty” much either — and I gave that movie a B+! I don’t know how I failed to notice at the time that I was in the minority, but apparently I was. Huh.

Not that it matters, but I seem to be closer to the consensus with today’s other reviews, positive notices for both “1408″ and “A Mighty Heart.” That “1408″ is a real pants-wetter, in a good way.

This week’s podcast edition of “In the Dark,” available here (if you have not already subscribed via this feed), features my impersonations of the audience members at “Evan Almighty,” so there’s a special treat for you. For more information on the e-mail version of “In the Dark,” which has lots more features and is as delightful as it is free of charge, go here. And for a video of a prairie dog being very dramatic, go here.

This is the funniest thing I’ve seen today.

(The source of the video is a Japanese kids’ show, a clip of which can be seen below. It’s fairly amusing in its own right, what with being Japanese and all.)