This is the best animated feature of the year. It’s a crackin’ good time. If you haven’t been introduced to the antics of cheese-loving inventor Wallace (Peter Sallis, SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING) and his dutiful dog Gromit in Aardman Animations’ Oscar-winning short films then you are missing out. But you don’t need to have seen them to love their first (and hopefully not last) feature.
The duo is running an anti-pest company called Anti-Pesto. Their clients are thoroughly happy with Wallace and Gromit’s ability to keep rabbits away from the town’s prized giant vegetables with the impending giant veg competition on the horizon. However, when Wallace tries a mind-altering experiment to rid the rabbits of the town of the desire to eat vegetables, he inadvertently creates the giant were-rabbit. Lady Campanula Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter, CORPSE BRIDE) wants to give Wallace and Gromit a chance to humanely deal with the were-rabbit before her suitor Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes, THE CONSTANT GARDENER) goes after it with guns blaring.
The stop-motion feature is filled with hilarious sight gags and puns. Aardman, the creators of CHICKEN RUN, have painstakingly melded top-quality animation with pitch perfect timing and writing. None of the jokes ever seemed forced and the timing is dead on. The film wonderfully spoofs monster movies much like the WALLACE & GROMIT short, THE WRONG TROUSERS, spoofed spy films. Most importantly, the story feels like a feature. It doesn’t seem like a padded short that’s been stretched to feature length, which was a problem with CORPSE BRIDE, which was another wonderful looking stop-motion film from early this year.
Wallace and Gromit are such an endearing duo that you can’t help but get wrapped up in their adventures. I want more now. Go see this film; it will make you laugh more than probably any other film you’ll see this year. This film is highly recommended viewing.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
