Flushed Away (2006)

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 Vaud) | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | 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:

As Roddy and Rita attempt to free themselves in The Toad's freezer full of enemies and do-gooders, a rodent version of Han Solo is visible at right, in the "frozen in carbonite" pose from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980).

Goofs:

Continuity: 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.

Quotes:

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

Movie Connections:

References Die Another Day (2002)

Soundtrack:

Are You Gonna Be My Girl

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.