Otherwise known as the film that ended Aardman’s deal with Dreamworks. Indulging quaint Brit claymation is one thing, but a $63 million return on a $149 million CGI flick, well, that’s just flushing money down the toilet. It was always going to be touch and go as to whether the witty, urbane Bristolian bods at Aardman would fully exploit CG’s possibilities and sadly they only half pull it off – the only obvious benefit is that they made the production move quicker. That said, well-to-do rat Roddy’s (voiced by Hugh Jackman) trawl through the sewer – guided by Kate Winslet’s streetwise Rita – is an enjoyable, scatological, typically micro-cosmically detailed tale of football, frogs and cute (yes, cute) slugs, with a menagerie of stars all doing mirthful voice work.
DVD Extras:
The DVD skimps on any Pixar-worthy extras, instead playing the kiddie card – cue slug games and shots of the actors hamming it up in the mic booth. Worth an hour-and-a-half in the u-bend, just don’t expect to be bowled over.
