Comics / Press Releases

A Preview of DreamWorks - Aardman's "Flushed Away"

By Leroy Douresseaux
November 3, 2006 - 15:04

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION SKG AND AARDMAN FEATURES Present Flushed Away
DIRECTORS:  David Bowers and Sam Fell
WRITERS:  Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, Chris Lloyd & Joe Keenan, and Will Davies; from a story by Sam Fell, Peter Lord and Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais
PRODUCERS: Peter Lord, David Sproxton, and Cecil Kramer

Starring:  (voices) Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet,  Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Shane Richie, and Jean Reno

Opening date:  Friday, November 03, 2006
Rating:  MPAA- PG for crude humor and some language
Running time:  86 minutes

The Oscar-winning animation studios, DreamWorks Animation ( Shrek) and Aardman Features ( Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) present the computer-animated comedy Flushed Away.  This new computer-animated movie blends Aardman's trademark style and with DreamWorks' state-of-the-art computer animation, creating a film marks a unique new look for the art form of computer-animated (or 3-D animation) film.
 
A comedy, Flushed Away is set on and beneath the streets of London, Roddy St. James (Hugh Jackman) is a pampered pet mouse that thinks he's got it made in his swell home.  However, a low-life sewer rat named Sid (Shane Richie) comes spewing out of the sink and decides it's his turn to enjoy the lap of luxury.  Roddy schemes to rid himself of the pest by luring him into the loo (bathroom) for a dip in the "whirlpool" or toilet, but Roddy's plan backfires when he inadvertently winds up being the one flushed away into the bustling world down below.

Underground, Roddy discovers a vast metropolis, where he meets Rita (Kate Winslet), a street-wise rat who is on a mission of her own.  If Roddy is going to get home, he and Rita will need to escape the clutches of the villainous Toad (Ian McKellen).  Toad royally despises all rodents and has dispatched two hapless henchrats, Spike (Andy Serkis, "Gollum" from The Lord of the Rings) and Whitey (Bill Nighy, Underworld), as well as his cousin - that dreaded mercenary, Le Frog (Jean Reno, The Professional) - to see that Roddy and Rita are put on ice… literally.

Aardman's films are usually done with stop-motion animation or stop-frame photography with characters made of Plasticene.  This kind of animation is generically referred to as "claymation" although that term is a registered trademark of Will Vinton Studios.  Flushed away was conceived in Aardman's UK studio, but produced entirely in DreamWorks' Glendale, CA animation studio.

Visit the film site at FlushedAway.com.

For movie reviews, visit http://www.negromancer.com.

 

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12