Flushed Away

The 2006 DreamWorks film, Flushed Away, was the first movie that popular British stop-motion film studio, Aardman Animations, made portrayed their usual stop-motion style of animation in the world of computer technology, allowing it to be the testing of new waters for a studio who were already famous for their craft, Whether they became popular for their quaintly likeable short films starring Wallace & Gromit or the 2000s DreamWorks film Chicken Run, they were mainstream enough that people knew what their style was, so it was obvious noticed when Flushed Away was announced and also released through the help of DreamWorks (as part of a filmmaking deal the two companies agreed upon). Despite receiving positive reception from critics as well as featuring plenty of famous voice actors, the movie under-performed at the box office which resulted in DreamWorks cutting ties with Aardman, putting this short-lived corporative period to rest. Despite being forgotten as one of the more obscure movies under DreamWorks’ banner (at least for back then) and the fact that the premise literally takes place down a toilet, the movie actually has some decent to provide.

In a wealthy home located at Kensington, London, a pet rat named Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) enjoys his solitary life while his human owners are away, but this peace is disrupted by a sewer rat named Sid (voiced by Shane Richie), who enjoys the risk-free life and plans to stick around for a bit. After a failed attempt to flush him down the toilet, Roddy himself gets flushed down the drain and winds up in the rat city of Ratropolis, which he struggles to adapt to due to his prissy, pampered lifestyle. Desperately wanting to return to his human household but having no idea where to go, he asks a rat boat captain named Rita (voiced by Kate Winslet) to ferry him back to the surface, who reluctantly agrees after he promises her jewels which could provide her struggling family. As they travel to the edge of the sewer, they are pursued by The Toad (voiced by Ian McKellen), an insane former pet who wishes to retrieve a cable Rita stole to fulfill a plan that might end up washing away every rat in the sewer, forcing the two to pick up the pace and reach their destination.

While not a perfect picture, Flushed Away offers up enough likeable characters, interesting visuals, and uniquely entertaining jokes to make it a different, but still enjoyable DreamWorks flick.

Originally pitched to DreamWorks as a gender-swap version of the 1951 adventure film, The African Queen with rats (which is the strangest combination for a 2006 DreamWorks animated film, but in an eye-catching way) the spark for this concept came about when Aardman were trying to brainstorm ideas to offer to DreamWorks, and development executive Mike Cooper and producer Peter Lord, were the ones to envision and pitch this bizarre concept. While Aardman are known for being a quirky company who can think outside the box and present some unpredictable ideas, a story about a rat literally going down the toilet to go on an adventure feels like it’s shooting itself in the foot right away, especially since it was going to be a mainstream release for American audiences (who found Wallace & Gromit too outlandish). Despite this, it actually makes a lot of sense to use this idea with this studio pairing, as DreamWorks’ edgier atmosphere, bigger budget and ability to hire big actors mixed with Aardman’s off-beat and strangely mature method of handling animation combines to result in a film that doesn’t have all of its kinks working, but one that feels wonderfully original and nicely balanced between feeling incredibly and incredibly retro.

The concept and the direction this relatively simple narrative set-up is strange, but with it comes opportunities to allow for a lot of creative imagery, characters, and jokes, which uses the energy of both companies to surprisingly strong effect. The screenplay handled by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, Chris Llyod, Joe Keenan and Will Davies feels more consistently funny than a lot of other Aardman projects, which are usually more subdued with their humor due to their slower pacing, as this film contains a lot of British wit and strangeness (more than likely coming from Clement and Frenais who worked on a lot of British sitcoms), but with the speed and slapstick of a traditional DreamWorks movie which blend together quite nicely. It surprisingly makes the sewers an interesting place to be in with a story written by Clement, Frenais, Lord and director Sam Fell, that flows together really nicely without feeling too drawn-out. Both Fell and fellow director, David Bowers know when to throw in the right amount of humor, the right amount of character, and the right amount of laid-back atmosphere to allow the movie to have a nice mix of quiet jokes and action-packed chase scenes without the tone feeling mishandled. It’s one of those great DreamWorks properties that balances its general kid-movie emotional spirit that can draw in kids, with a bizarre off-the-walls sensibility that leads to some truly memorable jokes and moments which can appeal to adults, working on both sides and providing a surprisingly solid experience.

The characters mimic a lot of typical Aardman characteristics down to their designs and the manner in which they often react to situations, but the casting and manner in which they handle the humor feels more American, but it also works out pretty nicely and leads to some decent characters. Hugh Jackman as Roddy and Kate Winslet as Rita is already a pretty good pairing as the two are very funny, charming entertainers who are credited for feeling very natural and authentic, but their characters are also pretty well established, being a cute contrasting of personalities who need to work together in order to survive. Both work very well off each other, they share some legitimately nice chemistry which results in a surprisingly decent romance, and the switch of the typical gender roles (having a sensitive dainty man needing to be rescued by a toughened, rugged woman) allows for a lot of fun scenarios and a pretty great dynamic, they’re a lot of fun to watch. The Toad is also a pretty fun villain for this movie, with Ian McKellen’s booming sophisticated voice bringing a classy presence to this clearly deranged amphibian with a hilariously tragic backstory, he leads way into a lot of great jokes.

Most of the side characters have a lot of great designs and are voiced by pretty funny actors, but very few stick around long enough to really feel like meaningful characters, with the exception of Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy as two rat henchman working for The Toad who constantly chases the two leads, as they make for two very memorable comedic foils who provide a lot of great laughs throughout despite not really doing anything that special. There are on occasion some tropes of the time, like some strange singing slugs that are never really funny and come out of nowhere, but they thankfully don’t take up too much time and don’t disrupt the story in any way. It honestly feels like the performances are what really elevate these characters, as while the writing is funny and can lead to some decently bizarre and even referential humor, it isn’t anything overwhelmingly clever, so it’s up to the characters to propel the script (which they do pretty well) as well as make the drama feel believable (which they also surprisingly do).  Even when they act out some fairly basic cliches, they never waste too much time on them and it keeps its focus on the humor, the energy and the characters.

It is pretty strange to see the style of Aardman through the lens of CGI as it’s almost like going from the most rudimentary style of animation to one of the most sophisticated. A lot of reasons were probably the cause for this decision like the vast amount of water that would need to be in the film (which would be hell to animate with stop-motion) or the fact that their studio literally burned down around the same time (along with a majority of their clay supply), but either way, the end results actually work really well. It doesn’t feel like any of their classic style was erased as the character designs and sets have their usual fingerprints (literally), and with the help of computer effects, they can get a more expansive look at the sets, there can be a lot more dynamic camera angles that don’t have to worry about destroying the model illusion, and it can allow for much quicker and more dramatic slapstick. Ratropolis is very visually fun and creative, and the various ways in which typical human appliances and tools are used in this world can lead to some truly bizarre funny moments (a particular moment involving a mime and a phone is wonderfully strange).  The soundtrack is packed with a lot of songs (as to be expected for a DreamWorks film released in the 2000s), and this could’ve so easily become dated and forced like many other films at the time, but either because of the strange premise or just the fact that they tried a little harder this time, they don’t feel as pandering or forced, probably due to the fact that there is at least a variety of options from multiple different time periods, which keeps things from feeling specifically targeted.

While DreamWorks as a studio had previously released films that proved they were a worthy Disney competitor and something like Shrek definitely cemented their edgier personality, Flushed Away is a film that probably helped show audiences that they were a studio that could provide some weird stuff. it’s hard to give it that much credit as it didn’t perform phenomenally when it came out and many people probably think it was just a fever dream when looking back, but it’s appreciated that even though this film has a lot of strange oddities, it still manages to straighten itself out enough to still provide solid fundaments which are worthy of looking back on. Flushed Away features plenty of funny moments, likeable characters, and impressive visuals to create a fun adventure that does have legit emotion and heart when it needs too but never forgets its roots and features enough creative jokes that allows others to look back in awe at what it’s doing. A situation where being flushed down the toilet isn’t an immediately death sentence, a film that is bizarrely worth checking out.