Jimmy L. FLUSHED AWAY (2006) is an adventure tale about a pet rat from a posh London neighborhood who is flushed out of his home and into the sewers, where he discovers a thriving rat city.Hugh Jackman voices Roddy, the rat from "up top" who doesn't realize how lonely he is until he gets a taste of life in the outside world. Kate Winslet voices Rita the sewer rat, a street-smart woman-of-action who captains a ship and hunts for treasure to support her poor family. Roddy hopes Rita can help him get home, but his bumbling gets her into trouble with the sinister Toad (voiced deliciously by Sir Ian McKellen).FLUSHED AWAY is a film from the British-based Aardman Studios (of Wallace & Gromit fame). Released through Dreamworks Animation, it is a rare foray for Aardman into the realm of feature-length computer animation, which is stylized to approximate the studio's signature stop-motion aesthetic (particularly with the staccato mouth movements).The animation in the opening scene at Roddy's house seems well below the industry standard, surprisingly poor for a major studio release in 2006, but the film looks better once the action moves to the sewers.Any shortcomings in the animation are easily overlooked because the film is so creative and so much fun. The movie is packed with visual gags and a wonderful sense of comedy. It's a rather unique story, full of delightful quirks. The Toad is a riot and his French cousin Le Frog (Jean Reno) and his team of scuba suit-wearing henchfrogs are hilarious. (The mime gag is comedic genius.) The singing slugs provide well-timed comic relief, and are much funnier (in an oddball way) than the popular comic relief minions of DESPICABLE ME (2010).Very much a British film, the action is set in London around the hoopla of the soccer World Cup. The Toad has a collection of Royal Family memorabilia and even has a tragic personal history with Prince Charles. The filmmakers also have fun with cultural stereotypes, spoofing American tourists as well as Frenchmen, Italians, etc. (as seen through British eyes).And for a movie about toilets and sewers, the script tries to go easy on the really gross stuff. The full implications of the premise are glossed over to make for a more stomachable film, though there are a couple gross-out gags that the filmmakers couldn't pass up.With so many wonderful characters (in addition to those mentioned, Andy Serkis and an almost unrecognizable Bill Nighy voice the Toad's odd couple rat henchmen to hilarious effect), some truly great character animation (the Toad and the bouncy frogs in particular), such a brilliant sense of humor, and an adventure story that is both exciting and full of heart, FLUSHED AWAY is an entertaining flick. Its creativity, especially in the creation of the rat city (built out of miniature odds and ends from the human world above) and the sewer civilization of anthropomorphic critters, is impressive. It's nice to see a film that's not derivative, and one that's so much fun.6.5/10

lisafordeay Flushed Away is a film made by Aardaman and is distributed by DreamWorks Animation and features the voices of Hugh Jackman,Kate Winslet and Shane Richie. The film is about a pampered rat named Rodney(voiced by Jackman with a British accent again as he sometimes portraits some of his characters in British accents like in Kate & Leopold)who has it all. His got his own car,has plastic barbie dolls as his girlfriends and his cage is like a mansion. But when his brother accidentally flushes him down the toilet he ends up in a sewage and meets up with other species like himself. He later meets a no nonsense rat called Rita(voiced by Kate Winslet from Titanic)who helps Rodney out in his new surroundings and of course come up face to face with a villain(voiced by Billy Nighy from Love Actually). But will Rodney ever find his way home or will he stay with Rita?Bottom line I really enjoyed this film because of Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet. I try my best to watch them in their movies as often as I see them on TV as they are both great versatile actors and having worked together a few years later in another movie(which I am not gonna mention but it does remind you of Valentines Day with all the big stars in it nuff said)they are really good actors. The animation is in the same style as Wallace and Gromit(Clay Animation)but still it was good animation too. Is it the best animated film I have seen no,but still if you are a fan of the stars then check it out. Like I said the voice acting is very good in this movie as Jackman doesn't use his actual voice(he only used his own voice in Rise Of The Guaridans).Bottom line I give it a thumbs up.C+

long-ford This film turned out to be solidly entertaining. The animation is a blocky Aardman-like, but done using CGI. The results are fine. The story is light, basically just an excuse for an adventure through London's sewers where there's an entire community of creatures living, Dickens style. Ian McKellen is tremendous voicing the villainous Toad. Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet are dependable as a pair of constantly bickering opposites who ultimately attract. There are some inappropriate Americanisms throughout the production, which otherwise retains a typically British sense of humor. Recommended.Overall 7/10

freakfire-1 Can anybody do good CGI films besides Pixar? I mean really, animation looked antiquated by 2006 standards and even by 1995 Toy Story standards. Or maybe they spent all their budget on Hugh Jackman. Whatever their reasoning, the story truly did suck.Somehow, Hugh Jackman is a rat - a rat that is flushed down a toilet. Yeah I know, seems stereotypical. But then the sewer mimicked the ways of London - to an extent. Throw in a promise of jewels (????) and an evil(??) frog and you get a pathetic attempt at entertainment.I would like to say something entertained me. Maybe the hookup in the movie? Or maybe the happily-ever-after rat relationship. But nothing did. It had the talent, but it blew up. D-