I love Wallace & Gromit. When I was a kid, my Dad had the first three shorts on VHS, actually we still have them. A Grand Day Out is my favourite of the three, the absurdity and imagination of it was probably one of the key sparks that ignited my love for animation, alongside SpongeBob, Disney and Eddsworld. So, in 2005, when I saw the TV Spots for the Wallace & Gromit movie, of course I was excited. I don't remember if we went to see this in theatres, we might have, but I don't remember. All I remember seeing from the movie at that time was the advert that had a montage of characters getting slammed into things after the narrator said "Smashing". That is a weird thing to remember. However, is this lack of memory because the movie wasn't that great, or because I was a wee lad in a time long ago that not many people in my life could remember?
(EDIT: My Dad has confirmed that yes, we have gone to see this movie in theatres. I was very young at the time so it is most likely that is the reason I did not remember if I did.)
Wallace & Gromit were a series of claymation shorts following a middle aged man named Wallace and his highly intelligent dog Gromit. Wallace works the odd job, but his passion mostly lies with inventing and tinkering with gadgets, and cheese. It's essentially the classic dynamic of the zany guy and the down to earth guy that has to bail him out of the trouble he's caused, think Daffy and Porky in the Duck Dodgers short or early Family Guy Peter and Brian, actually I wouldn't be shocked if Seth Macfarlane initially based Peter and Brian off of Wallace & Gromit. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is not much different, it follows Wallace & Gromit as they work as a humane pest removal agency. After one successful job, Wallace gets the idea to attempt to rehabilitate the rabbits so they would dislike eating vegetables, which unfortunately works a bit too well, as after a lab mishap, Wallace ends up becoming a massive Rabbit monster which terrorizes the town just days before a vegetable fair. While the duo try to trap the beast, another man, a hunter named Victor Quartermaine, also tries to hunt the beast, and kill it. The plot is very much in the spirit of the classic shorts, I could see this plot working in a 30 minute short, or even as two shorts. It would take a lot of rewriting, but I could see it working. So, the question is, does this plot work as a feature? Honestly, yes and no.
I really liked the mystery of the movie, and how they kept throwing red herrings to misdirect you. As soon as the viewer can put the pieces together, they stop trying to hide the reveal and it becomes... something? There's some classic monster movie elements, and pretty fun climax, there's also a romantic subplot that features prominently in the movie. Not that the third act is bad, but it was here I mostly felt indifferent to the movie. I think it's because most of the third act is just Gromit, the villains and the townsfolk, and Gromit is a great character, but he doesn't really interact with anyone outside of Victor's dog for the most part. A lot of what makes Wallace & Gromit charming is Wallace & Gromit, so when it is Wallace & Gromit, it can be as fun and charming as the original shorts, but when it's not, it is still fun, but not as much. You might think the extra characters would add something, but they don't really. The original Wallace & Gromit shorts are actually quite barren and devoid of people, I mean, they were thirty-minute claymation shorts that probably had a small budget, so there really couldn't be that many other characters in the shorts. I don't know if the extra characters were an issue to write, but they don't actually contribute much, save for the Vicar, who hands down has a lot of the best scenes in the movie.
On the topic of "Issues", the production of the movie was a bit of a nightmare from what I have heard. In fact, DreamWorks kept trying to make the movie more "Americanized" and even tried to recast the late Peter Sallis as Wallace. Peter Sallis and Wallace are like Jim Henson and Kermit, Tom Kenny and SpongeBob, Clarence Nash as Donald Duck, not an irreplaceable role, but if you don't get the right actor, fans will notice. Thankfully, Aardman were adamant that Sallis played Wallace, and I think that was the right call. They did get some good talent as well, with Ralph Fiennes and Helena Bonham Carter, the casting is solid and they all do good performances. I also want to give a shoutout to Julian Nott who did a very fine score for this movie. I even heard bits of the classic Wallace & Gromit theme during the climax music, that was a nice touch. Of course, production by Hans Zimmer is just icing on the cake.
Claymation, and most stop motion really, has a reputation for being uncanny, off-putting and even scary to many viewers. On the one hand, I get it, it can be weird to watch. However, if you can out aside any of those strange feelings, the animation of this movie is quite excellent. This was Aardman's second movie they did with DreamWorks, the first being Chicken Run, and it's clear they took advantage of the bigger budget, and fancier equipment. There are camera pans and shots that would never have worked on a budgeted short, but look fantastic in a movie. Good camera motion is always something that blows my mind in stop motion, because you have to move the puppets and the camera at the same time, and it has to look right. Plus, I actually really like seeing the textures on the puppets, I dunno, it just makes it feel more real, I can't explain it. I do think some of the characters have some weird designs, I am not a fan of characters with really big lips unless they're meant to be non-human, but as a whole, the visuals are quite nice.
As a Wallace & Gromit fan, I have my issues with the movie, but it is nice to see one of my favourite duos in animation get a big budget feature length adventure. If you're new to Wallace & Gromit, I'd recommend you check out the original shorts, those are A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, plus A Matter of Loaf and Death, which came out in 2008. I'd save this movie for after you've seen the shorts. I think the attempt to make a "Bigger" Wallace & Gromit short was admirable, but when you take something as simple as Wallace & Gromit and make it bigger, somethings just won't always sit right. Still, it does retain a lot of the charm that made Wallace & Gromit work, maybe at the cost of the simplicity. As a fan, I had some fun with this movie, though I don't love it as much as the original shorts, if this movie is on, I wouldn't mind killing some time with it. If you like Stop-motion animation, British Animation or want to try something a bit different, I can safely say I recommend this movie.
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