Nighy, Bill

Hot Fuzz (Widescreen Edition)

London-based officer Nicholas Angel is transferred to a rural village where he teams up with PC Danny Butterman and they investigate a series murders deemed \""accidents\"" by the locals.
Genre: Feature Film-Action/Adventure
Rating: R
Release Date: 31-JUL-2007
Media Type: DVD

In Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Widescreen Edition)

Charming rogue pirate Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) is back for a grand swashbuckling nonstop joyride filled with devilish pirate humor monstrous sea creatures and breathtaking black magic. Now Jack's got a blood debt to pay -- he owes his soul to the legendary Davy Jones ghostly Ruler of the Ocean Depths . . .but ever-crafty Jack isn't about to go down without a fight. Along the way dashing Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and the beautiful Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) get caught up in the thrilling whirlpool of misadventures stirred up in Jack's quest to avoid eternal damnation by seizing the fabled Dead Man's Chest!Features:Documentaries ("Charting The Return" -- Pre-production Documentary; "According To Plan: The Harrowing And True Story Of DEAD MAN'S CHEST; Mastering The Blade: Orlando Bloom Keira Knightley Jack Davenport; Creating The Kraken)Other (Pirates On Main Street: THE DEAD MAN'S CHEST Premiere; Captain Jack: From Head To Toe; Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy Of A Legend; Dead Men Tell New Tales: Re-Imagineering The Attraction; Fly On The Set: The Bone Cage)Photo gallery (Jerry Bruckheimer: A Producer's Photo Diary)Outtakes (Bloopers Of The Caribbean)Audio commentary (with Writers Ted Elliot & Terry Rossio)System Requirements:Run Time: 150 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG-13 UPC: 786936292978 Manufacturer No: 04098900

Take the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, add a dash of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and a lot more rum. Shake well and you'll have something resembling Dead Man's Chest, a bombastic sequel that's enjoyable as long as you don't think too hard about it. The film opens with the interrupted wedding of Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley), both of whom are arrested for aiding in the escape of Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in the first film. Their freedom can only be obtained by getting Captain Jack's compass, which is linked to a key that's linked to a chest belonging to Davy Jones, an undead pirate with a tentacle face and in possession of a lot of people's souls. If you're already confused, don't worry--plot is definitely not the strong suit of the franchise, as the film excels during its stunt pieces, which are impressively extravagant (in particular a three-way swordfight atop a mill wheel). It may help to know that Dead Man's Chest was filmed simultaneously with some of Pirates 3, so don't expect a complete resolution (think more The Empire Strikes Back) or the movie will feel a lot longer than it really is.

Bloom shows a tad bit more brawn this time around, but he's still every bit as pretty as the tomboyish Knightley. (Seriously, sometimes you think they could swap roles.) Bill Nighy (Love, Actually) weighs in as Davy Jones and Stellan Skarsgård appears as Will's undead father. But the film still belongs wholly to Depp, who in a reprise of his Oscar-nominated role gets all the belly laughs with a single widened eyeliner-ed gaze. He still runs like a cartoon hen and slurs like Keith Richards--and he's still one of the most fascinating movie characters in recent history. --Ellen A. Kim

More Pirates at Amazon.com

Johnny Depp DVDs

Buy Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Buy the Soundtrack

Love Actually (Widescreen Edition)

With no fewer than eight couples vying for our attention, Love Actually is like the Boston Marathon of romantic comedies, and everybody wins. Having mastered the genre as the writer of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones's Diary, it appears that first-time director Richard Curtis is just like his screenplays: He just wants to be loved, and he'll go to absurdly appealing lengths to win our affection. With Love Actually, Curtis orchestrates a minor miracle of romantic choreography, guiding a brilliant cast of stars and newcomers as they careen toward love and holiday cheer in London, among them the Prime Minister (Hugh Grant) who's smitten with his caterer; a widower (Liam Neeson) whose young son nurses the ultimate schoolboy crush; a writer (Colin Firth) who falls for his Portuguese housekeeper; a devoted wife and mother (Emma Thompson) coping with her potentially unfaithful husband (Alan Rickman); and a lovelorn American (Laura Linney) who's desperately attracted to a colleague. There's more--too much more--as Curtis wraps his Christmas gift with enough happy endings to sweeten a dozen other movies. That he pulls it off so entertainingly is undeniably impressive; that he does it so shamelessly suggests that his writing fares better with other, less ingratiating directors. --Jeff Shannon

"Get ready for fun!" (Leah Rozen, People) with the "feel good movie of the year!" (Clay Smith, Access Hollywood) Love Actually is the ultimate romantic comedy from the makers of Bridget Jones's Diary and Notting Hill. Funny, irresistible and heartwarming, an all-star cast (Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth and Emma Thompson, to name a few!) will take you on a breathtaking tour of love's delightful twists and turns. Fall under the spell of Love Actually and share the laughs and charm again and again.

State of Play (Miniseries)

Stephen Collins is an ambitious politician. Cal McAffrey is a well-respected investigative journalist and Stephen's ex-campaign manager. En route to work one morning Stephen's research assistant mysteriously falls to her death on the London Underground. It's not long before revelations of their affair hit the headlines. Meanwhile a suspected teenage drug dealer is found shot dead. These (apparently unconnected) events expose a dangerous habit within modern government of dancing too closely with the corporate devil. Friendships are tested and lives are put on the line as an intricate web of lies unfolds.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/BBC UPC: 883929005932 Manufacturer No: 1000036405

One of the BBC's best, this six-part thriller wastes no time building intrigue. It begins like an entry in the fast-paced Bourne series with a foot chase through London, followed by two execution-style hits. Moments later, MP Stephen Collins (David Morrissey) finds out his research assistant, Sonia, was killed in an accident. Newspaper editor Cameron Foster (Bill Nighy) and reporters Della (Kelly Macdonald) and Cal (John Simm), Stephen's former campaign manager, intend to establish whether the events are related. When they realize he's following identical leads for a competing paper, Foster drafts his son, Dan (James McAvoy), to join their investigation. Before long, the team discovers Stephen was having an affair with Sonia. When the news becomes public, his wife, Ann (Polly Walker), leaves him. Then Della finds that the murder victim, a 15-year-old "bag snatcher" from the wrong side of the tracks, contacted Sonia the day she died. He swiped her briefcase, hoping for cash, but found incriminating photos instead--Sonia's death may not have been accidental. From that point forward, it's a free-for-all between the politicians, the press, the police, and big business. An ill-timed affair will complicate matters further.

State of Play embodies British television at its finest. It's also a particularly pulse-pounding portrayal of the journalistic life, a small-screen successor to fact-based films like All the Presidents Men and Zodiac--but with a lot more tea and biscuits. Writer Paul Abbott (Touching Evil) and director David Yates (The Girl in the Café) provide low-key commentary for the first episode, while Yates, producer Hilary Bevan Jones, and editor Mark Day contribute to the sixth. Like 1989 miniseries Traffik, the basis for Steven Soderbergh's award-winning movie, State of Play would later be adapted for the big screen by The Last King of Scotland's Kevin Macdonald. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Just when he s needed most Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) that witty and wily charmer of a pirate is trapped on a sea of sand in Davy Jones Locker. In an increasingly shaky alliance Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) begin a desperate quest to find and rescue him. Captain Jack s the last of the nine Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court who must come together united in one last stand to preserve the freedom-loving pirates way of life. From exotic Singapore to World s End and beyond from Shipwreck Island to a titanic battle this adventure s filled with over-the-edge action irreverent humor and seafaring myth and magic. Everything has led to this twisting turning wild swashbuckling ride in this final chapter of the Pirates Of The Caribbean trilogySystem Requirements:Run Time: 165 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG-13 UPC: 786936293012 Manufacturer No: 04099100

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is a rollicking voyage in the same spirit of the two earlier Pirates films, yet far darker in spots (and nearly three hours to boot). The action, largely revolving around a pirate alliance against the ruthless East India Trading Company, doesn't disappoint, though the violence is probably too harsh for young children. Through it all, the plucky cast (Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush) are buffeted by battle, maelstroms, betrayal, treachery, a ferocious Caribbean weather goddess, and that gnarly voyage back from the world's end--but with their wit intact. As always, Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow tosses off great lines ; he chastises "a woman scorned, like which hell hath no fury than!" He insults an opponent with a string of epithets, ending in "yeasty codpiece."!

In the previous The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sparrow was killed--sent to Davy Jones' Locker. In the opening scenes, the viewer sees that death has not been kind to Sparrow--but that's not to say he hasn't found endless ways to amuse himself, cavorting with dozens of hallucinated versions of himself on the deck of the Black Pearl. But Sparrow is needed in this world, so a daring rescue brings him back. Keith Richards' much ballyhooed appearance as Jack's dad is little more than a cameo, though he does play a wistful guitar. But the action, as always, is more than satisfying, held together by Depp, who, outsmarting the far-better-armed British yet again, causes a bewigged commander to muse: "Do you think he plans it all out, or just makes it up as he goes along?" As far as fans are concerned, it matters not. --A.T. Hurley

On the DVD
Here's something you can't say about just any DVD extras: There appears to be more of Keith Richards in the outtakes, interviews, and other special features on the At World's End disc than in the actual film. For those scenes alone, this special edition is well worth the price. Richards looks as woozy and gamey as all the rumors suggested, and answers questions he's not asked, with Johnny Depp sitting next to him, almost acting as a translator. Richards offers pithy comments like, "Everything I do is original, you better believe," and smiles when other cast members call him "Two-Take Richards" for supposedly nailing his scenes.

The packed second disc also includes a terrific mini-doc on how the filmmakers created the famous maelstrom, in an enormous hanger in Palmdale, California, with the ships floating 30 feet off the ground. "Just moving the Black Pearl was an enormous undertaking," says producer Jerry Bruckheimer with serious understatement. Other cool extras include "Tale of the Many Jacks," deleted scenes with great commentary, "The World of Chow Yun-Fat," a bio of composer Hans Zimmer, features on the set designers, a look at the impressive Brethren Court, and some hilarious bloopers. "You can't curse in a Disney film," deadpans Depp when a costar blurts out something blue. "See? I told him." The extras are truly as much of a rollicking adventure as the film. --A.T. Hurley

Beyond Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Our Pirates of the Caribbean Store	Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Soundtrack	Why We Love… Bill Nighy	Johnny Depp Essential DVDs

Stills from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (click for larger image)

Hot Fuzz (Full Screen Edition)

Get ready for a gut-busting outrageous comedy from the guys that created Shaun of the Dead. Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is a big-city cop who can't be stopped - but he's making everyone else on the force look bad. When he is reassigned to a small quiet town he struggles with this new seemingly idyllic world and his bumbling partner (Nick Frost). But their dull existence is interrupted by several grisly and suspicious accidents and the crime-fighting duo turn up the heat and hand out high-octane car-chasing gun-fighting big-city justice in this hilarious hit critics are calling "Outrageous! Uproariously Funny!" (Thelma Adams US Weekly).System Requirements:Running Time: 121 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 025193327420 Manufacturer No: 62033274

In Shaun of the Dead, it was the zombie movie and the anomie of modern life. In Hot Fuzz, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg set their sights on the buddy cop blockbuster and the eccentric English village. The two worlds collide when overachieving London officer Nicholas Angel (Pegg) is promoted to sergeant. The catch is that he's being transferred to Agatha Christie country. His superiors (the comic trifecta of Martin Campbell, Steve Coogan, and Bill Nighy) explain that he's making the rest of the force look bad. On the surface, Sandford is a sleepy little burg where the most egregious crimes, like loitering, are committed by hoody-sporting schoolboys. In truth, it's a hotbed of Willow Man-style evil. Upon his arrival, Chief Butterman (Jim Broadbent) partners Angel with his daft son, Danny (Nick Frost, Pegg's Shaun co-star), who aspires to kick criminal "arse" like the slick duo in Bad Boys II. When random citizens start turning up dead, he gets his chance. With the worshipful Danny at his side, Angel shows his cake-eating colleagues how things are done in the big city. As in Shaun, their previous picture, Wright and Pegg hit their targets more often than not. With the success of that debut comes a bigger budget for car chases, shoot-outs, and fiery explosions. Though Hot Fuzz earns its R-rating with salty language and grisly deaths, the tone is more good-natured than mean-spirited. A wall-to-wall soundtrack of boisterous British favorites, like the Kinks, T-Rex, and Sweet, contributes to the fast-paced fun. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Notes on a Scandal

Academy AwardJ winners Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett give wickedly entertaining Oscar-nominated performances - one as a woman consumed by her colleague's guilty secret the other a victim to her own dark obsessions - in this sexy stylish thriller. Dench mesmerizes as Barbara Covett a teacher who rules over her classroom with an iron fist yet leads a desperate solitary life outside it. That is until she meets radiant new art teacher Sheba Hart (Blanchett). Although at first overjoyed with her newfound kindred spirit when Barbara discovers that Sheba is having an affair with a teenage student her jealously and rage spiral out of control.System Requirements:Runtime: 121 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 024543438915 Manufacturer No: 2243891

Gold stars to all for this taut psychological thriller based on Zoe Heller's novel that that gets more insidiously twisted as it unfolds. Oscar-nominated for her chilling performance, Dame Judi Dench gives a master class as schoolteacher Barbara Covett, a frumpy, friendless, and flinty spinster who lives with her cat. A formidable presence, Barbara is standoffish with colleagues and not one for students to trifle with (not that they'd dare). Cate Blanchett, also an Oscar nominee and winner of several critics society awards for her impassioned performance, costars as Sheba Hart, the new, overwhelmed art teacher who first becomes enthrall to Barbara after she steps in to help Sheba discipline unruly students. Barbara cultivates a friendship, and insinuates herself into Sheba's chaotic life, which includes her older husband (Bill Nighy), teenage daughter, and a son with Down's syndrome. Then, Barbara catches the reckless Sheba in a compromising position with a 15-year-old student (Andrew Simpson). Seizing her opportunity, the calculating Barbara does not turn her in. Rather, she wants to "help" her. "She's the one I've been waiting for," she writes in the journals she meticulously keeps, and which provide, in voiceover, her corrosive commentary. This all sounds very Fatal Attraction, but no boiling rabbits, please; we're British. Philip Glass's Oscar-nominated score accentuates the growing menace. Though there is little in these characters to admire, (one would think GLAAD would have something to say about the predatory turn Barbara's character takes), Notes on a Scandal is a compelling tour-de-force for its Grade-A cast. --Donald Liebenson

Notes on a Scandal Extras

Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench on their characters in the film

Beyond Notes on a Scandal

Book to Movie Adaptations

More Cate Blanchett Films

What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal: A Novel

Stills from Notes on a Scandal

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Widescreen Edition)

Don't panic! After twenty years stuck in development (a mere blink compared to how long it takes to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has finally been turned into a movie. Following the radio play, TV series, commemorative towel, and books, this latest installment in the sci-fi-comedy franchise is based on the screenplay and detailed notes by Douglas Adams.

Hitching a ride.

For those unfamiliar with the story, everyman Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) wakes up one morning to discover that his house is set to be demolished to make room for a bypass. Little does he know the entire planet Earth is also set to be destroyed for an interplanetary bypass by the Vogons, a hideous and bureaucratic race of aliens realized in the film by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Whisked off the planet by his best friend, alien-in-disguise Ford Prefect (Mos Def), Dent embarks on a goofy jaunt across the galaxy accompanied by his trusty Hitchhiker's Guide, which looks like a really fancy PDA.

The guide itself provides some of the funniest bits of the movie, little animated shorts that explain the ludicrous life forms and extraterrestrial phenomena our heroes encounter. Along the way Arthur meets the two-headed party animal/president of the galaxy Zaphod Beeblebrox (Sam Rockwell) and develops an unrequited crush on fellow earthling Trillian (Zooey Deschanel). The creatures and sets are inspired and answer to the sci-fi fan's primal need to see lots and lots of cool stuff. In particular, there's John Malkovich's creepy, CGI-enhanced Humma Kavula. He's a guru leading a religion that worships the gigantic nose that allegedly sneezed the universe into existence (naturally all their prayers end not with "Amen" but with "Bless you.") The aliens the team encounters are inspired creations, eminently worthy of action figure-ification, and the sets belie an attention to detail worthy of freeze-framing. Fans of the other Hitchhiker manifestations, namely the British TV series, will be amused by a number of in-jokes sprinkled throughout the movie.

Concept art: The Heart of Gold pod on the planet Vogsphere

Where the story stumbles is in the telling--as books, the Hitchhiker's Guide was foremost about goofy and brilliant ideas that raised questions about our place in the universe while getting a laugh. The cast seems at times bewildered, at least when Sam Rockwell isn't picking pieces of scenery out of his teeth, perhaps a natural reaction to an adaptation of a book with no traditional plot. The movie has enough trouble figuring out how to get the characters from one fantastical location to the next that Adams's funniest concepts often feel left in the dust. While the reverence the filmmakers felt toward Adams's legacy is apparent, one wonders what we could have expected had the creator of this science fiction universe lived to see it with his own eyes. -- Ryan Boudinot

A Guide to the Guide

The Soundtrack	The Radio Play (CD)	The TV Series
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Deluxe Edition)	The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide (Paperback)	The Filming of the Douglas Adams Classic (book)

Interviews with The Cast and Director

Watch our interviews with the cast and director of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and find out what they think of other DVDs and books: high bandwidth low bandwidth

Underworld - Evolution (Widescreen Special Edition)

Kate Beckinsale is back as vampire heroine Selene in the highly anticipated sequel to Underworld.Underworld Evolution continues the saga of war between the aristocratic Death Dealers and the barbaric Lycans (werewolves). The film traces the beginnings of the ancient feud between the two tribes as Selene (Kate Beckinsale) the vampire heroine and her love Michael (Scott Speedman) the lycan hybrid try to unlock the secrets of their bloodlines. The tale of action intrigue and forbidden love takes them into the battle to end all wars as the immortals must finally face their retribution.System Requirements:Run Time: 106 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 043396144385 Manufacturer No: 14438

Better action, a bit of sex, and gorier R-rated violence make Underworld: Evolution a reasonably satisfying sequel to 2003's surprise hit Underworld. Looking stunning as ever in her black leather battle gear, Kate Beckinsale is every goth guy's fantasy as Selene, the vampire "death dealer" who's now fighting to stop the release of the original "Lycan" werewolf, William (Brian Steele) from the prison that's held him for centuries. As we learn from the film's action-packed prologue, William and his brother Marcus (Tony Curran) began the bloodline of vampires and werewolves, and after witnessing centuries of warfare between them, their immortal father Corvinus (Derek Jacobi) now seeks Selene and the human vampire/lycan hybrid Michael (Scott Speedman) to put an end to the war perpetuated by Victor (Bill Nighy), the vampire warrior whose betrayal of Selene turns Underworld: Evolution into an epic tale of familial revenge. This ambitious attempt at Shakespearean horror is compromised by a script (by Danny McBride and returning director Len Wiseman, Beckinsale's real-life husband) that's more confusing than it needs to be, with too many characters and not enough storytelling detail to flesh them all out. Aspiring to greatness and falling well short of that goal, Underworld: Evolution succeeds instead as a full-throttle action/horror thriller, with enough swordplay, gunplay, and CGI monsters to justify the continuation of the Underworld franchise. If you're an established fan, this is a must-see movie; if not, well... at least it's better than Van Helsing! --Jeff Shannon

Flushed Away (Widescreen Edition)

Set on and beneath the streets of London Flushed Away is the story of Roddy an upper-crust society mouse who is rather rudely evicted from his Kensington flat when he is flushed down into Ratropolis the bustling sewer world found under London s streets. There he meets Rita an enterprising scavenger who works the sewers in her faithful boat the Jammy Dodger. Together they must navigate their way through a busy city filled with dangers for any mouse including terrifying rapids treacherous whirlpools and most of all the villainous Toad and his hench-rats Spike and Whitey. Though completely out of his element at first the privileged Roddy finds himself an unlikely hero when he learns that Ratropolis is in danger from the world above.DVD Features: Commentary: Filmmaker Commentary (Directors David Bowers and Sam Fell)Other: 2 Animated Slug Songs ( Pump It and I Don t Feel Like Dancing .)Other: From Clay to CG: A Technical JourneyOther: Jammy Dodger Fly-ThruFeaturette: Meet the CastOther: Animator's GalleryOther: Behind the Scenes Interactive Tour (Name TBDOther: DWA JukeboxTrailers: Menu Based Trailers:Trailers: Main Menu - Bee Movie () Shrek The Third (2:07)Trailers: Other Menu Trailers (DW) - Wallace & GromitTrailers: Other Menu Trailers (PARA)Other: DREAMWORKS KIDS:Other: Flushed Away Juke BoxOther: Build-A-SlugOther: Learn to Draw RoddyOther: The Music of Flushed AwayOther: Set Top Games: A Maze of PipesOther: A Maze of PipesDVD Rom: Flushed Away Underground AdventureDVD Rom: Printables (50 MB)DVD Rom: WeblinksSystem Requirements:Run Time: 84 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: CHILDREN/FAMILY Rating: PG UPC: 097361176840 Manufacturer No: 117684

Flushed Away is a rip-roaring nautical adventure with a twist: The heroes are a pair of rodents braving the sewers underneath London. Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) is an upper-crust house-mouse who finds himself flushed into the subterranean sewers. Eager to return to his posh home, he enlists the help of a boat-captain rat named Rita (Kate Winslet), who has troubles of her own; namely the kingpin of the underworld, the Toad (Ian McKellen), and his henchmen including the French mercenary Le Frog (Jean Reno).

While technically Flushed Away could be considered part of the wave of celebrity-voiced, anthropomorphic-animal movies that hit in 2005-2006 (Madagascar, Over the Hedge, The Wild, etc.), it doesn't inspire the same sense of déjà vu. For one thing, its voice actors are less recognizable than the likes of Bruce Willis and Chris Rock. For another, its look is very distinctive. Like Nick Park's Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it's a joint production of DreamWorks Animation and Aardman Features, and although Park isn't involved, it retains his trademark blocky look of clay animation. But animating the movie by computer rather than by hand allows for some eye-popping tableaux, such as floodwaters rushing through the sewers and an entire town of little animated characters. It's a crazy thrill ride loaded with inside jokes and enough crude humor to earn a PG rating, and the band of singing slugs is also a hoot. --David Horiuchi

On the DVD
It's no surprise that the singing slugs are the stars of the DVD's bonus features. They're featured in two music videos (less than a minute total), and in a 13-minute segment an Aardman animator builds a slug out of plasticine. (In contrast, the lesson on drawing Roddy is a mere two minutes.) A song jukebox jumps to 10 musical points in the film, though the non-slug background music isn't really worth the jump. On the human side, there are eight-minute featurettes on the music and the voices, a set-top game that is easier to control than most such featurettes (and easier to beat too), and a commentary track by directors David Bowers and Sam Fell in which they have a grand old time remembering their inside jokes and showering love on the Spike and Whitey characters. The DVD-ROM has access to 21 more online games. --David Horiuchi

• In Tabitha's room, there are a variety of dolls from previous DreamWorks Animation films, including a Gromit and several bunnies from Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, an Alex the Lion from Madagascar, and a Dragon from Shrek.
• Many characters from past films make cameos in Flushed Away. For example, a Chicken Run chicken is on the second page of the Toad's scrapbook, Gromit's head is a pencil top in the Jammy Dodger, the penguin from Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers is on a stamp on the Jammy Dodger, and a poster of Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is on the side of a bus in Kensington.
• There are officially 60 million rats in the UK. That's one rat for every person.
• The various boats in the film are made up of flotsam and jetsam that rats could conceivably find in the sewer. For the double decker bus: Ice chest, retro flipping numbers alarm clock, bike lamp, buckle, oil drum, soup can, license plate, rope, plastic suitcase, jerry can. For the mini cooper: Soda can, battery, sardine can, butter knife, old lights.
• Simulating the toilet water and making it look realistic proved to be a challenge. After much consideration, it was finally discovered that what was missing was caustics, or the use of light reflection off the bottom of the bowl. This was added and everyone was happy because they could finally get their mind out of the toilet.