Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Movie Review:


Though Nick Park may be better known to movie audiences as the co-director/creator of “Chicken Run,” his more devout fans will remember "Wallace & Gromit" came first. Appearing in three stop-motion animated shorts in the early '90s, the naive inventor and his faithful dog made their biggest splash in “The Wrong Trousers.” This half-hour delight gave us everything we needed to know about this comedy duo -- how Wallace's technological engineering skills are matched by a blissful obliviousness, how Gromit is always a step ahead of his master, and how their adventures are conveyed with an expressive, physical spirit that would make them feel at home among silent comedies.

“The Wrong Trousers” made its fans, myself included, want more. The other two available "Wallace & Gromit" shorts filled the time nicely, but I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed when I found out Park's first venture into feature-length animation was going to be about chickens. Of course, “Chicken Run” was fabulous, but just the same I wanted a "Wallace & Gromit" movie. Now, finally, here it is -- and it's entirely worth the wait.

“Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is a comic bonanza in which our two heroes find themselves in an expanded animated setting, a perfect satirical take on fussy middle-class Britain. Wallace (Peter Sallis) and his best friend have found a lucrative business protecting the gardens of their neighbors from rabbits, an especially growing concern in light of the upcoming annual giant vegetable contest, presided by Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter). The concerns of this world are hilariously insular, and the conflict chosen for it suits it perfectly -- the menace of an out-of-nowhere giant rabbit would cause little dismay to anyone else, but, to the residents of this burg, it's the most frightening thing they could imagine, a creature that devours those prize vegetables in the dark of the night.

Wallace & Gromit are so easy to love because, above all else, their good nature shines through. Wallace is unassuming and eager to help, while Gromit is the epitome of patient loyalty. He may roll his eyes at his master at times, but no one can be counted on more to help Wallace out of a pinch. A point is also made about their particular brand of pest control -- their rabbit-trapping company, "Anti-Pesto," specializes in humane treatment of the bunnies they catch. Naturally, the villain of the piece is a rifle-toting egotist, Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), opposite to the main characters in every way.

Comedy, though, is the main name of the game. The movie features a smorgasbord of puns, both verbal and visual. Its humor is clever and clearly attuned to sight gag potential, which is not surprising given the nature of Gromit's character. Gromit never utters a sound; in fact, he has no visible mouth. Yet, he's one of the funniest comic creations ever to reach the big screen. With little else but a pair of closely-situated eyes and a versatile brow, he can display almost a limitless array of expressions. He's a deft combination of ocular takes and body language. The sweetness (and sometimes bittersweetness) of this universe, the characters' abilities to milk sympathy with their innate goodness, and the visual comedy of faces, absurdity, and motion allow Wallace & Gromit to fill a space left by likes of Charles Chaplin.

The releases of “Corpse Bride” and now “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” bring me much joy -- joy to see two excellent and very different examples of stop-motion animation in one year. It's always a wonder to see this medium create such kinetic movies; the arduousness of the work involved only makes sequences like Were-Rabbit's frantic and hysterically funny finale all the more astounding. For me, it's amazing enough that the climactic scenes could even live up to the famous train-track scene in “The Wrong Trousers.” I didn't think it could be done. Now the sad part is how I might have to wait another five or six years for the next "Wallace & Gromit" movie. For now, I just hope another one is being planned.



Jeffrey Chen

Over the course of the 1990s, Aardman, a little animation house based in England burst onto the scene with their clever and often zany takes on the world of claymation. Aardman’s three short films based on the characters of Wallace & Gromit won two Oscars and lost its first Oscar to fellow Aardman production “Creature Comforts”.

Aardman’s first foray into mainstream films was 2000’s much-heralded animated film, “Chicken Run”. The success of “Chicken Run” burst the seams at the box office and solidified the Aardman and DreamWorks partnership.

It’s been over fifteen years since the first Wallace & Gromit adventure delighted audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. Now it’s their time to shine as their latest adventure, a full-length feature film.

Wallace & Gromit have started a “humane” pest control business on the eve of the town’s largest vegetable festival. The townspeople are utterly paranoid that their potentially award-winning vegetables could be devoured by the town’s rampant rabbit population.

The fear of losing their prized vegetables intensifies when the town’s Reverend is attacked by a giant rabbit and his vegetables for the “less-fortunate” are viciously ravaged. Where did this creature come from?

In the middle of the mayhem, Wallace’s (Peter Sallis) eye sways towards the vegetable advocate Miss Tottingham (Helena Bonham Carter) much to the dismay of her current suitor Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes). Victor becomes obsessed with becoming the town’s hero and steal Totty back for himself.

Can Wallace & Gromit rise to the occasion and stop this vegetable-masochist? Can Wallace keep his head straight around Totty? Furthermore, can they uncover the mystery of the were-rabbit before town’s annual festival?

“Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is such a delightful film that it’s surprising that it took over fifteen years to get these characters their own film.

The power of storytelling, emotion, thought and zany antics housed in this film is unlike we have seen on the silver screen in quite some time. It’s probably, hands down, the best animated film since “The Incredibles”.

I think the thing that surprised me the most about this film was the pure energy in the storytelling. So many animated films these days even with all their fancy CGI effects so often forget the true depth of what a good story can do for a film. A lot of those films are one-note gags that have to go on for 90 minutes. Some succeed but a lot also fail. Some of those films in recent memories are films like “Madagascar”, “Shrek 2” and the god-awful “Valiant”. There are portions of these films where the film literally stops and they forget what it takes to entertain an audience. Oh sorry, in Valiant’s case that’s the whole film. “Wallace” is miles ahead of all these films.

What is so incredible about the film is that everywhere you look you can see the pain-staking attention to detail used to make this film. This film is carved with blood, sweat and tears and every second shows it.

What I also liked about “Wallace” was that not only the main plot was multi-layered but all the subplots as well. I loved all the townspeople and each of their quirky personalities.

One of the things that made the “Wallace” shorts so much fun was the oodles of gadgets that Wallace dreamed up for everyday things. That remains true in this film and it’s his giant “rabbit-vacuum” that is so hysterical this time. The contraption is so wonderfully conceived.

I am pretty sure that ““Wallace & Gromit” will be firmly implanted with love in all that see this film. It’s brilliant filmmaking.




So Says the Soothsayer

Dean Kish

The three half-hour Wallace and Gromit shorts were nominated for Oscars, and two of them won (the first lost to another Nick Park short). These are such classics that the pressure was really on as Park moved these matchless characters into a feature-length film. But we didn't need to worry.

Wallace the inventor (voiced by Sallis) and his brainy pooch Gromit are now running Anti-Pesto, a humane service protecting vegetables from hungry rabbits in the weeks leading up to the big competition. Now even Lady Tottington (Bonham Carter) has asked for Wallace's help, leading to a series of flirty conversations that enrage her frightfully high-class suitor Victor (Fiennes). When a giant rabbit starts devouring prized vegetables, Victor gets out his gun, while Wallace tries to find a less fatal way to save the day.

Astonishingly, Park packs every minute just as densely as in the short films, establishing the characters for those unfamiliar with them and then roaring through an outlandish plot that riffs on classic monster movies. There are so many details in each scene that it's impossible to take them in; and the figures are wonderfully made of clay, fingerprints and all, which adds terrific texture. While the script delightfully jumbles film cliches with high action and inventive gags to keep us laughing and occasionally shrieking.

The vocal cast is likewise superb. Sallis once again gives Wallace a terrific everyman quality--the scatterbrained genius who's too thick to realise that his mute (but very expressive) dog Gromit gets him out of every scrape. Bonham Carter and especially Fiennes are hysterically posh, augmented by genius character animation. And it's accompanied by more of Julian Nott's roaring musical score.

Even more so than Aardman's only other feature, the terrific Chicken Run, this film is nearly bursting with wit--pointed puns, sharp satire, nutty pastiche, cute silliness and lots of old chestnut gags. The action climax alone seamlessly mixes about five film genres. And while it's all rather empty-headed and ridiculous, it's not dull for a second. Even the aerial bunny ballet through the closing credits is worth giggling through.

Rich Cline

With only days to go before the Tottington Giant Vegetable Competition, humane pest-controllers Anti-Pesto, sees Wallace (Sallis) and Gromit on high alert. With the rabbit population trying their best to get their buck teeth into the big vegetables they have ever seen, Anti-Pesto are busier than ever. When Lady Tottington (Bonham Carter) charges Wallace and Gromit with the humanely removing the rabbits from her estate before her suitor Victor Quartermaine (Fiennes) brings his very big gun. Thinking they have the problem under control everything goes haywire when the full moon brings the biggest pest Wallace and Gromit they have ever seen, a creature of myth, the were-rabbit.

After Oscar success with the animated shorts, Nick Park brings his beloved creations Wallace and Gromit to the silver screen but can they make the jump to a feature length adventure? Of course they can and it is cracking!

When it comes to capturing the true essence of Northern England in plasticine there is no one better than stop motion experts at Aardman Animation. Now with the backing of DreamWorks, Nick Park and his creative team can bring their most famous characters to the silver screen for a full length cracking adventure. Loosing nothing of the charm and utter British-ness that made them such a firm family favourite in the first place, this is one of the best animated films ever.

To create a truly great family film you have to appeal to both the younger and older audience. Pixar and DreamWorks’ own ‘Shrek’ movies have achieved this and went on to make millions at the box office and the good news is that ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ follows this formula. Youngsters will love the cute characters and fun storyline but the older will revel in the continuing run of movie references, double-entendres and sight gags that will have them laughing themselves silly. This is an extremely funny movie on so many levels and you really need multiple watches to take in every thing that the filmmakers have put on screen.

The animation itself is jaw-droppingly superb and surpasses anything you have ever seen before in either Wallace and Gromit’s animated shorts or any other stop-motion feature. The attention to detail is staggering but you can still see the figure prints of the animators on the models, revelling that they stayed true to the hand animated feel that made you fall in love with the characters in the first place. With action sequences that would give any Hollywood blockbuster a run for its money, this is edge of your seat action that never looses touch with its comedic under pinnings. Your heart will be racing one minute during the action packed finale only for Nick Park to throw in a gag that will have you laughing out loud.

Wallace and Gromit make the transition to feature length adventure with ease and the vocal performances bring Wallace and the new characters to life. A Wallace and Gromit movie would be nothing without the voice of Peter Sallis breathing life into everyone’s favourite cheese-loving inventor. Typically Northern, the eccentric, good-natured man is the embodiment of everything that is good about people from the region and Peter Sallis’s voice epitomises this completely. Coming into the fold are Hollywood superstars Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter as Victor Quartermaine and Lady Tottington, with both of them getting into the spirit of the Wallace and Gromit with ease. Add to this some great vocal performances from British comedic talents Peter Kaye, Mark Gatiss, John Thomson and Nicholas Smith and you have a recipe for a classic.

‘Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’ is a classic and one of the best family films ever made. Directors Nick Park and Steve Box have transferred the magic of the Oscar winning shorts into an amazing feature length adventure that never looses any of its British-ness that made it so brilliant in the first place. The film is quite simply ‘Cracking’

Jamie Kelwick

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