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When the family's away, the mouse will play. But pampered house pet Roddy's home-alone romp is shattered when a sewer rat settles in. Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) tries to dispose of this ill-bred intruder by flushing him down the "Jacuzzi," but the rat knows a toilet when he sees one and flushes Roddy instead. Our hero finds himself in a subterranean metropolis that cleverly replicates London, a far cry from his palatial cage; and upon splashdown he finds himself embroiled in the affairs of scavenger rat Rita (Kate Winslet), who pilots a makeshift craft called the Jammy Dodger. She is pursued by the evil Toad (Ian McKellen), who is plotting to wipe out the underground city's rodent population. The first computer-animated feature from Britain's Aardman Animations (Wallace & Gromit) is an absolutely smashing adventure. While one misses the stop-motion plasticine delights of those films, Flushed Away more than compensates with superb voice work, including Andy "Gollum" Serkis and Bill Nighy as the Toad's bumbling henchrats and a hilarious Jean Reno as Toad's mercenary French cousin, Le Frog. Droll humor and whimsical characters -- such as singing slugs and accordion-playing frogs -- further reveal the Aardman hands behind the film. From a cockroach reading Kafka's The Metamorphosis to two slugs re-enacting the romantic spaghetti dinner from Lady and the Tramp, there are inventive throwaway gags and clever visual bits that will reward repeat viewing. Flushed Away pretty much sums up what unaccountably happened to this movie when it played in theaters. But as with The Iron Giant, another initially neglected gem, this film should be flush with success on DVD. Donald Liebenson

All Movie Guide

A previously pampered society mouse must fight his way back to the comforts of Kensington after he is sent spiraling into an underground world filled with scavenger rats and villainous toads in a fun-filled family adventure produced by DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features and featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, and Jean Reno. Roddy (Jackman) was living the high life when he first met Sid the sewer rat (Shane Richie), but that's all about to change when Sid decides to send the hapless mouse down the pipes and stealthily take his place in the lap of luxury. Though the bustling sewer city of Ratropolis isn't without its fair share of kind citizens, it is certainly no place for a pampered mouse with a taste for life's finer things. Upon making the acquaintance of scavenger rat Rita (Winslet), Roddy is certain that the pair can navigate their way back to the surface in Rita's trusty boat, the Jammy Dodger, but Rita's help doesn't come cheap, and the nefarious Toad (McKellen) is determined to rid Ratropolis of all things rodent. When Toad's hapless hench-rats Spike (Andy Serkis) and Whitey (Bill Nighy) fail to achieve acceptable results, the green meanie is forced to call in the cavalry in the form of legendary French mercenary Le Frog (Reno) to get the job done. Jason Buchanan

Product Details

• UPC: 097361176840
• Source: DREAMWORKS ANIMATED
• Time: 1:24:00
• Sales Rank: 1,331