Flushed Away

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Flushed Away. I expect a lot from the people at Dreamworks. The last movie I can remember similar to this one was Wallace and Grommit, which was referenced in this movie. I wasn't very impressed with Wallace and Grommit although I enjoyed the animation. This movie was slightly better. Both movies are geared toward younger audiences. However, many movies aimed at younger audiences are equally fun for adults. A movie like Spiderwick Chronicles can appeal to younger audiences and still captivate the adults who accompany the target audience.

NOTE: This review will reveal minor details regarding the plot of this movie.

Writing
This movie was written by a group of writers. This collaborative effort produced decent dialogue dotted with puns. The writing was designed to target a younger audience and was dumbed down at times to the point of being a bit tedious. The dialogue was decent, but used devices like toilet humor to get laughs. Okay, the toilet is part of the movie...I get it. There are a lot of visual gags in this movie incorporated into the storyline. These gags aren't really funny unless you are eight. They way overdid the getting hit in the crotch idea. There were some decent visual gags.

Plot
The plot in this movie isn't unlike that of many other animated films. It follows the travails of a rat who gets flushed into the sewer system and tries to find his way home. Only home isn't where he thinks it is (metaphorically speaking). He finds his way home only to return to the underworld to save the day. The plot is weak and predictable, but the fun of animation isn't always in the plot.

Voice Acting
It has to be difficult to act in an animated film. I am always amazed at how seamlessly some actors are able to interact with animation that is added after they shoot their scene. The choreography in those shots must be precise and the acting believable. In voice acting, it seems there must be similar challenges. Matching voice and expressions to animated versions of the dialogue. Dreamworks has this process down and does impeccable animation to match the expression of the actors. However, for actors to give a performance where they aren't really reacting to their surroundings seems like a decent challenge. Although this movie isn't the best animated film I've seen in a while, the voice acting was solid. Featuring Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno and Bill Nighy form the core group of actors in this film. The voice acting was up to par in this movie.

Animation
The animation in this film was very similar to Wallace and Grommit. The 3-Dimensional cartoon character look is a winner. The detail that goes into producing this type of movie is phenomenal. What I like about this type of animation is the things they can do with mundane effects. For instance, there are scenes where water freezes, several variations of smoke or cheeto puffs snapping and various water effects. The detail in these effects contains a realism that makes these cartoons more realistic. The spaghetti hair seems like a shortcut, but they do a good job of allowing the hair to move, which is more than you would get from older animation. The animation was exceptional.

Action
This is really an extension of the animation, because the entire film is animated. However, it deserves special mention because there are a few action scenes that are exceptionally well done. When you have rapid motion in a three dimensional cartoon world, the amount of detail that goes into a short sequence must be astronomical. The action sequences were both believable and detailed. The amount of action that was going on was amazing...there is a water chase that moves quickly and has many elements incorporated into it. That must have been half of the time spent animating the movie. It was one of my favorite parts of the movie.

Music
I'm not really going to call this a soundtrack, because there wasn't a soundtrack per se. What we ended up with were a few animated shorts where various songs were performed on the quick. We had a fun rendition of Hugh Jackman doing Tom Jones' on a table (and having a pair of granny drawers thrown at him), then there are the lovable but gross slugs that pop up now and again performing snippets of Don't Worry, Be Happy, Sailing (by Chris Cross) and Pround Mary. During the closing credits we get some additional Tom Jones...the real deal, performing Pussycat. The musical interludes were well timed and humorous.

Rating
This movie was rated PG by the MPAA. I'm not sure why it wasn't G, other than a little bit of potty humor. I would call this PG-light. I thought it was suitable for children of any age, but preferably ones that haven't hit their teens yet. This movie doesn't really offer much entertainment value to older audiences. For the target audience this movie would probably be very enjoyable. They know this audience well and geared their gags for that group alone.

Overall Impression
I have struggled a little bit with the rating for this movie. I would give it four stars for anyone reading this that is eight years old. But I will stick with my first rating, which is three stars out of a possible five. The animation was great and the musical interludes were fun. However the plot and many of the visual gags were average at best. This movie would be fine for younger audiences to view anytime. I wouldn't rent it for a Friday night unless the kids were having a sleep over.