I love Wallace & Gromit! From Wikipedia: “Wallace & Gromit is a British claymation comedy franchise created by Nick Park and produced by Aardman Animations. The series centres on Wallace, a good-natured, eccentric, cheese-loving bachelor inventor, and Gromit, his loyal and intelligent anthropomorphic dog.”
I’ve seen their first three short films, which I have on one DVD: A Grand Day Out (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993), and A Close Shave (1995). They are great and I’ve seen them repeatedly.
But obviously, I have fallen behind on my W&G viewing. So my wife and I went to a free showing of the 2005 film The Curse of the Were-Rabbit at Proctors Theatre on a Saturday afternoon.
“Wallace [voiced by the late Peter Salis] and his loyal dog, Gromit, set out to discover the mystery behind the garden sabotage that plagues their village and threatens the annual giant vegetable growing contest.”
The enterprising duo’s humane pest-control outfit, Anti-Pesto, is booming, thanks in part to the patronage of the competition hostess, Lady Campanula Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter). But what do they do with all those captured bunnies overruning their home? Wallace has an idea.
Totty’s would-be suitor, Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), is irritated by the attention she is showing Wallace. Meanwhile, there is a sudden attack by a large and voracious creature, first seen by the town’s superstitious vicar. Eventually, Gromit discovers the secret of the Were-Rabbit.
Notes
The movie is very funny, though slightly padded for its 85-minute run time. I read that Dreamworks kept sending Nick Park notes about making the film accessible for an American audience, which reportedly annoyed him.
My wife said this G-rated movie had a couple of suggestive bits, which may be true. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film and several other accolades. Rotten Tomatoes has it 95% positive with the critics, though only 79% with audiences.
I will have to see the 2024 film Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.
