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Wallace &
Gromit:
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Directed by Nick Park and Steve Box
Starring the voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter
Kay, and Nicholas Smith.
When you stop to think about stop-motion animation, one of the first things that
comes to mind is Wallace and Gromit. The dynamic duo, created by Nick Park
as he was working for Aardman Studios, quickly became very endearing characters
in the world of animation. Three shorts were produced, two of which one
Oscars. So, in the late 1990s, when Aardman signed a deal with Dreamworks
Animation to produce full-length stop-motion animated films, we all kind of knew
that it was just a matter of time before Wallace and Gromit got a feature-length
film.
The film opens with Wallace and Gromit's latest business: Anti-Pesto, a
humane pest control agency. And, with the town's annual Giant Vegetable
Competition coming up, they find business booming, as they rid all the town's
gardens of rabbits. Of course, all this action soon has Wallace capturing
the eye of Lady Tottington (Carter), the town matriarch and sponsor of the
competition. And, it also draws the ire of Tottington's main suitor, the
villanous Victor Quartermaine (Fiennes). But, all this is causing problems
for Wallace and Gromit. They humanely capture all the rabbits, but then,
they don't know what to do with them. Then, one night, Wallace gets an
idea. He wants to use his new invention, the Mind-o-Matic, to brainwash
the rabbits into not liking vegetables. But, sooner than you can say
"jackrabbit," the experiment goes horribly awry, and now the town's gardens are
being stalked by a massive, hulking Were-Rabbit. It's up to Wallace and
Gromit to capture the Were-Rabbit and win the heart of Lady Tottington before
Victor goes all ape-poop and starts blasting everything in sight!
This movie is friggin' funny. Granted, it is British humour, so you
have to be into that sort of thing, but there's a lot more going on.
There's this one bit involving a coin-operated biplane that had me just going
nuts. And, the best part about it is, it's all quiet. That scene
plays out without any dialogue. No wise-cracking overpaid celebrity that
dominates animated films these days. This is simple, understated, and
very, very, very funny. And you know, in this era of slick computer
animation dominating the field, it's kind of cool to see an animator's
fingerprints on a clay model. Check out this movie, you will not be
disappointed.
(Oh, and another thing. You may have seen the TV spots that announces
that this starts with an animated short film called The Madagascar Penguins
in a Christmas Caper. I just want to say that that short film is lame,
lame, lame.)
3.5 Nibs
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