From the creators of the “Wallace & Gromit” shorts comes a new family friendly film. “Flushed Away,” DreamWorks’ latest animated flick to hit theaters, tells the story of Roddy St. James, a sophisticated pet mouse who calls the upscale Kensington neighborhood of London home.

Roddy’s life is comprised of all the benefits that come with uptown living: endless amounts of food, a beautiful home and the freedom to do whatever he wants (at least while his owners aren’t home), but Roddy’s perfect life comes to a screeching halt when a lower class sewer rat, Sid, comes crawling out of the drain pipe and into Roddy’s life.

Sid decides that Roddy’s home is exactly what he’s looking for and decides he’s going to stay put. When Roddy tries to trick Sid into leaving, he ends up getting himself flushed down the toilet and into the sewer below.

Once Roddy regains his composure he discovers that he has landed in a sewer rat city, complete with restaurants, a police force, street vendors and a bitter toad who plans to wipe the rat population out at his first opportunity.
Roddy wants to get home, but as the pipe system is large and confusing he will need help.

Apparently there is only one person brave enough to help Roddy in his quest to go back to the top: Rita.
Rita and Roddy don’t exactly hit it off because Roddy accidentally reveals her location to some bullies who are after her during their first encounter.

Through a series of crazy events Roddy and Rita are captured by the mean Toad, escape from his grasp and team up to get Roddy back up top. The only thing that stands between Roddy and his home are a series of dangerous rapids, a squad of karate frogs led by Le Frog and a team of Toad’s tough guys. In exchange for her help, Roddy promises to make Rita and her numerous family members rich by giving her jewels from his owner’s jewelry box.

Will Roddy and Rita make it to the top and get Roddy back home safe and sound? And if he does get home, how will he deal with Sid?

While “Flushed Away” will likely be popular with kids, I have to say I wasn’t as impressed as I had expected to be. The animation felt second rate and the story line left much to be desired. Perhaps part of my disappointment lies in the plethora of films out this year featuring domesticated animals that are put in the wild and try to adjust.

It just seemed that there were a number of ways the creators could have made certain scenarios more interesting, but it fell flat for me. There were a number of references for the adults in the audience that were appreciated but not all that humorous. When singing slugs in a film end up being one of the funnier aspects of the movie, I have to wonder what more they could have done.

Beyond that the entire sequence of Roddy’s descent into the sewer below had me so grossed out I had a hard time recovering. While the scene itself wasn’t graphic, it was my own imagination of sliding down a toilet’s pipes and landing in raw sewage that turned my stomach.

“Flushed Away” does leave viewers with a good message about the importance of family over wealth, and I’m sure most kids will get a kick out of it. For my tastes, I’m looking forward to “Happy Feet.”

**1/2

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