DreamWorks Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen
Directed By: David Bowers and Sam Fell
Rated: PG
DreamWorks
For the second time this year, I found myself in the interesting position of watching a movie that I had read the script for prior to seeing it. The first was Curious George, a film I actually didn't bother reviewing this past spring. In that case, I was one of the designers of the video game that was based on the movie, and I wrote all of the in-game voiceover scripts. I never bothered to review that film--I guess because I didn't much care for it and I didn't want to slag it on my web site when I had worked on the game. Flushed Away was different, however. I also worked on the video game based on this film--this time, I only wrote the dialog and didn't have any input on the game design. But that's neither here nor there. The reason that I am reviewing this one is because I pretty much have nothing but good things to say about the film. And that can only reflect well on the game.
Flushed Away is the story of a mouse (a rat in the original script) named Roddy (Jackman). Roddy is a pampered pet who is left alone in his Kensington flat while his owners are on vacation. Roddy is having a good old time gallivanting around the house...that is, until a fat oafish sewer rat named Sid (Shane Richie) gets blasted up through the kitchen drain and starts turning Roddy's world upside down. Roddy tries to get rid of Sid by flushing him down the toilet, but Sid turns the tables on our hero and sends Roddy into the sewer instead. Once there, Roddy discovers an entire rat version of London, populated by (you guessed it) rats. In an attempt to get home, Roddy links up with a rough and tumble boat captain named Rita (Winslet)--but in the process of trying to get Roddy home, the two rodents find themselves caught up in a plot by the evil Toad (McKellen) to destroy all of the rats in London.
Flushed Away is an Aardman production--by the same folks who brought us the claymation Wallace and Grommet shorts and movie and Chicken Run. This is Aardman's first computer generated film--apparently, it's extremely difficult to handle large quantities of water when dealing with claymation. At any rate, the film's art style is very much in line with Aardman's other productions. The script also has much of Aardman's trademark British wit--although the "Britishness" of the film was toned down throughout the production, apparently in hopes of reaching a broader audience in America. Although the film works as released, it definitely lost some of its bite both dialog and character-wise from its earlier drafts. The script I worked from to write the dialog for the video game was so different from the final product that about half of the film was new to me when I saw it at the theater.
Even so, Flushed Away has more good moments than bad. The characters are amusing, the dialog is witty and, while very kid-friendly, the film is not made to be fun for kids exclusively (which, I suppose, was my gripe with Curious George, which never rose above "cute" at any point in the film). It's a fun romp, and well worth seeing.
Bottom line: A fun and funny story that has something for both kids and adults alike.