The Disney/Pixar movie Ratatouille led in box office take over the weekend but opened weaker than expected. The animated film took in $47.2 million in its first three days, handily outdrawing Live Free or Die Hard at $33.2 million, but that still constituted one of the weakest openings for a Disney/Pixar film.

Ratatouille is still expected to be very successful at the box office over time, in that its early numbers were held down by the fact that it opened only two days after the hotly anticipated Bruce Willis action film and just before today’s nationwide release of Transformers. The previous weekend’s winner, Evan Almighty, slipped to third with a disappointing $15.1 million. Its weak performance may give Hollywood execs an excuse to avoid financing films with a strong appeal to Christians.

Ratatouille was directed and scripted by Brad Bird, director of The Incredibles, and largely reflects the same positive themes of that film: an admiration for excellence and positive achievements, the value of hard work, the belief that each of us should seek out what he or she is best at and dedicate our energies to it, and the joy of accomplishing good things. It teaches very sound values and is funny and energetic and engages positive emotions. It’s a great film to which to take children, and it will entertain and edify adults as well.

Recommended.