Film #044 – Flushed Away (2006)
Flushed Away shows that just because it says Dreamworks, that doesn’t mean it’s crap. Of course, Dreamworks and producer Aardman Studios (also of Chicken Run and Wallace and Grommit) parted ways with Dreamworks shortly after this film was released, so maybe Aardman realized that Dreamworks was not the place for them. I, myself, have never been a huge fan of Aardman’s work. Oh, I find it amusing enough, but it just doesn’t “click” with me for the most part. But for some reason, I really sparked to Flushed Away. Maybe it’s the faster pace, maybe it’s the more action-oriented storyline, I don’t know. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that this is the first (and so far only) major Aardman project to use CGI instead of stop-motion animation.
The film revolves around a pampered pet rat named Roddy (voiced by an almost unrecognizable Hugh Jackman), who is flushed down the toilet of his posh London home by a layabout rat named Sid (Shane Richie). Once underground, Roddy discovers a whole world populated by various creatues and gets involved in the problems of a boat captain named Rita (Kate Winslet), who is embroiled in a struggle against the evil Toad (Ian McKellen). Even Rita is unaware of the true extent of The Toad’s plans, which will lead to the destruction of all life underneath London, allowing The Toad to take over.
The huge, sprawling story is matched by a strong cast that also includes Jean Reno as Le Frog, a french (get it?) spy/ninja master, Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis as The Toad’s thugs Whitey and Spike and David Suchet and Miriam Margolyes as Rita’s father and grandmother, respectively. They are all used to great effect and I can honestly say that although I am familiar with all of these actors, I recognized hardly any of them (particularly, as mentioned, Hugh Jackman). I think it is this kind of strong casting that keeps Flushed Away from feeling like just another “Wallace and Grommit”.
The story is well balanced, with plenty of twists and turns to the plot. If Roddy’s character arc is a bit cliched (learning the dangers of life in a gilded cage), it is at least an honest one and one that can easily be supported by the plot. The obvious love angle between Roddy and Rita (starting out constantly at odds, but then growing together) is also old hat, but that’s what you want from these kinds of adventure stories. As long as it’s believably portrayed (and it is here), I don’t care how many times its been done before, it can still be entertaining.
Visually, the film is much more lavish than previous Aardman productions. The CGI nature of the film allowed them to be much more detailed and have a much livelier camera, as well as engage in all sorts of pyrotechnics that would be much more dificult in stop-motion. It does lack some of the fluidity of the real-world process, but it’s not that big a deal. (The process Aardman uses is meant to reproduce the imperfections of stop-motion, but I think they over-compensated.)
And given its title and the upshot of The Toad’s plan (which involves utilizing the power of all of London flushing their toilets), Flushed Away is thankfully devoid of a lot of scatalogical humor I’ve come to expect from Dreamworks output. Most of the humor is of the wacky and slapstick kind, which is just fine with me.
In the end, Flushed Away can appeal to Aardman’s usual audience without alienating those less inclined towards their somewhat, shall I say, staid sense of humor. Now, as I mentioned at the outset, this is the last Aardman film that will be distributed by Dreamworks, as they apparently were keen to interfere in Aardman’s production process. While I understand the desire to be free of the shackles of having to answer to someone else, just this once, Dreamworks’ push to make Aardman’s output more universal may have paid off.