Flushed Away

my first movie with both my children
actually - adolfo's first movie didn't work out too well - madagascar's scene set ups and changes were way too fast for a 3.5 year old to really get into and the gags were not made for kids - so the movie was cut short when adolfo became too bored with it and we took off early - i left feeling that we wouldn't be really missing anything
but this is not a review of madagascar
this is a review of Flushed Away
and the experience was MUCH MUCH different

firstly - he recognized the teeth of the characters as similar to those of chicken run and wallace and gromit - secondly - the characters were great - the action sequences were timed just right - they were long enough so that he was able to wrap his mind around what was taking place but short enough not too bore him - he could quickly tell who was the bad guy and who was the good guy - and throughout the movie he would point out what was desirable behavior and what was not acceptable - the main thing i didn't approve of was the few incidents when "idiot" and "stupid" was spoken - i was pleased that adolfo recognized that these were bad words - but am kind of worried about the intrigue this might cause

at the same time - the story line was good, funny and refreshing - it was filled with intelligent humor and i knew it would be with the opening sequence in the house - the talking army doll referring to "...weapons of mass destruction..." and "...terrorist..." was hilarious - i particularly enjoyed the singing slugs and the imaginative way the city was built - there was also the sad portrayal of americans as naive texans - and the finding nemo reference "Have you see my dad?" had me laughing out loud - and the kids laughed too

adolfo was sufficiently entertained without being talked down to - and i enjoyed the whole thing

there are a lot of people criticizing this movie and aardman for making a cgi movie instead of sticking to his thing - now i totally love claymation and all that - but in reality - cgi is the latest form of animation and there is no reason for a respected artist to not explore a new medium - i'm glad aardman tried this out - i was not disappointed in anything about the movie, the story line was great, the effects were wonderful and the characters memorable

i will buy this disk