Por Água Abaixo

Being the creators and producers of both Chicken Run and the Wallace & Gromit series, people should expect a lot from the talents of the Aardman company. Luckily, again they succeed in making a great movie with their first computer animated flick Flushed Away.

The story is about a spoiled rat named Roddy (Hugh Jackman). He leads a save life as the pet of an upper class English girl. When the family is away on holiday Roddy gets flushed in the toilet and suddenly finds himself in the sewer. There he discovers a giant city filled with rats and a cruel frog boss called Toad. In an attempt to get back home Roddy enlists the help from the female shipper Rita. But she gets him into more trouble when she accidentally steals an import item from Toad. It doesn't take long before both Roddy and Rita are wanted by the whole frog mob…

When movies like Cars or Over the Hedge get more and more photo realistic, Flushed Away puts an emphasis on fun and visual comedy. From the first screen second you know that you're looking at a different kind of movie. This is England, not America. Here they play soccer and not football. The movie starts at a fast pace and never lets go. The opening scene, in which Roddy plays with the toys in the house, is so funny that you get scared that the makers will not run out of bright ideas too soon. But one shouldn't worry. Most of the visual ideas are absolutely brilliant. Just take a look at rat city, which is made of microwaves, phone boots and washing machines. You should watch the movie at least twice to see it all. Of course there are a lot of reverences to other movies (James Bond, Finding Nemo and even Terminator 2) but those moments don't play a mayor part in the movie. The story is fresh and funny and leads to a nice finale involving an important soccer match.

What makes Flushed Away succeed for sure are all the great characters. Toad (Ian McKellen) is a great and funny villain, the always likable Kate Winslet is a strong heroin, Bill Nighy has great moments as Toad's bodyguard Whitey and Jean Reno plays a very laughable French hit-man. But Flushed Away really is carried by Hugh Jackman, who's great performance makes you both laugh and cry. He is both the spoiled nerd as well as the over polite butler. He gets heroic if he must and even carries a great tune singing Tom Jones songs. Actually there are a lot of songs in this movie. Usually that's a thing that I don't like in CGI movies, but in Flushed Away it just works out fine. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that most of the singing was done by maggots…

Because of all the scenes with water Flushed Away couldn't have been done with clay animation alone. So don't be fooled by the combination Aardman and computers. Flushed Away is a sure knock out!

Like a lot of film reviewers, I had a lot of reservations about this film when I first saw the trailer. At first I thought it was going to be just another hastily made CGI cartoon about edgy cartoon animals, filled with top 40 or dance songs and full of topical jokes. The fact that as I waited for the movie to start, half the trailers were for more CGI cartoons about edgy cartoon animals and the other half was for films about trash talking fairy tale characters.

Thankfully this movie was a blessed reprieve from all of that. In Flushed Away, Aardman studios has made yet another family classic that will still be as entertaining ten years from now as it is today. Granted, it's loaded with a lot of pop songs and oldies, but most of them are sung by a chorus of slugs (which makes for one of the best running gags I've seen in a while).

The story actually felt pretty fresh for a family movie, or any movie for that matter. While it's by no means unpredictable, it doesn't feel too much like it's treading over the same ground most family films seem to go over these days. The jokes were surprisingly clever too. While there's the usual slapstick humor, there's also plenty of highbrow jokes thrown in the mix. (How often do you find references to Kafka in an animated feature, after all?) What I liked best about this movie was that Aardman stayed true to its roots of making stop-motion films. My initial worry was that they had sold out and were going to just make CGI films from here on out like everybody else, but when you watch this film, you'll see that they do as much as possible to maintain the look of their other animated films like Chiken Run and Wallace & Gromit. Overall this is a great selection to take your family to see, and worth seeing even if you're a grown up too.

Flushed Away is the perfect marriage between the American Dreamworks and their crass sense of humor and the British Aardman and their dry sense of humor. Beside the obvious jokes about the sewer there's much to enjoy for the more sophisticated viewer. Like a cockroach reading FranzKafka's The Metamorphosis. The voice-cast is spot on: Ian McKellen as the evil genius The Toad is pure delight, Kate Winslet and Hugh Jackman are clearly having a blast giving their voices to rats Rita and Roddy. But the cream of the crop are the singing and screaming snails. When they sing at the top of their lungs Proud Mary you laugh so hard you have to check your underpants to see if you haven't had a little accident.

The fact that I could be entertained by another one of these animated talking animal movies is a miracle. Is this number 1000 over the past 2 years? I just love English sarcasm, wit, dryness that strikes a chord in these old bones. The great news, nobody was in drag.

During the movie, there are inside English jokes that Americans may not understand such as "England loses on penalty kicks" which is a modern football tradition in the UK and the English love of knick knacks. The singing slugs don't do it for me but the kids liked them.

I highly recommend this movie even if you are sick of computer animated talking animals.

I have to admit that I went into this movie with the mixed expectations. I'm haven't been especially impressed with Dreamworks animations, minus "Over the Hedge" which I think is their first film that stands on its own two feet without relying on the popularity of previous animations or pop-culture references.

But enough on that, Flush Away was an enjoyable romp of animation. My only real complaint, is the pacing. The entire thing feels a roller coaster that you ride upside down -- with rotating seats. (Perhaps a contraption Aardman would come up with). The gags are amusing and some are very funny, but I need some breathing/laughing time between them.

Yet if your brain can handle the onslaught of information, you will be able to appreciate the extraordinary amount of creativity in terms of visuals and attention to detail. There's also plenty of adult innuendo and witty jabs at Europeans and Americans alike. Katzenburg's philosophy of making movies "for adults, and the adult in every child." is very evident here. The kids were rolling in the theater with all the slapstick, and the savvy adults had their own laugh track.

In this sense, the film is a success minus the ridiculous pacing. It's worth a look, just leave the Ritalin at home.