My Review: ⭐⭐ I never like to judge a movie by its cover. But when I saw the title and cover art for Flushed Away, I must admit that I had little to expect. In fact, I already felt like awarding the movie 2 stars. Something about it just repelled me. Then the film started rolling and 30 amble minutes pass by and it’s okay enough to start considering a 3-star review. But as the movie concludes its 75-minute run and you’re left on the couch feeling a bit unsatisfied, that review goes back down to 2 stars pretty fast. See, there never was a part of me that wanted to like this film. But as it began to redeem itself, I was pretty disappointed to see potential wasted in favor of a middling third act. There’s not much wrong with this movie; rather, there’s simply not much to recommend. So, what did I like about the movie? Well, for starters, Hugh Jackman is always a good star and when he plays Roddy, he does pretty well. Most lines match Jackman’s personality and nothing is quite wrong with Roddy’s character. The other characters are okay too, specifically Rita and Sid, but the Toad was a bit annoying to me. The music choice is better than usual for this film and the narrative structure is not a bad thing, it definitely had some potential rolling. And the animation was not terrible for 2006 and there were definitely some scenes that were impressive, particularly the sewer chase scenes. Thus, you might ask, what was wrong with the movie? The main problem was a lack of interesting or groundbreaking content. It’s not that I was bored more so that I felt unsatisfied. By the second act, I could feel something starting to stir and the movie exceeded my expectations. But then a pointless third act completely throws the movie off the rails. There are ninja French frogs and somehow the World Cup is involved. When a movie requires toilet use as a plot device, you can tell that the plot’s gone down the drain. The movie really really really wants to be a romantic film, but it just fails to properly execute Rita’s and Roddy’s subplot. Their interactions become dull, everything becomes standard, and suddenly, Roddy’s not the half the man he used to be. It feels like Jackman ran out of steam towards the end of the film and he just doesn’t click well with Rita. By the way, the animation for the human characters was absolutely revolting. I don’t care if you’re focusing the film on the rats, at least make the people look nice, not like soulless beings walking around the streets. It’s careless oversights to detail that really make a film look shoddy, Roddy. It needed something. Something to make the film at least a little bit different. But everything felt generic and run of the mill; it feels like the movie never really went anywhere. It just kinda awkwardly stood still after the first 20 minutes, wasting the rest of the runtime for the sake of keeping the movie. Maybe it could have been a short film, but 75 minutes? No. There was nothing innovative or unique about the film, aside from a rich rat exploring sewers with a love interest getting chased by a toad who wants to flood an underground city? It’s so cheesy it could be the plotline of a poor-quality Bond movie. Perhaps the whole premise of the movie doomed it from the start. See, I would love to love every Aardman Feature (who brought movies like Shaun the Sheep, Wallace and Gromit, Chicken Run, really good film that were made in the studio’s signature Claymation). But this film is certainly the lowest of their filmography. Perhaps it was the decision to partner with Dreamworks (who was struggling during this time period, see: Over the Hedge, Shark Tale, etc.). Or maybe Aardman needs to stick with Claymation, it’s what they do best. But I seriously cannot recommend this movie, unless you really like Aardman movies or Hugh Jackman. What I watched it on: Tubi or Prime (I keep forgetting) Other critics: Rotten Tomatoes: 72% Metacritic: 74, "generally favorable reviews"
I will never understand what other critics saw in the film Shame on you, Rotten Tomatoes >:[ More reviews coming soon! #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away #movie #review #film #critic #shadow #shadowsight #flushed #away
