By Rob Lowman>Entertainment editor

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DVDs coming out on Tuesday:

>Ratatouille

A rat and a critic.

Not exactly a recipe for cuddliness. Some people even lump the two together in the same vermin category. Yet Pixar's "Ratatouille" manages to make a cute hero out of a rodent named Remy (Patton Oswalt), who lives to cook, and turns gaunt, cheerless, acerbic restaurant critic Anton Ego (with the wonderfully commanding voice of Peter O'Toole) into something approaching almost human.

Written and directed by Brad Bird, the animated film is one of the best-reviewed movies of the year - even with its less-than-flattering portrait of a critic in Ego.

"What do you mean?!" Bird almost squeaks when asked what he really thought of critics. "Listen, I was a little nervous about sending that out there, but I was gratified that only a couple of critics misunderstood. The film is not against critics but about getting disconnected from what you love. That holds whether you're a critic or an artist."

And indeed, at the end, Ego delivers the film's key message: "Not everyone can be a great artist. But a great artist can come from anywhere."

"Ratatouille" is the the story of a young rat living in the French countryside who has a passion for fine cooking though raised by garbage-eaters. Inspired by Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), a famous chef who insists that "anyone can cook," Remy ends up in Paris helping hapless Linguini (Lou Romano) pretend to be a chef (the rat directs the youth by pulling his hair under his toque) and win the heart of Colette (Janeane Garofalo).

As for the rat thing, Bird - who wrote, directed and won the Oscar for best animated movie for "The Incredibles" - admits it gave him pause. "But if you don't get squeamish about it, you look at it as your task is to get the audience to empathize with a character they're initially put off by ... like Frankenstein or the hunchback of Notre Dame."

He adds that there were some attempts early on to "de-rat the rats by shortening their tails and putting them on two legs to make the audience like them, and I always thought that was not a good move."

As you expect from Pixar, the DVD coming out Tuesday is chock full of extras; the Blu-ray even more.

"I like to overdeliver," says John Lasseter, chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios. (He and Bird met at CalArts.)

Bird says as an old-time hand-drawn animator, he most appreciates the "Your Friend the Rat" featurette on the DVD. "It's from the rat's point of view, making a plea for understanding and tolerance toward rat-kind, which was done in hand-drawn animation."

He adds that though everyone was tired after making "Ratatouille," the Pixar animators didn't have the heart to farm it out.

That goes a long way toward describing Pixar, which Lasseter calls a directors' driven studio. A look at the rise of the company can be seen in "Pixar Short Films Collection - Volume 1," also coming out Tuesday.

"These films have never been put together like this," notes Lasseter, who sees the 15 shorts in two groupings - pre- and post-"Toy Story."

In the early ones, you can see the evolution of computer animation; in the latter, Lasseter says, it gave the studio a chance to try things out - "the software equivalent of duct tape and baling wires holding things together."

But don't be fooled by Lasseter's modest description, the shorts are all quite clever and a number of them were Oscar winners, like "Geri's Game," directed by Jan Pinkava (who co-helmed "Ratatouille"), and Lasseter's own "Tin Toy."

By the way, Lasseter says he was never worried about having a rat as a hero. "The heart and soul of a film comes from the character growing, and I saw that in (Remy)."

Well, there's no denying you grow to love "Ratatouille's" little rat in the end. You even get to like the critic.

>Sicko

If you don't believe the American health-care system is ailing, then you've never dealt with an HMO, lost your insurance or seen Michael Moore's "Sicko."

Admittedly, I was biased before seeing the film. I agree with Moore that the government has a fundamental responsibility for the well-being of its citizens and that implies making health care affordable and accessible to all.

In "Sicko," the filmmaker - yes, yes, we know he's controversial - makes his case in a witty and less strident way than he has in films like "Roger & Me." Moore doesn't hide his stripes, and the film is not a strict analysis of the U.S. system, but he makes some good points that should resonate with most Americans, who seem to be coming to the conclusion that health care needs to be fixed, if recent polls are to be believed.

Moore also throws cold water on those who decry the socialized-medicine systems of France, Britain and Canada, finding that they actually work pretty well.

And if there are horror stories there that Moore didn't bring out, they can't be worse than many in America.

Watch "Sicko" - it could be a healing experience.

 >Dr. Who

Since the latest incarnation of the sci-fi series "Dr. Who" began, David Tennant replaced Christopher Eccleston (season two) as the Doctor, the time-and-space-traveling alien time lord who routinely saves the universe. And then in the third season, out this week on DVD, Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones took over from Billie Piper as the Doctor's traveling companion.

More changes may be afoot, though clearly the series has managed to thrive no matter who plays the roles, thanks to Russell T. Davies, who overhauled the series for the 21st century and who's also behind the BBC hit spinoff "Torchwood." Nevertheless, Tennant is great, and Agyeman is a real find, and season three was cheeky as ever.

 >television

Boxsets are hitting the shelves as holidays approach.

And even Jerry Seinfeld took some time out of his "Bee Movie" publicity campaign to talk about "Seinfeld - The Complete Series."

"There are two really cool things on it," the comedian says about the set. "One is this yearbook that we made that's kind of a whole encyclopedia of the show. We just made it for ourselves, and now they've produced it and people who buy the complete set will be given a copy of it."

Seinfeld says he's also proud of the extras on the set. "We wanted to set the bar on extras. So if you want more stuff, there are documentaries on there, and we interview each other. We really love to give people more than their money's worth with the DVDs. You don't just get the shows."

The truth and "The X-Files" are out there.

Just as it releases "The X-Files: The Ultimate Collection," Fox announces that its forever-in-the-works "X-Files" sequel will hit big screens June 25, 2008, reuniting Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson). The box set includes all nine seasons, the feature film and the "Mythology Threads" featurettes from the "Mythology" collections. That should give you plenty to go over. The as-yet untitled movie follow-up begins filming Dec. 10 in Vancouver.

 

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Rob Lowman (818) 713-3687; robert.lowman@dailynews.com

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>also out tuesday

NEW FILMS

"Sicko" ($29.95)

"I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry ($29.98 and $39.98 for HD)

"Deck the Halls" ($29.99)

 TELEVISION

"Seinfeld - Season 9" ($49.95)

"Flight of the Conchords - The Complete First Season" ($29.98)

"Doctor Who -The Complete Third Series " ($99.98)

"Full House - The Complete Eighth Season" ($29.98)

"The Best of the Colbert Report" ($19.99)

"The Cosby Show - Season 5 & 6" ($24.98 each)

"Martin: The Complete Third Season" ($29.98)

"Project Runway - Season 3" ($27.95)

 BOX SETS

"The X-Files: The Ultimate Collection" ($329.98)

"James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set" ($289.98)

"Seinfeld -The Complete Series" ($283.95)

"Heeere's Johnny - The Definitive DVD Collection From The Tonight Show" ($99.99)