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.
Release Year: 2006
Rating: 6.9/10 (33,697 voted)
Critic's Score: 74/100
Director:
David Bowers
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen
Storyline Roddy is a decidedly upper-crust "society mouse" who lives the life of a beloved pet in a 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 luring him into the "whirlpool." Sid may be an ignorant slob, but he's no fool, so it is Roddy who winds up being flushed away into the bustling sewer world of Ratropolis. There Roddy meets Rita, an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Roddy immediately wants out, or rather, up; Rita wants to be paid for her trouble; and, speaking of trouble, the villainous Toad - who royally despises all rodents equally, making no distinction between mice and rats--wants them iced... literally. The Toad dispatches his two hapless hench-rats, Spike and Whitey, to get the job done. When they fail...
Writers: Sam Fell, Peter Lord
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)
Opening Weekend: $18,814,323
(USA)
(5 November 2006)
(3707 Screens)
Gross: $64,459,316
(USA)
(25 February 2007)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
When the stove falls through the floor of Rita's house, a cockroach that was sitting behind it can be seen holding a book. The book is Franz Kafka's novella 'Metamorphosis', the protagonist of which turns into a (non specified) insect, which is often translated as a cockroach. The cockroach appears to be reading a French translation: the title "La métamorphose" is clearly seen, while the Ka- in Kafka is obscured by the insect's 'hand'.
Goofs:
Continuity:
In the scene where Roddy falls onto the drawing at the city. Up above him the shot shows he landed in the middle, away from the trees in the picture. In the next shot where he gets up, his right leg is on the trees. How could he land in the middle then all of a sudden appear in another position?
Quotes:
[first lines]
Mother:
Car's here. Father:
It's nine o' clock already, we're going to miss our flight.
User Review
Hugely funny, technically brilliant
Rating:
I saw Flushed Away at a press screening in Berlin where it was shown in
English to an overwhelmingly German audience. Leaving aside the clichés
(Germans DO have a sense of humour - it's just different, okay?!),
coming as yet another in a long line of CGI films and with (let's be
honest here) a less than gripping concept, Flushed Away had only a
certain amount of goodwill from this professional crowd. So when an
audience like this, yours truly included, laughs aloud and often then
there's something special up on the screen!
The humour is overwhelmingly English and there is none of the morality
messaging that makes family films from certain other studios such a
cringe-inducing experience. The characters are very well drawn
(literally as well as figuratively) and the voice casting is
universally excellent. The standard of animation is fantastic but you
never once get the sense that anyone is showing off what they can do.
This is a story- and character-driven film, with the technology there
to serve. Anyone writing it off because it is not claymation is doing
themselves a great disservice.
Lovers of Wallace & Gromit and Aardman's work in general will have a
ball spotting the oh so many references. The level of detail is amazing
and it's going to take many viewings and many hours with the DVD on
pause to spot them all. There are the bunnies from Curse of the
Wererabbit, for example. I spotted the Lion King on the little girl's
windowsill, and so on. And on.
When a film credits several writers, plus comedy consultants, it's
usually a sign that the script has gone horribly and tragically wrong.
Maybe it did, to begin with, and the start is just a tad slow, but it
soon picks up speed and the jokes, verbal and visual, just keep coming.
Like the best family films, Flushed Away appeals to audiences of all
ages, but the very young might find it a bit long. Not that it lags at
any time, merely that the wee tots might get fidgety, you understand.
The cast do a great job and I'm not going to single out anyone for
special mention. The performances are spot on and everyone is obviously
having a tongue in cheek good time. For professional reasons, I get to
watch some 300 or more films a year. Flushed Away belongs to the very,
very few that I wanted to see again right after it had finished. And
before you ask, no, I am not being paid, induced or threatened at
gunpoint to write this. I had a cracking good time, as did my
girlfriend (Julia, German, with sense of humour) and you will too.
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