Flushed Away

"Flushed Away" is the animated tale of a high society British rat named Roddy who gets flushed into the depths of the sewer and strives to find his way back home. While down below he meets another rat named Rita, confronts a Godfather-like toad and his henchmen and assists his fellow rats during the annual flood that comes from all the flushing during halftime of the World Cup.

So you're probably wondering why Cinema Romantico (proud and card-carrying member of the cinema snob club) was watching a "kids" movie. Granted, it does not happen often. I watch a kids movie as often as Kate Winslet does a voice for one.

Oh! How about that?! The irony! Guess who turns up in "Flushed Away" as the voice of the aforementioned Rita the rat? (And, by the way, no one can annunciate like Kate Winslet.)

I suppose I could offer an in-depth review of this film but I'd instead like to address a single line from it. I would call it the third best line from movies in all of 2006, right behind Alec Baldwin declaring marriage "lets people know you're not a homo" in "The Departed" and Sacha Baron Cohen advising Will Ferrell he tasted "of America" in "Talladega Nights".

At a particular juncture the two henchmen rats and Roddy and Rita are engaged in an epic boat chase. "Right!" screams one of the henchmen. "Go right!" To which the other henchman (voiced by the great Bill Nighy) replies with no irony whatsoever, "Would that be port or starboard?"

I laughed hard at that - we're talking a full-on belly laugh. I laughed so hard it hurt. Worth the price of a rental? I can't speak for you but it certainly was for me.