Flushed Away

WITH Christmas looming, anything that can divert your energies away from thoughts of presents is a welcome distraction and Flushed Away is just the ticket.
Animation is becoming the fashionable thing in this digital era and, once again, a children's film has been created that will entertain the whole family.
After all, the movie is by the brilliant Aardman Animations who brought us Wallace and Gromit, so immediately you know you are in safe hands.
Flushed Away is the story of an upmarket pet rat called Roddy living in Kensington who ends up getting flushed down the toilet.
In the sewers, Roddy must learn a new way of life. He meets a love interest called Rita and gets tangled up with some rather nasty gangster rats and frogs.

In a whirlpool 90 minutes, Roddy gets the girl and saves the sewer from destruction at the hands of arch nemesis The Toad (reminiscent of Danger Mouse's Baron Greenback) and learns a valuable, if predictable lesson about true happiness.
What's strong about the film is that it has a distinctly British charm thanks to its production values and storyline. Add to that the usual Hollywood glaze and it has the best of both worlds.
It is also complemented with a well-balanced cast with stars like Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet, Hollywood heavyweights like Sir Ian McKellen and Bill Nighy, and smaller British talent like Shane Richie and Kathy Burke.
What's disappointing, however, is that Flushed Away has little in the way of adult references to raise a wry smile on the faces of the older audience but, with a fairly compelling core plot, this can be forgiven.