CinePhillyist Reviews...Flushed Away

Normally we wouldn't be particularly interested in a kids' cartoon movie about a sheltered pet rat getting flushed down the toilet only to land in the middle of a whole city of rats, and a dangerous adventure he never could have imagined. But this movie was made by Aardman Animations, and we love Aardman Animations. These are the guys responsible for the classic stop-motion, clay-animated "Wallace & Gromit" shorts, as well as Chicken Run, and the recent Wallace & Gromit movie. They have a wonderful visual style and sense of humor, and even though Flushed Away is done using computer animation instead of the classic clay, both their style and humor come through effortlessly intact. Sometimes the characters even seem to be made of some magical, digital clay.

The main character is Roddy (Hugh Jackman), a well-loved pet of a well-off family who's nevertheless lonely for the company of his own kind. He's also a rather stuck up, self-interested scaredy-cat as the film begins. When a disgusting, sloppy sewer rat invades his home from the kitchen sink, he tries to trick the fellow into getting flushed down the toilet, but his plan backfires and he ends up going down the chute himself. He finds himself in a strange, awe-inspiring, but frightening new world - a huge rat city, underground. Also all over the place are slimy - but cute and funny - little slugs, who end up providing a lot of the soundtrack of the film. Anyway, Roddy immediately sets out trying to find his way back home, and is quickly pointed in the direction of the courageous and sassy Rita (Kate Winslet), who's the captain of a ship that sails the sewer waters. Unfortunately for Roddy, Rita has run afoul of a criminal overlord named the Toad (Ian McKellen) - who, as you might expect, is actually a toad. In the process of getting captured and escaping from the Toad and his hilariously bumbling henchmen (voiced by Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis), Rita and Roddy end up with an item that's crucial to Toad's evil plan to destroy the rat city, and he sends his cousin Le Frog (Jean Reno) and a band of French frog ninjas (plus one frog mime) after them. Will Rita and Roddy save the rat city? Will Roddy ever get back home, and find a real family?

Well, it's a kids' movie, so obviously yes and yes. But it's still a ton of fun seeing how the movie gets to its foregone conclusion. Perhaps because of the setting, the film tends to focus a bit more on gross-out, little boy-type humor than you might expect, although there's still plenty of your average slapstick, goofiness, and clever in-jokes (like the scene where Hugh Jackman's Roddy considers wearing a Wolverine costume). There's also some pretty brutal jokes about the French - but if it's okay with Jean Reno then it's okay with us. Flushed Away doesn't have any characters as memorable and lovable as Wallace and Gromit, but it's still a very fun and inventive film that kids and grown-ups can both enjoy.

Image Credit: BBC