Thursday, February 22, 2007
TRANSLATION: AMERICANS ARE STUPID!
So.... You're this relatively unknown animation studio in the UK, and you come up with this smash hit movie, SHREK. The distributing studio, Dreamworks, is so impressed they sign you to an exclusive 5 movie deal.Your first movie, WALLACE AND GROMMIT, is a moderate success. You're second movie, in spite of getting rave reviews, flops at the box office. Whereby, Dreamworks backs out of the remaining deal. Boss Jeffrey Katzenberg's explanation: "Their humor is just too British for American audiences." Translation: Americans are too stupid to get it!
Stupid is right, because FLUSHED AWAY is one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. Hands down better than either CARS or HAPPY FEET. It embodies all that is great about British humor. Great physical comedy, smart double entandres, a send up of Tom Jones, and of course, wickedly politically incorrect French bashing! It is a film that would make Peter Sellers, Benny Hill, and the Monty Python gang proud!
One of my favorite parts was the horribly wrong French bashing. Ninja frogs (and remember, in the anglophile world frog is to French as beaner is to Mexican) with pencil thin mustaches and French accents, who upon being ordered to do their thing, throw their hands up in the air and shout
"we surrender!" Probably banned in Quebec!
And there is the music. My granddaughter spent the day singing "poor old Roddy, flushed down his own potty." This is one several narrative songs sung by by siren, er, slugs. This is actually a really good soundtrack, with songs by Billy Idol, Tom Jones, The Dandy Warhols, Tina Turner, Fat Boy Slim, Jet, Boots Randolph, and of course, The Slugs.
By now, you're probably asking "what the hell is this movie about, anyhow?" Well here's the film overview form worstpreviews.com:
Plot Summary: Roddy is a refined rat, living a life of comfort and luxury in an upscale Kensington flat in London. One day, when a common sewer rat named Syd intrudes on his lifestyle via the bathroom sink, Roddy attempts to eliminate the unwelcome pest by trying to flush him down the toilet. His scheme to lure Syd into the toilet by telling him it’s a lavish whirlpool bath backfires when the clever guest pushes Roddy in instead. As one might expect, Roddy gets flushed down to the underground sewers, a world very much unlike his own. As he explores this universe, also known as Ratropolis, he encounters a female rat named Rita who is a sewer boat captain. She is an entrepreneur – always looking for new ideas that will give her the opportunity to leave the London cesspool behind for the glorious Parisian sewers. One of the inhabitants of the sewage tunnels is the gruesome Toad, who despises all rodents and wants them eliminated. After his two henchmen Spike and Whitey fail their assignment to make Rita and Roddy disappear, Toad has to consider more drastic alternatives. He sends for his cousin, Le Frog, a dreadful and ruthless mercenary.
So you get the plot, and in the end Roddy saves Ratropolis, gets Rita, and a family of his own! But the Devil is in the details, and these details are really funny.
This is a great movie for kids and grown ups alike. And the DVD is really cool because it has a bunch of interactive games, a slug sing along, and a build your own slug program. What could possibly be better than building your own slug?
So GO RENT THIS MOVIE! Help prove that Americans aren't stupid!
Labels: movies, stupid americans
Comments:
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When it first came out, it didn't strike me as particularly interesting. However, now that I know it's filled with British humour and a send up of Tom Jones, I'm going to rent it for sure! Great review Bear.
My kids saw it with their grandparents and really liked it. I LOVE Cars, so I'm a little skeptical when you say it's better than.
GWB said: You're this relatively unknown animation studio in the UK
Actually they're not relatively unknown *in* the UK. [grin].
Ardman animation is rather famous over here....
Actually they're not relatively unknown *in* the UK. [grin].
Ardman animation is rather famous over here....
Thanks for the review!
We're out of the loop when it comes to kids films now. This one is going to the top of our must rent list!
We're out of the loop when it comes to kids films now. This one is going to the top of our must rent list!
I wanna see it. It's Aardman, right? I looove Aardman, and I'm American, so Dreamworks can you-know-what.
Have you seen "Curse of the Wererabbit"? That's good too.
Have you seen "Curse of the Wererabbit"? That's good too.
Oh, yes, I took the granddaughters to see Curse Of The Wererabbit opening weekend. If you liked it you'll love Flushed Away.
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