When the creative minds at Dreamworks ("Shrek") and Aardman ("Wallace & Gromit") animation studios throw their best ideas and techniques together, it can only result in fun and charming cinematic entertainment for the whole family, after all. So it's no wonder that "Flutsch und weg", the third collaboration between the two studios, has once again become a real hit.
The hero of the story is Roddy the mouse (voiced by Ralf Bauer), who actually lacks nothing in his luxury home in London's posh Kensington district. The fact that Roddy is completely alone and has neither friends nor family doesn't really bother the luxury mouse. The quiet life gets completely out of joint when one day the sewer rat Sid is flushed out of the toilet. The calm is now over and all attempts to get rid of Sid again fail. Worse still, Roddy's latest ruse results in not Sid but himself ending up in the toilet. Suddenly Roddy finds himself in Ratopolis, a whole new world below the streets of London, where it is noisy, dirty and wet.
With the help of the boat's owner Rita (voiced by Jessica Schwarz), Roddy sets out to find his way back to Kensington. Too bad Toad villain Toad and his subordinate rats have it in for Rita, and before he knows it, Roddy has landed in the middle of a great adventure in which he faces French professional killer frogs, singing slugs, and wild chases, and eventually becomes the last hope for saving Ratopolis.
Following successful collaborations on "Chicken Run" and the Oscar-winning "Wallace & Gromit" theatrical film, Dreamworks and Britain's Aardman Studios present their third project, the first all-computer animated film. There were many reasons why "Slide and Gone" was not made with plasticine figures and stop-frame technology like its predecessors. Most of the sets, and especially the water, would have had to be generated on the computer anyway, so it made sense to create the whole film on the computer. However, there was also the danger that the film would lack the charm characteristic of Aardman productions.
This is fortunately not the case. Not only have all the characters been left with their typical Aardman look (googly eyes and wide mouths), but the humour, often hidden in small details, that has made previous works by the studio so wonderfully unique has been retained. Whether it's the singing slugs - unquestionably the film's secret stars - a Kafka-reading cockroach or a replica of Big Ben made out of washing machines and cardboard boxes, "Flutsch und weg" is full of endearing details that multiply the enjoyment of what is already a very entertaining story.
It's also nice to note that the humor appeals not only to children, but to adults as well. Numerous allusions, for example to James Bond, the star pantomime Marcel Marceau or the old "Batman" series with Adam West, are certainly quite amusing for the little ones, but only older viewers can really understand and thus fully enjoy such scenes.
Only small weak point is, once again, the German dubbing. Overall, the conversion under the direction of "Die drei ???"-speaker Oliver Rohrbeck is quite successful, but the choice of speakers for the main characters does not necessarily prove to be happy. Ralf Bauer, for example, has to sing a little song as Roddy, just like Hugh Jackman in the original. But unlike Jackman, who not without reason won a Tony Award for his vocal performances on Broadway, Mr. Bauer simply can't sing. Nor does he really manage to match the charm of a Hugh Jackman. The same can be said for Jessica Schwarz, who, while not necessarily miscast, simply can't match the talent of original voice actress Kate Winselt. On the other hand, it is positive that Spike, who is voiced by "Gollum" actor and speaker Andy Serkis in the original English, was also dubbed by Gollum's German voice Andreas Fröhlich (Rohrbeck's "???" colleague) in German. For all the other characters: quite successful - just don't keep in mind who the (better) original speakers are!
Overall, "Flutsch und weg" has become quite a great, cross-generational cinema fun, which makes up for small weaknesses in the story with a large portion of charm. This is a work that no one will want to flush down the toilet, guaranteed. Absolutely worth seeing!
OT: Flushed away
Directed by David Bowers, Sam Fell
Length: approx. 84 min.
FSK: n/a
Ein Artikel von Frankfurt-Tipp
