"No motion capture or any other performance shortcuts were used in the production of this film." So read the last of the credits of the Academy Award-nominated 'Ratatouille'. That sums up the impeccable, delightful, and ready-for-Smellovision film that rounds out the Best Animated Feature category. In this third of three Oscar reviews, we'll see how the talented rodent stacks up against the competition (and vice versa), and why that note made it into the final cut.

On the surface, this Oscar race looks like an easy call. The 3D computer-generated film about the rat who was a foodie is universally loved, boasts huge box office numbers, is now up for multiple Oscars. Earlier this month the Pixar team swept out of the Annie Awards with nine wins. It's directed by one of the best storytellers in animation, Brad Bird ('The Incredibles'). True to form, he doesn't make the usual cliched choices in key turning points.

'Ratatouille' plays with the marriage of disparate tastes, and with gusto. Remy the rat finds he's the only food geek in the family, and yearns to create instead of steal like... a rat. Eventually he resolves his dilemma by enlisting a clumsy garbage boy as his own personal giant mecha. And they're in Paris! In an elite restaurant! Toss in a madcap plot, a devotion to food rivaling the main character's, and the gorgeous attempt to animate taste itself, and the movie seems like a shoo-in.

Serendipity actually makes this a more interesting contest than usual. It's a French accent instead of French subtitles, but 'Ratatouille' adroitly handles the familiar story of a character stuck between two cultures, albeit via a more mundane topic than that of 'Persepolis'. Likewise the underdog 'Surf's Up' is theoretically on even ground with similar themes of realizing dreams, discovering cultures, and individuality and integrity versus commercialism. An enigmatic mentor and a plucky female character oversee the characters' journeys. There's even a wipe-out scene to compare and contrast. The spread of the Oscar vote is a different matter, of course.

I only have a couple of quibbles with 'Ratatouille'. For one, all the gun violence in the first section seemed out of place. While most of the French jokes were subtle, I found myself hoping for a more sensual ambiance instead of the persistent tinge of Disneyland. Both are slight adjustments to the recipe. After all, it was quite popular in France itself.

So this was a near-perfect movie done by the team which amounts to the industry's comfort food. Why was the "quality assurance" added to the credits?

The controversy isn't in the nomination of 'Ratatouille', but in who made the initial short-list with it. 'Beowulf', a 3D CGI movie by Robert Zemeckis, stirred up debate when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences thought it should get a shot at being nominated for Best Animated Feature. Sounds fine, right? The difference is that 'Beowulf' was all motion capture. In other words, the actor makes the motion, not the artists -- hence the 'Ratatouille' note.

In the interest of explaining the furor: motion capture is the industry equivalent of a fan-artist tracing someone else's work. Does it qualify as an artistic achievement? What about using references or technical shortcuts? We know how the Pixar team feels about it: from the 2D credits to the animators' cooking classes, there were few if any cut corners. Since AMPAS defines animation as "performances created using a frame-by-frame technique", perhaps tightening the wording would help.

On the other hand, last year's 'Happy Feet' took home the Oscar, 'Monster House' got a nomination, and 'Beowulf' was short-listed this year -- motion-capture all. With new technology and the whims of the industry, the issue can only grow more complex. With the financial advantage of an Oscar tag, the talent pool of animators certainly wants to know AMPAS's priorities.

This is a young category for a long film tradition. Whatever the status of the format, it's the story which makes the film. Without animation, would it be possible to appreciate all the angles of a story about a rat controlling a human? 'Ratatouille' and its fellow nominees show how animation can access new ways to tell the universal stories of love and family and fulfillment. Try all three; you might like it.