Roddy saves the day

Flushed Away delivers a good story and spellbinding action to kids and a nearly nonstop barrage of laughs for their adult companions

The thumbprints may be invisible, but they're still there in spirit. Of the myriad joys to be had watching a film made by the clay-animation geniuses at Aardman Animations, one of the most satisfying is seeing the physical evidence of art that, in an era of virtual this and computer-generated that, is still adamantly handmade.

Using plasticine, assorted bits and bobs from the junk drawer and unfettered imagination, the writers and animators at Aardman have succeeded in enchanting kids and their parents alike.

They've perfected the elusive art of combining memorable characters (Wallace and Gromit, a dotty British inventor and his trusty and far smarter dog, in Curse of the Were-Rabbit; Rocky and Ginger, the leading rooster and hen, respectively, of Chicken Run) with fast-moving, subtly cheeky stories, resulting in family entertainment made all the more appealing by their primitive production values.

This critic and thumbprint purist is happy to report that the Aardman charm is still intact in Flushed Away, and indeed enhanced by the new possibilities offered by state-of-the-art circuitry.

(Another first is Flushed Away's PG rating, which should not deter parents from taking young children to a film that delighted children as young as 5 at a recent screening.)

We meet a pet mouse named Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) living in a spanking-clean white apartment in the posh London neighbourhood of Kensington.

Roddy's cage is an elegantly wrought Victorian number and sits amid a vast expanse of pristine chicness, a tundra of deep-pile carpet and flawlessly designed furniture that would cost a fortune and take a century to portray in old Aardman style.

But the benefits of 21st-century technology really come to the fore after Roddy meets an interloper named Sid (Shane Richie), a grungy gutter rat who is unexpectedly burped up into the kitchen sink one day while Roddy's human family is on vacation.

Push comes to shove, as Sid unceremoniously sends Roddy spinning down the loo. When the pampered Roddy finally bobs up in a sewer, he discovers an entire miniaturised London down there, its streets replaced by Venice-like canals.

As in so many classic cartoons, the point of Flushed Away is for our hero to get home.

To help him in his suitably archetypal journey, the sweet-natured if slightly soft Roddy enlists the help of Rita (Kate Winslet), a plucky boat captain who, while aiding Roddy, must also do battle with a villain named the Toad (Ian McKellen, doing his best Sydney Greenstreet impersonation).

The synopsis of Flushed Away barely does justice to a movie that delivers a good story and spellbinding action to kids and a nearly nonstop barrage of laughs for their adult companions.

In addition to the sly humour to be found in the background of every Aardman production (labels for Costly Crackers and a branded beverage, a wall papered with news stories about the Veggy Monster from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit), Flushed Away features a hilarious running gag in the form of a Greek chorus of singing slugs, who harmonise at opportune moments on everything from Don't Worry, Be Happy to Mr. Lonely.

Even though they've been drafted on a computer, those spineless blobs bear all the physical simplicity and facial expressiveness of Aardman's best-loved clay characters, even at the height of their derring-do.

Flushed Away is by far the most ambitious Aardman feature when it comes to set pieces, a high-speed chase and a tidal wave.

Flushed Away (86 minutes) is rated PG for crude humour and some profanity.