Flushed Away Review
by Tim Voon (winklebeck AT hotmail DOT com)December 26th, 2006
Flushed Away (2006)
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 2006 Timothy Voon
1 out of 5 stars
Cast (voices): Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellan, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Jean Reno, Shane Richie
I think I smiled once during my entire sitting of 'Flushed Away' and it wasn't at the moment which seemed to cause the most laughter in the cinema - when 'Roddy' (Hugh Jackman) the sophisticated rat from Kensington falls from a great height and hits his private parts on a series of pipes, before sustaining another testicular injury from a soccer ball. Personally, I don't find this kind of juvenile toilet humor amusing to say the least.
So why did I find this movie more annoying than amusing?
Well our hero the protagonist 'Roddy', literally gets flushed down a toilet and ends up in the sewers beneath London. He is a bit of a dithering idiot and an accident-prone fop. Who could be described as a cross between Prince Charles and Mr. Bean. Personally, I prefer my heroes to be more down to earth, less flamboyant and preferably not a rat dressed in a tuxedo. I found 'Roddy' both stupid and extremely annoying.
On the other hand, the heroine 'Rita' (Kate Winslet) shows far more gusto and flair that her male counterpart. Really, she is the true hero of the film. They should have just got rid of 'Roddy' and concentrated on her adventures in the tunnels of the sewers, which could be described as 'Rat on the African Queen'.
Besides getting the hero rat all wrong, we have singing slugs which I personally did not find charming or entertaining. We have 'The Toad' voiced by Ian McKellan, who is excellent on any given day. However, this villain shows as much charisma as a wet rat. No pun intended. The plot surrounds 'The Toad' trying to drown the Rat City in the sewers using urine and faeces from all the homes in London, during the half time break of the World Cup series. OMG, whoever thought up this idea should be shot. Personally, I don't think rats being smothered by excrement is going to kill them and they can all swim anyway.
I endured this sitting of 'Flushed Away' only because I was trying to escape the mad crowds during the Boxing Day sales at Chadstone shopping centre. This was my mistake, I think I would have faired better in the company of mad shoppers that being stuck in a cinema filled with wet rats.
Timothy Voon
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