Aardman Animations are best known for Creature Comforts and, of course, Wallace and Gromit. After they joined forces with DreamWorks to produce features films, they came up with Chicken Run and last year's Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. And now we have their first CGI animated film, Flushed Away. Well it isn't as good as The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: It's better. Much as I liked the inventiveness which Nick Park has brought to Wallace and Gromit, the Curse of the Were-Rabbit dragged in a few places, despite its short running time. It seems as Wallace and Gromit are best suited to a short film rather than a full-length feature.
Flushed Away, however, does not make that mistake. All the visual inventiveness and Aardman "look" are all present and correct but aided by a script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais amongst others which means better lines and better gags. Toilet humour is almost a given considering the location of the story but crudity is kept to a minimum and this is definitely a film the whole family can enjoy, with adults and children able to find different things in it to enjoy. Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen and Jean Reno give good voice and the whole thing zips by as quick as a flash. And despite the U.S. money and the fact it was made in L.A., it's a refreshing change to see a CGI film that has an English slant on things and clearly made by English people rather than an American's quaint and outdated view of England.
And wisely, the result of the England v Germany World Cup Final, against the background of which the finale is set, sees England beaten on penalties. Quite right too. I'm prepared to accept talking rats and dancing frogs and a miniature city in the sewers but England beating Germany in the World Cup Final? Some things stretch credibility just that bit too far.
It's a shame the critics have been so negative about this film. Aardman isn't just Wallace and Gromit and whilst this may not look as technically polished as Pixar's films, this is as easily as entertaining as the best of them. So ignore the bad reviews and go and see this for yourself. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Flushed Away, however, does not make that mistake. All the visual inventiveness and Aardman "look" are all present and correct but aided by a script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais amongst others which means better lines and better gags. Toilet humour is almost a given considering the location of the story but crudity is kept to a minimum and this is definitely a film the whole family can enjoy, with adults and children able to find different things in it to enjoy. Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen and Jean Reno give good voice and the whole thing zips by as quick as a flash. And despite the U.S. money and the fact it was made in L.A., it's a refreshing change to see a CGI film that has an English slant on things and clearly made by English people rather than an American's quaint and outdated view of England.
And wisely, the result of the England v Germany World Cup Final, against the background of which the finale is set, sees England beaten on penalties. Quite right too. I'm prepared to accept talking rats and dancing frogs and a miniature city in the sewers but England beating Germany in the World Cup Final? Some things stretch credibility just that bit too far.
It's a shame the critics have been so negative about this film. Aardman isn't just Wallace and Gromit and whilst this may not look as technically polished as Pixar's films, this is as easily as entertaining as the best of them. So ignore the bad reviews and go and see this for yourself. I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did.