December 5, 2006
I took my daughter and friends to see this for a 10th birthday treat and wasn't expecting much out of it myself - but it was absolutely hilarious. Easily the funniest kid's film I've ever seen, I almost fell off my chair and even the jaded proto-teens enjoyed it hugely. It's a British film by Aardman Animation, except they've dispensed with the stop-frame animation and taken the familiar Wallace and Gromit style straight to CGI.
It tells the cautionary tale of Roddy St James, who lives a life of lonesome luxury in his posh Kensington town house, until he is home-invaded by Sid, a rat from the sewers. Roddy tries to trick Sid into taking a jacuzzi in the toilet but is himself flushed away into the sewers, where he survives the attentions of criminal mastermind Toad and his evil henchrats, with the help of a sassy sewer-rat heroine voiced by Kate Winslet. It has a tense plot (Roddy foils Toad's evil plan to sweep away the rat community), a great heart (Roddy starts to think about someone other than himself and falls in love), and wonderful minor characters including Le Frog, Toad's french cousin, wonderfully voiced by Jean Reno; but the joy is in the details - I particularly loved the singing, screaming, very slow-moving slugs. Spread the joy - see it now!
It tells the cautionary tale of Roddy St James, who lives a life of lonesome luxury in his posh Kensington town house, until he is home-invaded by Sid, a rat from the sewers. Roddy tries to trick Sid into taking a jacuzzi in the toilet but is himself flushed away into the sewers, where he survives the attentions of criminal mastermind Toad and his evil henchrats, with the help of a sassy sewer-rat heroine voiced by Kate Winslet. It has a tense plot (Roddy foils Toad's evil plan to sweep away the rat community), a great heart (Roddy starts to think about someone other than himself and falls in love), and wonderful minor characters including Le Frog, Toad's french cousin, wonderfully voiced by Jean Reno; but the joy is in the details - I particularly loved the singing, screaming, very slow-moving slugs. Spread the joy - see it now!