Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Review by Clint Morris

Truth to be told I was about as keyed up to see the first full-length Wallace & Gromit feature as I was the prospect of taking the plunger to the neighbour’s blocked-up loo.

Yes I know they’re supposed to be good, I know it’s getting good reviews, and yes, I’m aware that it’s probably a good show – but James Hird also put on a reputably fine show and you never saw me, hotdog in one hand, programme in the other, plonked on the stand watching him.

Why? Just wasn’t interested.

If you haven’t already guessed I was one of those kids whose mother had to drag him to school by the mini-mullet - because I just loathed the thought of it. Of course, I had quite the time when I got there. And yes, I was also a little stuck for words upon exiting the theatre after this too, as you’d deduce.

My disinclination may have something to do with how spoilt us filmgoers have been the last couple of years when it comes to family films. If animated films are old hat because of the much-superior CGI efforts – like Shrek or Toy Story - then where does a plasticine-effort stand? Surely only a medium worthy of a cheese stick commercial, right?

Ah - nope.

Plasticine or not, Wallace & Gromit – a dog and owner combo who hit the scene a few years back in a series of shorts – are two of the most entertaining and instantly likeable characters to grace a family film in quite some time. And for what it’s worth – it won’t just be the manic 10-year-old who gets a kick out of their hijinks.

Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis) and his wisely dog Gromit – companions for years – are running a successful protection service, Anti-Pesto. When mischievous rabbits start attacking the villager’s vegetable gardens, they are there to save the day.

Wallace decides some simple brain altering will make the rabbits lose interest in vegetables – but unfortunately, his hair-brained scheme backfires and we’re left instead with a ‘King Kong’ sized rabbit terrorising the streets, and threatening to put an end to the highly anticipated Giant Vegetable Competition.

A co-production between Dreamworks (creators of Shrek and Madagascar) and Aardman Animation (where the characters first surfaced at the hands of creator, Nick Park), Wallace & Gromit isn’t only an enjoyable little plight – it’s a surprisingly good-looking one.

The technique of using plasticine people may have been around longer than Drive-In-Theatres, but it still works a treat – especially when everything else is in order. And in this case, it most definitely is.

The biggest treat is the script, with it’s obvious homage’s to classic films like Frankenstein and King Kong, which could easily have been adapted to be a live-action effort. It’s not only exhaustive; it’s brimming with interesting characters, is effervescent, and in a sense, enchanting. Most of all, it’s humorous – with a couple of ‘over their head’ jokes thrown in for good measure.

Still very British, whilst retaining a universally comical sequence of puns and permanent pleasantry, Wallace & Gromit is a film to make any hard-nosed critic bite their tongue… Ouch.

3.5 out of 5

Wallace & Gromit : The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Australian release: Thursday the 15th of September, 2005
Cast: Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham-Carter, Ralph Fiennes.
Director: Nick Park.
Website: Click here.

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