Flushed Away (2006)

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.

Directors:

David Bowers, Sam Fell

Writers:

Dick Clement (screenplay by), Ian La Frenais (screenplay by)

Stars:

Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 7 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

Roddy is a decidedly upper-crust "society mouse" who lives the life of a beloved pet in a posh Kensington flat. When a sewer rat named Sid comes spewing out of the sink and decides he's hit the jackpot, Roddy schemes to rid himself of the pest by luring him into the "whirlpool." Sid may be an ignorant slob, but he's no fool, so it is Roddy who winds up being flushed away into the bustling sewer world of Ratropolis. There Roddy meets Rita, an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Roddy immediately wants out, or rather, up; Rita wants to be paid for her trouble; and, speaking of trouble, the villainous Toad - who royally despises all rodents equally, making no distinction between mice and rats--wants them iced... literally. The Toad dispatches his two hapless hench-rats, Spike and Whitey, to get the job done. When they fail, the Toad has no choice but to send to France for his cousin - that dreaded mercenary, Le Frog.

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Plot Keywords:

taking off shoes | someone in socks | sock | toes | sausage | 

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Taglines:

Someone's Going Down

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for crude humor and some language

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Roddy gets flushed down the toilet, a goldfish gets thrown into his hands and says, "Have you seen my dad?" This is a reference to Finding Nemo (2003).

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Goofs

When Rita is held upside down by Whitey, her rear (with pocket containing the ruby) is held facing away from Whitey. When the view switches to her face, this is also facing away from Whitey.

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Quotes

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

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Crazy Credits

During the closing credits, slugs crawl on and off screen, interacting with the credit text.

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Alternate Versions

Distributors choose to remove mild language from the film after an advice viewing from the BBFC suggested that it would not be acceptable for a U rating. As a result, words such as "bloody" and "bugger" were replaced with "blinkin'" and "bother". After the changes had been made, the BBFC passed the film with a U rating.

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Connections

References The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

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Soundtracks

Land of Hope and Glory
Written by Edward Elgar (as Sir Edward Elgar) & A.C. Benson

User Reviews

Another smash from Aardman!

Like a lot of film reviewers, I had a lot of reservations about this film when I first saw the trailer. At first I thought it was going to be just another hastily made CGI cartoon about edgy cartoon animals, filled with top 40 or dance songs and full of topical jokes. The fact that as I waited for the movie to start, half the trailers were for more CGI cartoons about edgy cartoon animals and the other half was for films about trash talking fairy tale characters.

Thankfully this movie was a blessed reprieve from all of that. In Flushed Away, Aardman studios has made yet another family classic that will still be as entertaining ten years from now as it is today. Granted, it's loaded with a lot of pop songs and oldies, but most of them are sung by a chorus of slugs (which makes for one of the best running gags I've seen in a while).

The story actually felt pretty fresh for a family movie, or any movie for that matter. While it's by no means unpredictable, it doesn't feel too much like it's treading over the same ground most family films seem to go over these days. The jokes were surprisingly clever too. While there's the usual slapstick humor, there's also plenty of highbrow jokes thrown in the mix. (How often do you find references to Kafka in an animated feature, after all?) What I liked best about this movie was that Aardman stayed true to its roots of making stop-motion films. My initial worry was that they had sold out and were going to just make CGI films from here on out like everybody else, but when you watch this film, you'll see that they do as much as possible to maintain the look of their other animated films like Chiken Run and Wallace & Gromit. Overall this is a great selection to take your family to see, and worth seeing even if you're a grown up too.

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks [United States]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ratropolis

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$149,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,814,323, 5 November 2006

Gross USA:

$64,665,672

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$178,281,554

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aardman Animations, DreamWorks Animation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

85 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1