A pompous, sheltered rat gets flushed down a toilet and finds himself in an underground world where street-wise rats rule. Desperate to get home, he befriends a female rat that agrees to take him home. Together, they evade the evil toads and end up learning a lot about life.

I remember seeing a preview for this movie almost every day for what seemed like a year. Each time I saw it, I laughed at the little slugs. Although I found the slugs annoying when I finally saw the film, I ended up actually liking the movie. And does anyone else find Kate Winslet as a cartoon mouse kind of hot…no?…me neither.

FLUSHED AWAY is probably one of those animated movies that you forgot about amongst the hoopla surrounding CARS and HAPPY FEET. I don’t know if I’d go as far as to say it was better than those two, but FLUSHED AWAY was a fun movie that should entertain kids and adults alike. Jackman and Winslet do a fine job with their voice work and the directors do a great job of adding subtle jokes that audiences will get a kick out of. I especially like the X-Men costume in the beginning and the frozen Han Solo in the freezer.

One of my problems with recent animated films is that they rely to heavily on funny, quirky, supporting characters (see ICE AGE and OVER THE HEDGE for reference). This film lacked the annoying supporting character and was better for it. Also, I didn’t get really bored in the middle of the film like I have with other animated films. I hate to say it had a good plot, but at least it had one. The characters were fun and interesting and the story moved along very quickly.

The film did seem to be geared towards little kids a little too much. There was a heavy reliance on kicked-in-the-crotch humor. You can only watch a rat get kicked in the nards before it’s just not funny anymore. However, I’m sure the youngin’s out there will get a kick out of it.

Video: Widescreen (1.85:1): This is a beautiful film that appears to be straight from the digital source.

Audio: French and English 5.1 with English, Spanish and French subtitles: The audio also sounded great with rear channels used often during chase scenes.

Commentary with David Bowers and Sam Fell: These guys clearly dig the film and they do a good job of keeping the track moving. I found myself a little bored at times, but overall it’s a nice commentary track.

Music of Flushed Away (8:51): I always like watching the composer do his thing with clips from the movie playing in the background. This is pretty much what this is as it looks at the difficulties scoring an animated film. Overall, it was an enjoyable little featurette.

Meet the Cast (8:38): It’s always cool to see the people doing the voices of an animated film. This is usually the best part of an animated DVD and this one is no exception. I highly recommend watching this if you don’t watch anything else.

There are also some Previews, a Juke Box, and Slug Songs

I don’t have kids, but if I did, I’d buy this DVD for them, mainly because I enjoyed it. However, I think people of all ages will get something out of it and it should be a crowd pleaser at the next family movie night.