Witty and wise, this action-oriented animation drama delightfully depicts the twists and turns in the life of Roddy, a snobbish and pampered 'society' rat, who lives the life of a beloved pet in a posh Kensington flat.
When a sewer rat named Sid comes spewing out of the sink and decides he's hit the jackpot, Roddy schemes to rid himself of the pest by luring him into the 'whirlpool'. Sid may be an ignorant slob, but he's no fool, so it is Roddy who winds up being flushed away into the bustling sewer world of Ratropolis.
There Roddy meets Rita, an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Roddy immediately wants out, or rather, up; Rita wants to be paid for her trouble; and, speaking of trouble, the villainous Toad - who royally despises all rodents equally, making no distinction between mice and rats--wants them iced... literally.
The Toad dispatches his two hapless hench-rats, Spike and Whitey, to get the job done. When they fail, the Toad has no choice but to send for his cousin - that dreaded mercenary, Le Frog. How will the future unfold for Roddy and Rita, not to mention the entire rodent population?
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet
Crew: David Bowers (Director), Sam Fell (Director), Brad Blackbourn (Director of Photography), Frank Passingham (Director of Photography), Harry Gregson-Williams (Music Director)
Rating: U (India)
Genres: Drama
Release Dates: 03 Nov 2006 (India)
Tagline: Someone's Going Down
Did you know? Aardman's first fully-CGI feature film. The reason for using computer animation instead of the studio's trademark clay animation was the large amount of scenes involving water, which is nearly impossible to do convincingly in stop motion. Read More
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as Roddy
as Rita
as Spike
as Whitey
Supporting Actor
Supporting Actor
as Rita's Dad
Supporting Actor
as The Toad
as Le Frog
Supporting Actor
as Rita's Mum
as Rita's Grandma
Supporting Actor
as Tabitha
as Sid
as Mother
Supporting Actor
Direction
Director
Production
Producer
Production Company
Co-Producer
Associate Producer
Distribution
Distributor
Writers
Screenplay Writer
Story Writer
Camera and Electrical
Director of Photography
Still Photographer
Animation
Animator
Art
Production Designer
Art Director
Storyboard Artist
Casting
Casting Director
Costume and Wardrobe
Costume Designer
Visual Effects
Visual Effects Producer
Film Type:
Feature
Language:
English
Colour Info:
Color
Sound Mix:
Dolby Digital, DTS, Sony Dynamic Digital Sound
Frame Rate:
24 fps
Aspect Ratio:
1.85:1 (Flat), 2.35:1
Stereoscopy:
No
Taglines:
Someone's Going Down
Plumbing Soon
Plumbing Soon
Filming Locations:
Goofs:
Errors in Geography
As well as the aforementioned error with the water level in British toilets not matching that shown in the film (Although it can depend based on the model), a large majority of toilets in the UK don't swirl, either.
Factual Mistake
When the World Cup match is on, it says England are playing, but the flag on the screen is the Union flag which is for the United Kingdom, not England.
Continuity
Just before the Jammy Dodger plunges to its watery grave, Roddy and Rita chew through the twine that is holding the "Duty Free" plastic bag in place. They briefly are seen each holding a length of twine that is tied to one of the bag's handles. In the next shot, they are holding the handles for the bag itself, and the twine is never seen again.
Continuity
When Roddy and Rita are running away from the toad with the gem, The albino rat hit man has mittens on from the fridge, but they vanish when he uses his mate to try and slide down the rope.
Continuity
When Rita and Roddy are escaping from The Toad at the beginning, Rita jumps down repeatedly and ends on the handle of a hammer. When Roddy jumps/falls down the same path Rita went, the hammer has changed, and he ends on the head of the hammer.
Character Error
When Roddy first meets Sid, they are on the kitchen counter with lots of food that would have to be refrigerated, like a chocolate cake and sausages. Given the fact that the owners of Roddy have just left for a vacation, it would be inconceivable for them to have left all that food out while they were gone away.
Continuity
As the movie opens, the little girl pours a whole box of rat food (and its box) into the dish at the front of Roddy's cage. When Roddy slides down to the front of the cage minutes later, neither the food, nor the upturned box is anywhere to be seen.
Continuity
The doll that Sid throws up in the air changes position several times after he discovers Roddy and Rita. It goes from being at his feet to being near the door to being several inches away from the door when he leaves the room.
Continuity
When Sid first appears, he grabs two hotdogs off the counter and runs to the living room to watch TV. During the commercial for the soccer game, Sid throws a hotdog at the TV, leaving a grease smudge on the glass as it slides down. Later when the soccer game is on, no greasy mark remains. Given Sid's lack of cleanliness, it is unlikely he would have cleaned the TV by the time the game was on.
Continuity
When Rita is held upside down by Whitey, her rear (with pocket containing the ruby) is held facing away from Whitey. When the view switches to her face, this is also facing away from Whitey.
As well as the aforementioned error with the water level in British toilets not matching that shown in the film (Although it can depend based on the model), a large majority of toilets in the UK don't swirl, either.
Factual Mistake
When the World Cup match is on, it says England are playing, but the flag on the screen is the Union flag which is for the United Kingdom, not England.
Continuity
Just before the Jammy Dodger plunges to its watery grave, Roddy and Rita chew through the twine that is holding the "Duty Free" plastic bag in place. They briefly are seen each holding a length of twine that is tied to one of the bag's handles. In the next shot, they are holding the handles for the bag itself, and the twine is never seen again.
Continuity
When Roddy and Rita are running away from the toad with the gem, The albino rat hit man has mittens on from the fridge, but they vanish when he uses his mate to try and slide down the rope.
Continuity
When Rita and Roddy are escaping from The Toad at the beginning, Rita jumps down repeatedly and ends on the handle of a hammer. When Roddy jumps/falls down the same path Rita went, the hammer has changed, and he ends on the head of the hammer.
Character Error
When Roddy first meets Sid, they are on the kitchen counter with lots of food that would have to be refrigerated, like a chocolate cake and sausages. Given the fact that the owners of Roddy have just left for a vacation, it would be inconceivable for them to have left all that food out while they were gone away.
Continuity
As the movie opens, the little girl pours a whole box of rat food (and its box) into the dish at the front of Roddy's cage. When Roddy slides down to the front of the cage minutes later, neither the food, nor the upturned box is anywhere to be seen.
Continuity
The doll that Sid throws up in the air changes position several times after he discovers Roddy and Rita. It goes from being at his feet to being near the door to being several inches away from the door when he leaves the room.
Continuity
When Sid first appears, he grabs two hotdogs off the counter and runs to the living room to watch TV. During the commercial for the soccer game, Sid throws a hotdog at the TV, leaving a grease smudge on the glass as it slides down. Later when the soccer game is on, no greasy mark remains. Given Sid's lack of cleanliness, it is unlikely he would have cleaned the TV by the time the game was on.
Continuity
When Rita is held upside down by Whitey, her rear (with pocket containing the ruby) is held facing away from Whitey. When the view switches to her face, this is also facing away from Whitey.
Trivia:
Aardman's first fully-CGI feature film. The reason for using computer animation instead of the studio's trademark clay animation was the large amount of scenes involving water, which is nearly impossible to do convincingly in stop motion.
At the beginning of the film, when Roddy is going through his wardrobe, the outfit he forgoes for the Elvis Presley-style rhinestone jumpsuit is a replica of the original Wolverine outfit from the comic books. Wolverine is another role that Hugh Jackman made famous.
Hugh Jackman also provided the screams for the slug that Roddy first meets in the sewer.
While Roddy and Rita are in the fridge, one of the frozen rats is Han Solo, posing in his famous pose.
When the stove falls through the floor of Rita's house, a cockroach that was sitting behind it can be seen holding a book. The book is Franz Kafka's novella 'Metamorphosis', the protagonist of which turns into a (non specified) insect, which is often translated as a cockroach. The cockroach appears to be reading a French translation: the title "La métamorphose" is clearly seen, while the Ka- in Kafka is obscured by the insect's 'hand'.
The books on Toad's shelf are "Warts and Peace" by Leo Toadstool, "Unfinished Verse" by Long Tung, "A Brief History of Slime," and his scrapbooks, "The Tragic History of the Great Great Toad, Vol. I," followed by Volumes II through VI.
In the first theatrical trailer, Roddy was not the only pet of the little human girl. There was also a cage with two small yellow gerbils, who seemed to be Roddy's menservants. However, in the final cut of the film, these two characters were removed, probably to advance the story, and make Roddy appear to be a character who is more "alone" than "spoiled". The first trailer also shows the discovery of Sid during the day instead of late at night.
According to Peter Lord, co-founder of Aardman, this film's original concept involved pirates, and was pitched to Dreamworks soon after the release of Chicken Run (2000). However, Aardman were told that there was no market for pirate films (this was before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was made), and were told to modernize the concept. By the time the writer had done this, the project was temporarily shelved to make way for the production of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).
At the beginning of the film, when Roddy is going through his wardrobe, the outfit he forgoes for the Elvis Presley-style rhinestone jumpsuit is a replica of the original Wolverine outfit from the comic books. Wolverine is another role that Hugh Jackman made famous.
Hugh Jackman also provided the screams for the slug that Roddy first meets in the sewer.
While Roddy and Rita are in the fridge, one of the frozen rats is Han Solo, posing in his famous pose.
When the stove falls through the floor of Rita's house, a cockroach that was sitting behind it can be seen holding a book. The book is Franz Kafka's novella 'Metamorphosis', the protagonist of which turns into a (non specified) insect, which is often translated as a cockroach. The cockroach appears to be reading a French translation: the title "La métamorphose" is clearly seen, while the Ka- in Kafka is obscured by the insect's 'hand'.
The books on Toad's shelf are "Warts and Peace" by Leo Toadstool, "Unfinished Verse" by Long Tung, "A Brief History of Slime," and his scrapbooks, "The Tragic History of the Great Great Toad, Vol. I," followed by Volumes II through VI.
In the first theatrical trailer, Roddy was not the only pet of the little human girl. There was also a cage with two small yellow gerbils, who seemed to be Roddy's menservants. However, in the final cut of the film, these two characters were removed, probably to advance the story, and make Roddy appear to be a character who is more "alone" than "spoiled". The first trailer also shows the discovery of Sid during the day instead of late at night.
According to Peter Lord, co-founder of Aardman, this film's original concept involved pirates, and was pitched to Dreamworks soon after the release of Chicken Run (2000). However, Aardman were told that there was no market for pirate films (this was before Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) was made), and were told to modernize the concept. By the time the writer had done this, the project was temporarily shelved to make way for the production of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005).
