SYNOPSIS:
A CG-animated co-production with acclaimed British animation
studio Aardman, “Flushed Away” tells the story
of a pampered British rat (Jackman) accidentally gets flushed
from his posh penthouse flat, into the mysterious sewers of
London. As he searches for a way back home, he falls in love
with the sewer and its creatures, including a scrappy Cockney
rat (Winslet) who steals his heart.
MOVIE
REVIEW
We often
see how supporting roles steal the show from the main stars
in a movie. Let’s see, we are sure people love the killer
ninja penguins in Eric Darnell and Tom McGrath’s Madagascar
(2005) more than Alex the irritating lion. And how Squirt
the adorable turtle is cuter than the whiny clownfish in Andrew
Stanton’s Finding Nemo (2003).
In this
animated feature, it is the super all-singing slugs you’d
probably fondly remember.
But that
isn’t the real star of the show. In today’s day
and age, Aardman (of the wonderful claymation in the Wallace
and Gromit series) impresses movie-goers again with their
seamless CGI feature film. This is also the first full-length
CGI feature produced by the British production house.
The story
tells of a spoilt pet rat that gets flushed down the toilet
into an unfamiliar world of sewers and sludge. There, he learns
to adapt to a new way of life and ditches his arrogant self
to live with the other rodents.
The signature
claymation look is evident in this 84-minute movie. What we
also love is the swanky new look slapped on to make the entire
picture more polished. The humour is sharp, the dialogue is
crisp, and the voice talents are a hoot to listen to.
Whether
it’s High Jackman’s alluring voice as Roddy the
pampered pet mouse, Kate Winslet’s magnetic voice as
the sewer-smart Rita, or Jean Reno’s wacky voice performance
as the evil Le Frog, everyone sounds like they had hell lot
of fun making this flick.
Throw
Ian “Gandalf” McKellen, Bill “Davy Jones”
Nighy and Andy “Gollum” Serkins into the mix and
you’d have one of the most colourful casts of voices
ever to come together in an animated film.
But
one thing which bothered us is the unattractive look of the
characters in the movie. Well, what else should we expect
for a movie set in the sewers? Dressed-up reptiles and rodents
looking pretty for the camera? We’d think not.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
Oops, here we have another case where the special
features steal the show from the movie itself. Not that we
are complaining, the truckful of fun stuff here delighted
us even though we are not kids. You’d have hours of
non-stop fun.
Printables
– Bookmarks, masks, memory games, posters,
stationery, anything you want, you can print it here. Equip
yourself with a good colour printer and print, print, print
away! You can actually save money buying gifts for those bratty
kids.
Weblinks – Smart move: Pop the disc
into your computer and you can choose to be directed to the
websites of Dreamworks Kids and the Flushed Away movie.
Super
Slug Stuff – This is very interesting. A whole
downloadable section on the slugs! There are virtual slugs
for your computer, slug tones for your mobile phone, slug
games for your desktop, and more printables ranging from slug
T-shirt iron ons to slug bracelets! The efforts of the DVD
producers will not go unnoticed.
Directory
Commentary – The British directors tell us
about how they made the movie feel English, as well as other
interesting animation facts about colours and techniques.
We love the bright and elegant British accents.
The
Music of Flushed Away – The nine-minute clip
brings us on a musical journey with composer Harry Gregson-Williams.
We love seeing the scoring sessions take place on screen.
Of course, this would be a great place for the singing slugs
to showcase their pipes.
Meet
the Cast – A very well-produced eight-minute
feature on the perfect casting of the voice actors. It is
a great experience seeing Jackman, Winslet and McKellen talking
about their on-screen characters. The best bits go to Reno
with his hilarious impersonation of the French villain.
Dreamworks
Animation Video Jukebox – The five-minute clip
features songs from movies like Shrek (I’m A Believer),
Shark Tale (Carwash) and Madagascar (I Like to Move It Move
It). The catchy tunes got our feet tapping.
Super
Slug Stuff – More fun with the slugs! Choose
from songs, games and an innovative 2-minute clip of how a
real slug moves (3 feet in 17 minutes!). There’s no
point to this section except fun, fun and more fun.
Trailers
– Included on the disc are trailers for other animated
movies like Shrek the Third, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse
of the Were Rabbit and Barnyard.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The visual transfer on this Code 3 disc is good enough for
the folks at Aardman to be proud of, and you can listen to
the movie in Thai, Mandarin, Cantonese, or like most of us
ordinary folks – English.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING :
Review
by John Li
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