Please note that on Ciao, I'll be spending sundays as my reading and rating day - the site is so s...
Please note that on Ciao, I'll be spending sundays as my reading and rating day - the site is so slow generally that the only way to avid meltdown is to do it all at once!
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Classification U Release Date 2 April 2007 Runs For - 81 minutes Cost - £12.98 from Amazon.co.uk
Plot Synopsis ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Flushed Away tells the story of Roddy St. James of Kensington, a pet mouse who lives a life of luxury as the pet of a rich household. He has everything he could want - a golden palace, toys to play with, and access to a flash car and a range of outfits. When his family goes away for a few days, he lets himself out of his cage and sets about having the party of a lifetime - a party that is spoiled when Sid, a common sewer rat, finds his way into the house and proceeds to take over. Launching a cunning plan to get rid of Sid, when his plan backfires he finds himself in a dark underworld, a strange and scary place for a domesticated pet, and must conceive a new plan to get back to his own luxurious home and oust Sid . Bumping into Rita, he finds himself embroiled in a world of gangsters and crime, but he and Rita agree to help each other out He so he can get home, and she to help her family.
The story is simple enough, but with enough satisfying twists, turns, and gags to keep the film entertaining, and the film starts with a fast pace, and keeps going like a mad dog on a postmans nut sack..
Production ~~~~~~~~~~~~ The film is a combined effort from Aardman Productions (Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts) and DreamWorks (Shark Tale, Shrek) This is Aardmans first CGI production, and the reason for using CGI instead of Claymation was the large amount of scenes involving water, which is apparently almost impossible to do convincingly in stop motion. However, the characters do bear more than a passing resemblance to the Wallace and Gromit style characters.
Obviously, from such well-established studios, we expect good quality animation, and Flushed Away does not disappoint. The animation is crisp and clean, with lots of tiny details that make it all the more wonderful. While many films over emphasize realism, this film deals
in fun, imagination, and comedy.
There are so many tiny details that every time I watch this, I notice a new sight gag, and it is great that a film can remain entertaining past the first viewing. While the animation is perfect, it is far from showy all too many studios these days seem to be releasing these kinds of films but trying to show off their technical wizardry rather than their skill at creating a story.
A lot of thought has obviously gone into the animated scenery at first looking a lot like London, as we know it, with deeper observation we can see that it is cunningly built by the rats out of pencils, erasers, cans and bottles, and it is brilliant.
Humour ~~~~~~ Although aimed at children, and therefore packed with some very obvious gags, theres plenty here to appeal to adults and teenagers for instance, the many references to other films , some related to Flushed Away (For example, the Wallace and Gromit Films, X-Men (which Hugh Jackman starred in) and some unrelated but well known, such as Mary Poppins. These subtle references are scattered throughout the film, either in lines used by characters, or in outfits or props seen in the film. While some are obvious, some are more obscure, such as the cockroach reading Kafkas Metamorphosis.
Roddys DVD shelf in particular hosts an admirable collection of films, which for a giggle Ive included at the end of this review, as I find some of the titles amusing!
Theres a very British feel to the humour in the movie lots of wit and sarcasm , something we excel in, and the gags at the expense of the French frogs, while perhaps a little politically incorrect, were some of the real movie winners. That said, we dont just poke fun at the French here, the Americans, the monarchy, and the upper classes all get a good raspberry blown in their faces.
Characters and Cast ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The characters are engaging and funny. Hugh Jackman excels as Roddy, the bemused upper class twit, living in the lap of luxury and finding himself thoroughly confused by the new world he ends up in . Rita (Voiced by Kate Winslet) is altogether more ballsy streetwise, not afraid to say what she thinks and a bit of a Lara Croft type action heroine.
Shane Richie has a relatively minor role as Sid, the rat who invades Roddys home, and hes a charming, lovable cockney rogue cheeky but essentially harmless .
The villains are well voiced too Ian Mckellan, always a talented actor, does very well as the pompous, over-inflated Toad, the main villain of the piece, and manages to convey an air of menace appropriate to the role . Of course, no villain would be complete without his cronies, and in typical gangster movie style he has two, the intelligent Spike, and the brawny but brainless Whitey. Andy Serkis, best known as Gollum from the LOTR movies, is excellent as Spike, but for me, it is Bill Nighy who really steals the scenes as the ex-lab rat Whitey.
The great lines are generously spread around, with all parts having something to say. Even the slugs, who MADE the movie for me with their high pitched singing and screaming (Hugh Jackman actually provided the scream for the first slug Roddy meets), had some brilliantly appropriate songs at key points in the film. They are background characters, but they really enhanced the film for me, providing laugh-out-loud comedy whenever the plot got to a particularly tense point . As did Ritas little brother Shocky, who although only having a few lines, made the most out of them, and really came across as a cheeky little tyke.
Overall, the cast did great jobs and matched the roles perfectly. They delivered expertly timed lines with a tongue in cheek attitude that was spot on. You get the impression that the actors had a hell of a lot of fun making this movie.
Soundtrack ~~~~~~~~~~~ The soundtrack contained many well known songs - Whats new Pussycat, Bohemian like You, and Don't worry, Be Happy, to name but a few. There were also a coupld of original tracks, including Ice Cold Rita, and Thats not Rice You're Eating .
Quotes ~~~~~~~~
Tex: Where are your helmets? Which one is the quarterback? Pick up the ball! Pick up the ball! Aw, these Brits do not know the first thing about football.
Passerby: Is it a bird? Passerby #2: Is it a plane? Passerby #3: Is that guy wearing my underpants?
Le Frog: To action! Henchfrogs: We surrender! Le Frog: Not that action, you idiots! The kung-fu thing!
Spike: I have a funny feeling in my guts about this! Whitey: It's just that curry you had last night, Spike. I'm the same; I have a bum like the Japanese flag.
DVD Features ~~~~~~~~~~~ The DVD has a whole host of extra features!
Filmmakers Commentary - a commentary about the film
Music of Flushed Away - Explains why certain songs were picked, and how they were selected to match the characters and scenes.
Cast and Crew Interviews
DWK aimed at kids, this shows kids how to make a slug from plasticine, draw characters from the films, and a maze game.
Super Slug Stuff
Slug Songs - Videos of the slugs singing well-known songs, hilarious!
Slug Cam - Watch a real slug move for 17 minutes I kid you not!
Slug Games - 2 games, one where you rescue slugs using the Jammie Dodgers mechanical arm, and one where you conduct the slugs.
More Games You need to put the DVD into your Pc to access these, not being much of a special features person, I did not bother!
Video Jukebox - Watch songs from other DreamWorks films Shrek, Over the Hedge, Shark Tale, etc
Curse of the Were-Rabbit trailer.
Shrek 3 Trailer
Conclusion ~~~~~~~~~~ I really enjoyed this film. It didnt get as much publicity as Shrek, or any of the other Aardman films, and seems to have been largely overlooked, but in my view, its just as entertaining as any other animated film Ive seen- in fact more so . Many animated films seem to have dumbed down a lot in recent years, but this film delivers intelligent and witty humour to entertain the adults, and slick animation and obvious gags to keep the kids from getting fidgety.
Roddys DVD Collection- as promised! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Roddy is selecting a movie for the movie premiere, the following DVDs were on the shelf, from left to right:
Chicken Run (2000) A Clockwork Potato Die Again Tomorrow 12 Angry Folks A Few Good Puns The Curse of the Daddy Brief Incontinence The Maltese Budgie You Only Live 9 Times Once Upon a Yime in a Vest Death in Venice II / Zombie The Mancunian Candidate All the Presidents Own Teeth Ratman Ratman Returns Ratman Returns (Again) Puckered Lips Now Piddler on the Roof Goon with the Wind In the Heat of the Fridge My Big Fat Greek Bottom A Fistful of Dullards The Julianos of Boca Courtney and Brendon The Weisberg Chronicles Nicky and Dylan The Chaos of Charis Madeline's Mayhem Macy & Owen's Day out Z is for Zaneta? Kira Forces of Nature (1999) Galaxy Quest (1999) Just Like Heaven (2005) The Love Letter (1999) Mousehunt (1997) Old School (2003) Paulie (1998) The Peacemaker (1997) Red Eye (2005) Shrek (2001) Shrek 2 (2004) Over the Hedge (2006) Shark Tale (2004) The Last Castle (2001) Antz (1998) Madagascar (2005) Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) The Prince of Egypt (1998) The Road to El Dorado (2000) Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003) Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) (I used IMDB.com to find the entire list!)
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Flushed Awayis a rip-roaring nautical adventure with a twist: The heroes are a pair of ... more
rodents braving the sewers underneath London. Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is an upper-crust house-mouse who finds himself flushed into the subterranean sewers. Ea...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Flushed Awayis a rip-roaring nautical adventure with a twist: The heroes are a pair of ... more
rodents braving the sewers underneath London. Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is an upper-crust house-mouse who finds himself flushed into the subterranean sewers. Ea...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Roddy is a decidedly upper-crust "society mouse" who lives the life of a beloved pet in a ... more
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 lurin...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Great script, witty, intelligent, great film for all ages with a great british twist Disadvantages: A high standard for other films to live up to.
ally2kc 04.06.2007 (04.06.2007)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Flushed Away (DVD)
Advantages: Great script, witty, intelligent, great film for all ages with a great british twist Disadvantages: A high standard for other films to live up to.
ally2kc 04.06.2007 (04.06.2007)
·
Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Flushed Away (DVD)
![Flushed Away [DVD] [2006]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/88789005.jpg "Flushed Away [DVD] [2006]")
Jul 2nd, 2007
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