When Flushed Away (2006) appeared in the theaters I decided not to see it. The appeal of the story about the adventures of rats after they are flushed down the toilet was nil. But here I was last weekend, lolling on the sofa, talking to my son. Flushed Away was on. We watched.
Flushed Away is a moderately charming and entertaining animated film. It was written by the screenwriter who produced Wallace & Gromit
in
The Curse of the Were Rabbit. The humor is British—wry, ironic, funny. There is ample slapstick. There is a budding romance between two initially antagonistic characters—the pet rat Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman), who has lived his entire life in a cage, and the independent, feisty female rat Rita (Kate Winslett), who confronts him soon after he is so villainously flushed by another rat who has invaded his apartment. There is an impressive array of whacky animated characters. Notable among them is the evil Toad (Ian McKellen), who once belonged to Prince Charles and still nurses resentment over how the crown prince rejected him. He bears only a slight ancestral resemblance to the infamous Mr. Toad of The Wind in the Willows, a 1949 Disney production.
There is a plot of sorts involving a ruby supposedly fallen from Queen Elizabeth's crown. There is also a plot focused on Roddy's struggle to return to the comforts of his cage only to discover that life in the outside world can be more exciting and adventurous than anything the cage can offer.
Not as fun or bent as The Curse of the Were Rabbit, Flushed Away is nonetheless a pleasant surprise.
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