Flushed Away

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Delicious slapstick, droll wit and terrific characters make Aardman's first venture in CG cartooning a great success.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It is a relief to encounter such exuberant and infectious silliness.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Shot through with cheeky wit and hilarious musical numbers by the aforementioned slugs, Flushed Away features an eye-popping boat chase through London's watery nether regions, as well as the winning vocal talent of Kate Winslet, Bill Nighy and Ian McKellen, doing his best Sydney Greenstreet. Well done!

USA Today Claudia Puig

This year's wittiest animated adventure saga.

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

It's not life-changing stuff, but it's brisk and clever and funny and avoids some of the predictable pitfalls that hobble so many films of its ilk.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

As with the Wallace & Gromit films, most of the fun is in the deft characterizations, the zippy banter, and the joyous sight gags.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's filled to overflowing with mischievous gags for kids and adults alike, tickling the periphery of the story and crammed into every frame with playful abandon. It gives potty humor a good name.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Flushed Away lacks the action-contraption dottiness of a Wallace and Gromit adventure, but it hits its own sweet spot of demented delight.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

This computer-animated feature is consistently inventive, if a bit busy and overlong.

Newsweek David Ansen

Though it lacks "Wallace and Gromit"'s charm, its mile-a-minute inventiveness is impressive.

Los Angeles Times Mark Olsen

The film offers rousing adventures that kids will love and witty humor that adults can appreciate.

Empire Olly Richards

The best animated movie of the year and only a whisker shy of the brilliance of Wallace and Gromit.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

This is a sewer blessedly free of actual sewage, which makes Flushed Away more kid-friendly than, say, the average "South Park" episode.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

The best sections of Flushed Away, those featuring a nefarious French operative known as Le Frog (a hilarious Jean Reno), are also the most peculiarly British; no one lampoons the French with a better mixture of hard-earned loathing and grudging respect than the Brits.

Miami Herald Peter Debruge

While you watch, be sure to scour the background for in-jokes, including cameos by Gromit and other DreamWorks characters, and rest assured that Flushed Away gets even funnier on second viewing.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

As scatalogical affairs go, Flushed Away shows remarkable buoyancy.

TV Guide Ethan Alter

Lively if derivative romp.

New York Post Kyle Smith

How this thing got made in Hollywood is a mystery, but I laughed at most of it, especially the mean stereotypes about the French and the even meaner stereotype about England's soccer team.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

For a movie that takes place mostly in the bowels of a sewer, Flushed Away has some surprisingly charming moments.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It's better than 90% of the animated fare of the last few years. It's refreshing not to have to qualify the movie's appeal by appending the words, "for the kids."

Village Voice Ella Taylor

What's not to love about a movie in which thousands of rodents stand together against a Big Wave generated by TV-watching soccer fans flushing their toilets at halftime?

Variety Todd McCarthy

Result is a kidpic long on invention but short on likability.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

This delightful computer animation is less twee than Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, with more action and a broader American sensibility.

Austin Chronicle Josh Rosenblatt

Flushed Away has a wicked, smart, and subtle sense of humor.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

This computer-animated feature rivals "Cars" for the year's most visually exciting cartoon, but watch your step - most of the movie takes place in the London sewers, where the script may have been conceived.

Premiere Laine Ewen

Though Flushed Away certainly aims to please viewers of all ages, it’s the anglophiles of all ages who are going to get the most out of the film.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Parents will while away the time in moderate boredom until the film unexpectedly springs to life in its midsection, then just as abruptly goes back to sleep.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

After the fourth electrocution gag, the 10th smack in the face and the 12th assault on a wee rodent crotch, we could all use something quiet.