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The Toad (Ian McKellen) struggles to show patience with his progeny

And then there are the slugs. The first time we see one, it's basically a throwaway gag, but the slugs build, and build, and build their presence throughout the film until they become a sort of Greek chorus, popping up at unexpected times to set the mood and comment on the action through shrieks and songs. They are kind of like the mice in the Babe movies, but slightly more involved in the action. (Attention must also be paid to the film's intriguing mix of animation techniques; while this is Aardman's first CGI feature, the characters have been designed to look—and even move—like the claymation models that populated Aardman's earlier films.)

Things like this keep the movie entertaining, and by the end, it turns out the film has an actual message to pass on, and it's a good one, to boot: Community is better than isolation; and being involved in the lives of others, however messy they or their environment might be, is better than living in a world of self-serving pleasures.

1. What does this film say about family, and community? Do you think Roddy should have stayed in his former home, or moved to the sewer? Why
2. What about The Toad? What role have family, community, or attachments played in his own life? Should we feel any sympathy for him
3. What do you make of the doomsday prophet? Is he a mockery of a type of religious figure, or not? Note his prophecy, and whether any part of it comes true.

Flushed Away is rated PG for crude humor (including a scene in which a man's crotch is hit by several objects in a row, a scene in which a woman throws her underwear to a man singing a Tom Jones song, plus a reference or two to things that look like they might belong in a toilet), and some language (mostly of the "good grief" variety).

Photos © Copyright DreamWorks Animation / Paramount Pictures

© Peter T. Chattaway 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Do you love Wallace and Gromit? Did Chicken Run make you cheer?

Then you're probably excited about Flushed Away, the latest film from the English entertainment engine called Aardman Animation. Directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell, this is the first computer-animated movie from the talented team that unleashed The Curse of theWere-Rabbit on audiences last year.

But there's a big difference in this story about a pet mouse and a roguish rat. Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) and Sid (Shane Richie) are not made out clay, like Wallace and Gromit or all those fowl folk in Chicken Run. They're the first computer-animated characters that Aardman has put on the big screen.

But fear not—this is not just another talking-animal tale along the lines of Madagascar and The Wild. It's a smart, sly, exciting adventure that preserves the wit and wisdom we've come to expect from Aardman.

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) says, "There have been a number of fine computer-animated movies this year already, and Flushed Away is one of the best of the lot. … Co-directors David Bowers and Sam Fell combine this zippy animation with a simple but smartly entertaining script to delightful effect, while imparting a warm message that, without friends and family, life, no matter how luxurious, is ultimately empty."

Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films) writes, "If Flushed Away doesn't reach the heights of demented genius of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit or even the lesser charms of Chicken Run, it's still got a goofy inventiveness that puts it in the better half of this year's crop of CGI films, along with Cars, Over the Hedge, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, and Monster House, and above The Ant Bully, The Wild, and Barnyard."

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