Flushed Away (2006)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Directors:

David Bowers
Sam Fell

Writers:

Sam Fell (story) and
Peter Lord (story) ...

Release Date:

3 November 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

Someone's Going Down

Plot:

The story of an uptown rat that gets flushed down the toilet from his penthouse apartment, ending in the sewers of London, where he has to learn a whole new and different way of life.

Plot Keywords:

Sewer | Toad | Rat | Boat | Mouse

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 6 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Hugh Jackman	...	Roddy (voice)
Kate Winslet	...	Rita (voice)
Ian McKellen	...	The Toad (voice)
Jean Reno	...	Le Frog (voice)
Bill Nighy	...	Whitey (voice)
Andy Serkis	...	Spike (voice)
Shane Richie	...	Sid (voice)
Kathy Burke	...	Rita's Mum (voice)
David Suchet	...	Rita's Dad (voice)
Miriam Margolyes	...	Rita's Grandma (voice)
Rachel Rawlinson	...	Tabitha (voice)
Susan Duerden	...	Mother (voice)
Miles Richardson	...	Father (voice)
John Motson	...	Football Commentator (voice)
Douglas Weston	...	Newspaper Seller (voice)

Also Known As:

Ratropolis (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for crude humor and some language.

Runtime:

85 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

Netherlands:MG6 | Singapore:G | Ireland:G | USA:PG (certificate #42964) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:I | Malaysia:U | Finland:K-7 | Australia:G | Germany:o.Al. | Brazil:Livre | Sweden:7 | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | UK:U (cut version) | Portugal:M/6 (original version) | South Korea:All | Portugal:M/4 (dubbed version) | New Zealand:PG

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

DreamWorks Animation

Trivia:

Aardman's first fully-CGI feature film. The reason for using computer animation instead of the studio's trademark clay animation was the large amount of scenes involving water, which is nearly impossible to do convincingly in stop motion.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When the World Cup match is on, it says England are playing, but the flag on the screen is the Union flag which is for the United Kingdom, not England.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Mother: Car's here.
Father: It's nine o' clock already, we're going to miss our flight.

Movie Connections:

References Old School (2003)

Soundtrack:

Wonderful Night

Hugely funny, technically brilliant

I saw Flushed Away at a press screening in Berlin where it was shown in English to an overwhelmingly German audience. Leaving aside the clichés (Germans DO have a sense of humour - it's just different, okay?!), coming as yet another in a long line of CGI films and with (let's be honest here) a less than gripping concept, Flushed Away had only a certain amount of goodwill from this professional crowd. So when an audience like this, yours truly included, laughs aloud and often then there's something special up on the screen!

The humour is overwhelmingly English and there is none of the morality messaging that makes family films from certain other studios such a cringe-inducing experience. The characters are very well drawn (literally as well as figuratively) and the voice casting is universally excellent. The standard of animation is fantastic but you never once get the sense that anyone is showing off what they can do. This is a story- and character-driven film, with the technology there to serve. Anyone writing it off because it is not claymation is doing themselves a great disservice.

Lovers of Wallace & Gromit and Aardman's work in general will have a ball spotting the oh so many references. The level of detail is amazing and it's going to take many viewings and many hours with the DVD on pause to spot them all. There are the bunnies from Curse of the Wererabbit, for example. I spotted the Lion King on the little girl's windowsill, and so on. And on.

When a film credits several writers, plus comedy consultants, it's usually a sign that the script has gone horribly and tragically wrong. Maybe it did, to begin with, and the start is just a tad slow, but it soon picks up speed and the jokes, verbal and visual, just keep coming.

Like the best family films, Flushed Away appeals to audiences of all ages, but the very young might find it a bit long. Not that it lags at any time, merely that the wee tots might get fidgety, you understand.

The cast do a great job and I'm not going to single out anyone for special mention. The performances are spot on and everyone is obviously having a tongue in cheek good time. For professional reasons, I get to watch some 300 or more films a year. Flushed Away belongs to the very, very few that I wanted to see again right after it had finished. And before you ask, no, I am not being paid, induced or threatened at gunpoint to write this. I had a cracking good time, as did my girlfriend (Julia, German, with sense of humour) and you will too.