Flushed Away

Name: Flushed Away

Directed by: Sam Bowers Sam Fell

Screenplay by: Dick Clements Will Davies Ian La Frenais Joe Keenan Chris Lloyd Simon Nye (uncredited)

Story by: Dick Clements Sam Fell Ian Le Frenais Peter Lord

Produced by: Cecil Kramer Peter Lord David Sproxton

Music by: Harry Gregson-Williams

Cinematography by: Brad Blackbourn Frank Passingham (Heads of Layout)

Film Editing by: John Venzon Eric Dapkewicz (Co-Editor)

Production Design by: David A.S. James

Studio: Pixar Animation Studios

Production Companies: Aardman Animations PDI: Pacific Data Images

Release: Columbia Pictures

Airdate: November 3, 2006

Length: 85 minutes

Budget: $149 million

Box Office: $178,120,010

Pixar Movie Number: 770

Flushed Away is a 2006 computer-animated action-adventure comedy film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell, produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton, and Peter Lord, and written by Dick Clement, Ian La Frenais, and Simon Nye. It was co-produced by Aardman Animations and Columbia Pictures and is Aardman's first completely computer-animated feature as opposed to the usual stop-motion.

The film stars the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy, Ian McKellen, Shane Richie and Jean Reno.

The film was released in US on 3 November 2006 and in UK on 1 December 2006 and was distributed by Paramount Pictures, except for Switzerland, Spain, and the Netherlands, which were handled by Universal Pictures. The film received positive reviews from critics.

Plot
Roddy St. James (Hugh Jackman) is a decidedly upper crust pet rat who makes his home in a posh Kensington flat. While his owners are away on holiday Roddy plays around the house. A common sewer rat named Sid (Shane Richie) comes spewing out of the sink and decides to stay, especially as England are playing against Germany in the World Cup final. Roddy schemes to get rid of Sid by luring him into the "jacuzzi", which is actually the toilet. Sid isn't fooled at all and instead pushes Roddy in and flushes him away into the sewer. There, Roddy discovers a city resembling London made out of various bits of junk, and meets Rita Malone (Kate Winslet), an enterprising scavenger rat who works the drains in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Rita despises Roddy initially, but ends up taking him along, while her arch enemy The Toad (Ian McKellen) sends his rat henchmen, Spike (Andy Serkis) and Whitey (Bill Nighy), after her because she had stolen back her father's prized ruby a long time ago. The Toad loathes all rodents to the point of hateful obsession. He plans to have them frozen with liquid nitrogen inside an icemaker. The pair escape, and Rita takes a unique electrical cable that, unknown to everyone but the Toad, is required to control the floodgates.

Roddy finds that the ruby is a fake and breaks it in front of Rita, enraging her, for she can now not get the money she needs for her large family. Roddy offers her a real ruby if she takes him back to Kensington. Accepting the offer, the pair first stop to visit her family before setting off. During Roddy's stay, he overhears a conversation that causes him to think that Rita had double-crossed him, so he steals the Jammy Dodger. When Rita catches up to him, she is able to clear up the misunderstanding. The pair evade Spike and Whitey pursuing in a remote-controlled toy boat, with Thimblenose Ted and others on eggbeater jet skis. During this scene, Roddy and Rita share a quick love moment. Incensed at his minions’ repeated failures, The Toad sends for his French cousin; an infamous, if somewhat laid back, mercenary known as Le Frog (Jean Reno). During this scene, it is revealed that The Toad was once Prince Charles' pet, but was replaced by a pet rat, and subsequently flushed down a toilet. Le Frog and his subordinates intercept the duo and retrieve the cable, but Roddy and Rita use a plastic bag to lift themselves out of the sewer (snatching away the cable during the ascent) and get Roddy home, though the Jammy Dodger is destroyed.

Back home, Roddy pays Rita the promised ruby and an emerald, then proceeds to show her around his house. She at first believes he has family in the home, but noticing his cage, she realises he's a pet. Roddy tries to pass Sid off as his brother, but Sid and Rita know each other. Rita tries to persuade Roddy to come with her, but he is too proud to admit that he is lonely. By now, they have fallen in love but have not told each other their feelings. She departs, both of them broken-hearted, but is soon captured by The Toad. Talking to Sid about half-time, Roddy pieces together The Toad's plan: to open the gates during halftime of the World Cup, when all the humans will most likely be using their toilets, causing a great flood and drowning the rats and their underground city in sewage. He can then use the depopulated city as a home for his own tadpole offspring. He gives Sid his cushy position and has him flush him back to the sewers to find Rita and save the city. Together, they defeat The Toad and freeze the wave of sewage generated by the flushing of countless toilets during half-time with liquid nitrogen before it drowns the entire rat population.

Rita and Roddy build the Jammy Dodger Mark Two and set off in her with Rita's entire brood. A newspaper article reveals England had lost on penalties. Later while the credits start, Roddy's former owner Tabitha comes back with a new pet cat, which scares Sid.

Voice Talent
•	Hugh Jackman as Roderick "Roddy" St. James, a pampered but lonely pet rat living in a Kensington apartment with a wealthy English family. He is flushed down the toilet by Sid into the sewers.

•	Kate Winslet as Rita Malone, a street-wise scavenger rat and the oldest child of a large family. She is the captain of The Jammy Dodger.

•	Ian McKellen as The Toad, a haughty amphibian wanting the entire rat population to be killed off so he can make room for his hundreds of offspring.

•	Jean Reno as Le Frog, The Toad's French cousin. He masters martial arts and is the leader of a team of hench-frogs.

•	Andy Serkis as Spike, one of the Toad's top two hench-rats. Being the Toad's hench-rat is Spike's first job, despite him being only a teenager. He is the sharper-witted of the two.

•	Bill Nighy as Whitey, another of the Toad's top two hench-rats. Whitey is an albino rat, once working in a lab and he is Spike's partner. Unlike Spike, Whitey is sympathetic and less vicious, but is also rather ignorant and gullible.

And Also Starring Shane Richie as Sid, an over-weight and lazy rat from the sewers. He is an acquaintance of Rita and her family, and the one who flushed Roddy down the toilet into the sewers.

Media Release

 * Flushed Away is released on DVD February 20, 2007.

DVD Main Menu

 * Play Movie
 * Scene Selection
 * Special Features, Outtakes and Commentary with David Bowers
 * Set-Up and Audio
 * English
 * French
 * Mexican Spanish
 * Brazilian Portuguese
 * German
 * Swedish
 * Hungarian
 * Italian
 * Icelandic
 * Polish

DVD Previews

 * Over the Hedge on DVD Trailer (Get Yours Today)
 * We Own the Night Trailer (In Theaters October 12)
 * Perfect Stranger Trailer (In Theaters April 13)

Quotes

 * Quotes