Posted: 11/03/2006

Flushed Away

(2006)

by Karen Petruska

The latest DreamWorks animated movie, Flushed Away, comes from the producing team for Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit and is a co-production with stop-motion experts Aardman Animations. Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, and Bill Nighy, among others, provide voices for the characters. Directors David Bowers and Sam Fell make full use of all this pedigree in their charming computer-generated animated tale of an affluent pet rat who gets flushed down a toilet. Bowers has previously worked as a storyboard artist, but Fell is a relative newcomer to feature-length films. Yet together they keep a firm rein on their story of a lonely rat who learns to prize friendship and loyalty more than comfort and affluence.

Left alone while his human family is on vacation, Roddy the pet rat enjoys a day of playing pretend with dolls and mechanical toys. Despite his carefully planned day of high jinks, Roddy senses that his loneliness cannot be overcome by his imagination. Enter an intruder and bully, Sid, who pops up out of the kitchen drain and in short order flushes Roddy down the toilet. Beneath the surface of London, Roddy discovers Ratropolis, a secret rat city full of colorful rat characters. Here he meets Rita, a back-sewer adventurer, who is being chased by the gang of The Toad, a criminal mastermind secretly determined to rid the sewers of all of rat kind. Throughout his adventures in the sewers, Roddy’s main goal is to get home. But gradually he begins to wonder if home is really what he wants.

Hugh Jackman contributes much to make Roddy such a likeable character. His wit and sarcasm transform a character that at first seems snobby and cowardly. The animators also deserve a lot of credit, though, for making Roddy so adorable (adorable for a rat, I mean). His buck teeth and big cheeks contribute a childlike innocence that is endearing, and his gorgeous hair rivals that of Sam Malone or Dr. McDreamy. Kate Winslet gives Rita as much sauciness as her working-class accent can muster, and the animators have provided Rita with a young and hip look that justifies her daring.

Rita’s pants, displaying the pattern of the British flag, are merely one of many visual gags in the film. Look carefully at any scene, and you will discover a world made of human garbage. Rita’s bed is an old kitchen sponge, and the bad guys chase Rita’s boat by driving cake beaters through the water. The entire rat city references the human world in its construction and in the materials that provide the structure. The movie could be a game of “how many human objects do you see hidden within this set?” The visual design of Ratropolis is colorful, playful, and dense with pop culture references.

The humor operates on a 10-year-old level. For instance, a characteristic joke concludes the credits at the end of the film, stating, “No slugs were a-salt-ed during the making of this film.” The slugs referenced here provide a Greek chorus-like accompaniment to the action, popping up at opportune moments to serenade Roddy and Rita with the refrain of “Sailing” or to satirize poor Roddy with their rendition of “Mr. Lonely.” Based on the audience I was with, the slugs were a big hit.

Also a big hit with the pre-pubescent crowd was anytime a character got beat up, especially when beaten between the legs. At one point in the film, Roddy falls from a great height, crushing his private parts on four different poles during his drop. Finally on the ground, a soccer ball comes out of nowhere and hits him in the crotch. The kids ate this up, erupting in riotous laughter. There’s a good deal of humor for adults as well, with multiple references to adult films including Titanic, the James Bond series, and indeed, Wallace & Gromit. But this is a film for kids, and when viewed with the appropriate sense of fun and frivolity, the movie really works.

The plot involves a number of characters, yet somehow it remains relatively focused. The Toad initially hunts Rita to steal her red ruby, which The Toad cherishes as a relic of the royal family’s jewels. But this red herring is quickly thrown over for the real mystery: why The Toad wants to steal back from Rita a power source that she is wearing as a belt. The Toad’s master plot is generally irrelevant. More to the point is how Roddy comes to appreciate the value of friends and family. With a running time of one hour and thirty minutes, the film moves quickly and fits a lot of comedy into a short time period. But film’s heart is equally important. Even without much emphasis on the romantic plot (which I appreciated), the basic story of two people coming to depend upon each other is played without sentiment or condescension. Flushed Away is a tightly packaged, sharply written, and marvelously entertaining film for families.

Karen Petruska is a film critic living in Chicago.

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