`FLUSHED AWAY': POTTY HUMOR THAT EVEN PARENTS CAN LOVE.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

`Flushed Away'' takes kiddie movie toilet humor to its logical extreme and marks a real departure for Aardman Pictures, the animation house behind ``Chicken Run'' and the ``Wallace & Gromit'' movies.

The characters in ``Flushed'' look like their lumpen, monobrow Aardman predecessors, but here they've been created on DreamWorks Animation computers instead of through laborious stop-motion techniques. You won't notice much in terms of design -- or inventiveness -- but the action is more manic, and the genteel, droll Britishness has been given a decidedly raucous flavor.

Little ones may well respond better to the chaos of ``Flushed'' than the cheese-flavored humor of the ``Gromit'' movies. There's enough for parents to groove on as well -- Aardman's character-based comedy, for one, as well as occasional appearances by a band of singing slugs (actual gastropods, like SpongeBob's pet snail, Gary) who manage to take songs we thought we never wanted to hear again (``Don't Worry, Be Happy,'' for starters) and turn them into sly fun.

The story finds pampered pet mouse Roddy St. James (nicely voiced by Hugh Jackman) flushed into a subterranean world teeming with rats, slugs and the villainous Toad (Ian McKellen) who wants the sewers all to himself. Roddy, no modest mouse, fancies himself a 007 type and pairs up with working-class rat Rita (Kate Winslet). Roddy just wants to get home; Rita wants payback from Toad.

The movie's central theme of a self-centered creature learning the value of teamwork and thoughtfulness is getting a little old, coming as it does after ``Over the Hedge'' (selfish raccoon), ``Open Season'' (selfish bear) and ``The Ant Bully'' (selfish kid).

But the movie's gaggle of writers (seven different men have either screenplay or story credits) come up with enough clever visual references to ease the burden of familiarity.

The superb vocal cast -- which includes Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis as Toad's henchmen rats and a hilarious turn by Jean Reno voicing the mercenary assassin Le Frog -- elevate the material, too. Then there's the Greek chorus of slugs, their high-pitched screams at odds with their relaxed way around a tune. They are ``Flushed Away's'' secret weapon, their very own Scrat. If ``Babe'' reduced pork sales, does this mean ``Flushed Away'' will have gardeners cutting back on salt?

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

[e-mail]

FLUSHED AWAY - Three stars

(PG: crude humor, some language)

Starring: Voices of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno.

Director: Henry Anderson, David Bowers, Sam Fell.

Running time: 1 hr. 24 min.

Playing: In wide release.

In a nutshell: Aardman-DreamWorks hybrid mixes the manic and the droll to fine effect.

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Photo:

All-CGI characters navigate their watercraft through the subterranean sewers of London in ``Flushed Away.''