A Review by Phil Calabro
2005, Dreamworks SKG, Dir. Nick Park/Steve Box - Starring the voice talents of Peter Sallis, Helena Bonham Carter, Ralph Fiennes, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Liz Smith, John Thomson, Mark Gatiss, Vincent Ebrahim, Geraldine McEwan, Edward Kelsey, Pete Atkin
I've always found it very hard to treat animated movies the same way as live-action. Maybe it's the occasional lack of human interaction between the characters and audience, or just the limitlessness of their natures. That time has come to a close. After Tim Burton swept me away with his showpiece 'Corpse Bride', Nick Park enters the room and completely astounds me with his talent. This is intended to be a children's movie, but alas, it has the power to captivate viewers of every possible age. Using his classic old-fashioned stop-motion animation in place of CGI, Park rekindles the same charm from the Wallace and Gromit shorts of the early 90s. With two of cartoon-land's most positive and loveable characters, a whole new environment surrounding them, and a little bit of stamina, Nick Park has created one of the few magnum opuses of animation. 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit' is the year's best animated movie by hops and bounds, and one of the best movies of the year.
Wallace (voice of Sallis), an absent-minded inventor, along with his trustworthy human-fusioned dog Gromit, run a top-notch pest control company quaintly titled 'Anti-Pesto', and their latest catches have been breed-crazy rabbits who have been ravaging the vegetables of the town for weeks. Normally this would pass, but the annual Giant Vegetable Competition is happening in a few weeks, and several obsessive gardeners want their veggies kept safe.
So the duo sets up a humane way to capture all the rabbits, with their Bunny-Vac, which sucks all the pesky rabbits from their eating grounds and keeps them in cages where they're stuffed full. But when Wallace decides to brainwash the bunnies to not eat vegs with his new brain-alteration machine, a strange transformation appears rampaging around town - the 7-foot taller beastly Were-Rabbit. Together, Wallace and Gromit must put a stop to the beast, while Wallace also tries to win the affections of the royal Lady Tottington (Carter), and battling against the trigger-happy ways of the evil Victor Quartermaine (Fiennes), who'd rather kill the rabbits than the alternative.
What's most impressive about Wallace and Gromit is how well they adapt to new surroundings. From the premiere of 'A Grand Day Out', where our heroes take a trip to the moon for the purpose of getting lots of cheese, we've seen our British friends develop a lot. But here is their biggest test: can they survive a feature-length film about themselves? The answer is the most resounding 'yes' possible. These are no longer the three-dimensional characters that we remembering chuckling over as they toddled around their West Wallaby Street home while fiddling with inventions. They are characters with a plot, including a love interest and a villain. It's fun to see how Wallace reacts to a woman, or how both try and save the day in glorious fashion.
Peter Sallis has the same sharp voice for the lovable Wallace, and Ralph Fiennes provides an over-the-top yet entertaining enemy to our heroes. Helena Bonham Carter maintains the same thoughtful tone that embodied the 'Corpse Bride' this year. Nick Park's greatest invention has been Gromit, the 'Silent Bob' of the duo whose facial expressions are nearly the most expressive gestures a man could make. With his protruding brow and golf ball eyes, Wallace's faithful dog steals several of the scenes with his comic unconventionalism. Also, he provides a voice (or lack thereof) of reason for his master, as he's normally the one who gets him out of trouble everytime.
Park's script is full of biting wit and the occasional innuendo, which gives our adults a laugh every now and then. References to pop culture and potpurri are quietly melded into the environment, so that it takes nearly three viewings just to catch everything. From 'King Kong' to 'Watership Down', 'Wallace and Gromit' is like an animated Jerry Zucker movie.
Done with taste and talent, 'Wallace and Gromit' is a spectacle for the masses. It is the final product which has been slaved over for five years, it's high time for audiences to sit down and truly enjoy it for what it is: a blazingly brilliant film with immaculate detail and positivity. Now that's some crackin' cheese, Gromie.
