FLUSHED AWAY, the Dreamworks/Aardman British C.G. animated film wasn’t one of the best animated films this year but it still delivered enough for some cute laughs. The story is a basic tale that can be pretty much summed up in the trailer. Young kids will love it and some of the jokes that were targeted for the adults (not dirty) were pretty funny. The animation looked nice enough and the slugs stole every scene of the film. However, the evil French frogs stole most of the spotlight as well. The voice cast was very well coordinated as well, with the voice talents of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Ian McKellan. I did feel the movie could have had something different to the story but I enjoyed it enough to recommend it. Kids will surely laugh at the jokes. Although, not as good as CARS, Monster House or OVER the HEDGE, Flushed Away wasn’t bad but it sill was a nice hour and a half of funny moments and scenes filled with cute factor.

With the creative powers of DreamWorks, and the promotional tie-in from McDonald's to boast of, this movie led me to believe it would provide high quality entertainment, and bit of a unique or remarkable viewing experience. It did neither.

I could attribute some of my disappointment to the plethora of animated films that have come out, and that we've already seen, in 2006, but that's not it. I could blame the back-of-my-seat-kicking kid, or the cellphone-using (22 times for one patron!) neighbors to my front and sides, but that's not it, either. It might have been that the British setting for the humor just didn't translate for me, but, having enjoyed Monty Python and original Office, that wasn't it, either. This movie simply falls short in nearly every aspect. The lead characters were not engaging, the storyline was not involving nor fresh, the animation was average at best, the score was forgettable, and there was really nothing at all to cause me to give it a recommendation.