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 & 13 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:

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

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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

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks [United States]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 November 2006 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ratropolis

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$149,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$18,814,323, 5 November 2006, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$64,665,672

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$178,120,010

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

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Peter Lord, co-Founder of Aardman Animations, this movie's original concept involved pirates, and was pitched to DreamWorks soon after the release of Chicken Run (2000). However, Aardman was told that there was no market for pirate movies (this was before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was made), and were told to modernize the concept. By the time the writer had done this, the project was temporarily shelved, to make way for the production of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005). Eventually, Aardman released The Pirates! Band of Misfits (2012), which was a moderate box-office success in the U.K. A sequel was in the works for the pirate movie called "The Pirates! In An Adventure With Cowboys!" but was cancelled by Sony Pictures due to insufficient international earnings.

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Goofs

Several times during the film, someone gets thrown into the toilet which is shown to be almost full with water. Most British toilets have a far lower water level, however this varies depending on the individual toilet and a higher water level is possible.

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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

There is a statement in the closing credits: "No slugs were a-salted in the making of this film." The joke is that salt is deadly to slugs.

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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

Referenced in The Reinactors (2008)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

My favorite Aardman feature so far

Wallace and Gromit are critics darlings. Chicken Run had great reviews as well. I liked all those animated films somewhat, but I never understood their appeal to the critics. To me they were just so-so. This film has not done as well with the critics. It retains somewhat the look of the aforementioned claymation that Aardman is so famous for, but as most people reading this are probably well aware, it is strictly computer animated fare. I truly enjoyed it more than the other films by the talented animators at Aardman. Not a lot more. I much preferred the Shrek films and The Incredibles for recent animated greats. But you could do a lot worse than spending 90 minutes with your kids in a theater watching Flushed Away. ( The film across the hall at my multiplex comes to mind as I really did not want to go watch Tim Allen in a Santa suit for a third time.) The slugs (or perhaps they were leeches) were my favorite characters in the film. I found myself laughing a lot at their antics, sound effects and musical talent. I had fun. Nothing great but a good deal of fun.