ALARIS' REVIEWS

2nd April 2009
Flushed Away (2006)

Flushed Away is an animated feature film co-produced by Dreamworks and Aardman, which in and of itself is enough to give me mixed feelings about the movie.

While Dreamworks films tend to be enjoyable (eg. Shrek, Shrek II), they also have a tendency to be very 'nudge nudge wink wink' in their humour, and watching their movies can be like sitting next to someone who keeps elbowing you in the ribs, saying 'Get it? Get it?'.

On the other hand, I am a huge fan of Aardman productions, and their three short Wallace and Gromit films (A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, and A Close Shave) are wonderfully quirky, whimsical, and hilarious.

In Flushed Away, a sheltered, upper crust pet rat, Roddy (Hugh Jackman), finds himself flushed down a toilet and thrown into the chaotic, vibrant, underground world of the sewer rats. He quickly becomes entangled in the capers of headstrong salvage skipper, Rita (Kate Winslet), who is being pursued by the maniacal Toad and his hench-rats.

It's not a masterpiece like Wall-E, but I found Flushed Away very enjoyable, with plenty of classic Aardman touches. The character designs are charming, the slugs are an absolute delight (you'll see what I mean), and much of the humour is just how I like it - oblique, eccentric, and played straight like only the British can. Even the toilet humour is classier than the standard American take.

Jackman and Winslet do a great job, and genre fans will enjoy performances by Andy Serkis (Gollum in The Lord of the Rings) as a rat henchman, Bill Nighy (Davy Jones in Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End) as another rat henchman, and Ian McKellan (Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, Magneto from The X Men, and he's just cool in general) as the deliciously deranged Toad.

Flushed Away doesn't have the poignant heart of a Pixar film, or the depth of a Miyazaki animation, but it's a fun movie with good intentions, and enough kooky references to keep most Aardman fans happy (including a delightfully creepy nod to 1958 horror classic, The Fly.)

Verdict: Not a standout animated feature, but certainly lots of quirky fun.

If you like Aardman films, you'll probably like this.