Flushed Away (2006)****
Laugh out loud funny as well as one of the most imaginative and inventive films (not just animated films) of the year. I don't know if it is easier or cheaper (probably the former) to reproduce the claymation techniques used in the Wallace & Gromit films using CGI, but it is certainly an effective and brilliant idea and here it is executed flawlessly. And the voice work is first class, particularly Ian McKellan who is marvelous as the pompous, royal-loving Toad. I read somewhere that production costs approached $150M. That just floors me for an animated picture. I would like to get a breakdown on those costs some day. What in the world do they spend it on?