Cartoon features are a dime a dozen, and a good chunk of them aren't as concerned with quality as they are with making sure kiddies across the country flock to see them. Luckily, Flushed Away hasn't forgotten that animated endeavors can be as funny and entertaining as live-action movies. It's a zippy little film that does just the trick in engaging families as the onset of winter looms before us.  

X-Men headliner Hugh Jackman voices Roddy, a rat who's lived a comfortable life as a rich little London girl's pet. But with no other pets around, Roddy's world is also a lonely one -- that is, until a slob of a sewer rat named Sid (voice of Shane Richie) crawls up from the pipes below. Unfortunately for Roddy, Sid claims his new digs all for himself and soon sends our heroic rodent on a trip down that good ol' porcelain bus known as the toilet.

Thankfully, Roddy soon ends up in a grand sewer metropolis populated by rats. However, he also lands right in the middle of a clash between tugboat captain Rita (voice of Kate Winslet) and an amphibious antagonist known as Boss Toad (voice of Ian McKellen). Through a series of mishaps, Roddy and Rita end up together, on the run from Boss Toad and his henchmen, who want something that Rita possesses to complete their dastardly plans. It's up to Roddy to decide whether he wants to go back home to his posh pad or stay behind and help get to the bottom of what Boss Toad is up to.

The first movie I thought of while watching Flushed Away was Sony's own recent animated feature Open Season. Both films include supporting characters and side gags which are a lot more entertaining than what the leads are doing. The difference between these two movies? Flushed Away features more overall wit, humor, and consistency. It comes from the good folks at Aardman, the animation masters responsible for the immensely charming Chicken Run and the deservedly award-winning Wallace & Gromit adventures.

Although Aardman has moved out of the clay animation realm into the less-taxing world of computer animation, their trademark style remains the same. The characters of Flushed Away retain the big eyes, wide mouths, and distinctive personalities that helped Aardman turn a bald dude who likes cheese and his incredibly intelligent dog into two of recent animation's most beloved icons.

Flushed Away is a fun, colorful, and fast-paced adventure, one that mixes nonstop gags and the occasional moment of excitement without ever looking down on the viewers or falling back too much on familiar territory. The filmmakers have provided a real treasure trove of terrific supporting characters (especially Andy Serkis and Bill Nighy as the voices of a "Laurel & Hardy"-like pair of rodent henchmen), snappy references (gotta love the Han Solo rat in Boss Toad's collection of frozen enemies), and running gags that never wear out their welcome (the slugs are always worth a hoot and a half). The actors obviously had a ball with their roles (with Ian McKellen as the most delightfully over-the-top of the bunch), and the animation style is definitely pleasing for the eyes.

What's not so hot about Flushed Away is the fairly predictable, by-the-books story at its center, and the same goes for the lessons that Roddy and Rita learn, which moviegoers have been spoon-fed a gazillion times before. Still, at a time when animated feature films are in danger of losing their magic because of an oversaturation of ho-hum vehicles, Flushed Away contains enough charm, fun, and adventurous spirit to make us hope this genre is far from withering away.

MY RATING: *** (out of ****)

(Released by DreamWorks and rated "PG" for crude humor and mild language.)