Flushed Away: Fun for the Family
This is a fun quirky movie with some great singing slugs!
Nov 19, 2006
The new Dreamworks/Aardman Animation film Flushed Away had a great opportunity to become a work of art, especially given that the movie is created in the visual style of Wallace and Gromit. The characters all have a certain Nick Park aesthetic quality of the Neanderthal-ridged-forehead, combined with the side-by-side spherical eyes that roll. The software used to create the film even tried to incorporate the things that make Wallace and Gromit special: fingerprints to give the effect of claymation and small details in the backgrounds that appeal to adults digging for deeper meanings and inside jokes. There is even a glimpse of a Gromit doll in the opening scene that pays homage to its origins.
The movie is a charming tale of an upscale pet rat, Roddy, who gets flushed down the toilet into an underground Rat World where there is a community of family and friends, something lacking in Roddy the Rat's townhouse existence. Roddy learns the value of family and friends while helping his love interest, Rita, find a gem that belonged to her.
There is the positive theme of friends and family, which is mandatory for all kid's movies, but there is another message at the end that is slightly disturbing in an animated rat kind of way. Roddy returns to his upscale townhouse to steal jewels from his previous owners so he can repay Rita for the boat she lost during their hijinks. So, the message of love and respect gets a little sticky. Perhaps the love and respect applies only to rats in this movie? The other sticky issue is how moral does a tale about rats who talk have to be?
The absolute best part of the movie was the device of the singing slug chorus who interject wonderful weaving moments of songs that gently propel the story along and provide some much-needed comic relief. After all, this is a rat that gives up a palace to live in a sewer...go figure. Another charming detail is that the bad guys are French frogs who also provide more comedy than actual threat. Starring the voices of Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslett, this is a safe bet for children of all ages.
