Disaster was perhaps inevitable when DreamWorks began meddling with the affairs of UK animation house Aardman. Flushed Away marked the first all-CGI toon they produced together after the claymation glory of Wallace & Gromit. Sadly, it meant the "charm has disappeared" along with the paying punters. Not surprising then, Aardman has since parted ways with Jeffrey Katzenberg and co.

Down Under

A film set in the murk of London's sewers was always going to be a tough sell, which is why the producers splashed out on an all-star cast that includes Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Ian McKellen, Andy Serkis, Bill Nighy and, er, Shane Ritchie. A perfunctory eight-minute featurette offers brief introduction to the 'voice artists' and offers them a chance to reflect on the general weirdness of talking to yourself in a small, dark room. "It's very exacting," says Jackman, "because as an actor you get used to using your eyes, your face and your expressions." Duh. If he could see our eyes, they'd be glazing over...

Composer Harry Gregson-Williams gets to blow his own trumpet in a cursory featurette on The Music Of Flushed Away. We see glimpses of him leading an orchestra at the famous Abbey Road Studios, but he admits that having to score scenes that aren't finished yet is "a bit worrying really..." Director Sam Fell pops up as well to explain his intention to marry a "Londonesque" sound with the high-octane excitement of an Indiana Jones score. He, along with co-director David Bowers, talk more about this, plus general notes on casting and technical jiggery-pokery in a run-of-the-mill commentary for the film.

Plop Video

Just for fun there's a section devoted to Super Slug Stuff. Here you'll find three slug music videos including an admittedly infectious rendition of the Scissors Sisters' 'Don't Feel Like Dancing' and a couple of cumbersome set-top games. We defy anyone to sit through Slug Cam, which follows a real-life garden slug on an epic journey of just three feet along the patio...

You can tell the folks at DreamWorks have run out of ideas because they've also thrown in a jukebox feature that showcases the musical highlights of their other, more successful films like Shrek and Over The Hedge. There's also a trailer for Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. 'Nuff said.

EXTRA FEATURES

Flushed Away DVD is released on Monday 2nd April 2007.