Wallace and Gromit: four short films

Animated / Comedy 1989-2008 / 114 minutes RATING: 8/10 It's been 35 years now, since student filmmaker Nick Park crafted his leading man out of clay. He made Wallace lovable and oh so inventive, but also more than a bit thick. Then Park carved up Gromit, Wallace's loyal, long-suffering dog who can't quite manage to keep Wallace out of trouble entirely, but who does manage to keep his master from getting in too deep. Wallace might be a brilliant inventor, but Gromit is the wise one. Since his first stop-motion claymation film, A Grand Day Out (where the duo managed to make it to the moon), Park has featured this duo in three more shorts and a couple of feature films; they've won a few Oscars, and spawned spin-off TV shows (Shaun the Sheep being the most notable). Not bad for a dim bulb and his dog. Part of the charm here is that the two of them do care for each other. Of course, that doesn't mean Wallace knows how to express his affection. He'll build an automatic patting machine, for example, rather than give Gromit the scratch behind the ears that his canine companion really wants. And when Gromit wants to go for "walkies," like every dog does, Wallace builds a set of "techno trousers" that he can attach Gromit's leash to, so the robot pants can take Gromit for his walk. Really Wallace, really? Gromit can't even talk, but the expressive dog sure can communicate. (They actually write dialogue for Gromit, even though he isn't going to speak it, so the animators will know how to shape Gromit's expressions.) Right behind this duo, third billing goes to the inventions – Wallace has more gadgets than James Bond, and they're twice as cool. He's built a machine that automatically throws him out of bed, sliding Wallace down a chute so he can land at his breakfast table, where another machine dresses him and yet another makes his breakfast. This process rarely goes off without a hitch, and the malfunctions are as fun as the successes. Another of Wallace's crazy contraptions is a knitting machine that just needs you to pop a sheep in one end, and a sweater will come out the other. Park has made four short claymation Wallace and Gromit films in all. A Grand Day Out 1989 / 24 minutes Wallace and Gromit need a vacation, and when Wallace discovers they are out of cheese, they decide the best getaway destination is the moon, what with all its bounty of green cheese. How are they going to get there? By building a rocket ship in the basement, of course! The Wrong Trousers 1993 / 30 minutes Wallace and Gromit’s happy home life is disrupted by a mysterious penguin who rents one of their rooms. Soon the shifty-eyed flightless foul is trying to replace Gromit in Wallace’s affections. But never fear, the loyalty of this tried and true dog does win out in the end. The moral of this tale? Either never neglect your dog, or don’t trust shifty-eyed penguins. Fun and silly, it won an Oscar. They even made a sequel, the feature film Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. A Close Shave 1995 / 31 minutes To make ends meet, Wallace and Gromit have started their own window-washing business. A wool merchant, Wendolene Ramsbottom, asks them to clean her shop windows, and, of course, Wallace falls in love. There are two mysteries to solve: first, where has the country's wool gone? and, second, what or who is destroying the interior of Wallace and Gromit's house? (One hint: this is where Shaun the Sheep makes his very first appearance.) A Matter of Loaf and Death 2009 / 29 minutes Wallace and Gromit are now bakers, and great at it. It doesn't hurt their business, either, that all the other bakers in town are being bumped off one by one. Wallace is in love again, this time with Piella Bakewell, the spokesmodel for Bake-O-Lite breads. The ever loyal Gromit gets stuck doing Wallace's work in the bakery, even as he's also trying to prevent the two of them from becoming the "cereal" killer's next victims. The description pitched this as a "who-doughnut" in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock, and I was skeptical; how could they pull that off in claymation? But they did! Cautions While A Grand Day Out would be safe for all ages, The Wrong Trousers has a somewhat creepy villain that the pre-school set could find a bit disturbing. The last two films amp up the tension more, with first sheep, and then bakers, getting killed. One baker even gets killed off screen but then falls back into the shot, face first into a cake. It's all claymation, so, not at all realistic (and there is no blood or gore). But it underscores how these aren't really intended as family fare. Some animation is for kids, with some jokes for adults thrown in. I'd say this is for adults, and some older kids  – 10 and up – could enjoy it too. Language concerns would be limited to a few uses of "heck" and "flipping" and I think an "oh my gracious." Finally, in A Matter of Loaf and Death, a bomb blows a hole in Wallace's pants, and we see a brief shot of Wallace's naked, claymation butt. Again, the claymation aspect of it means this is far from titillating, though it might get little boys tittering. Conclusion The appeal here is the spectacle of all of Wallace's crazy inventions, and the simple beautiful loyalty of these two friends. It's clever, and might even inspire some kids to give stop motion filming a try. I remember making one, not with clay, but with a pair of my shoes doing a dance across the floor. There are so many tools online to get an inventive kid going, and this might be just the thing to inspire them. That said, these are not all for the very young. The Brits rate these as 7+ but I'd say that especially A Matter of Loaf and Death should be 10 and up. For a taste of what Wallace and Gromit are all about, check out this compilation of their "cracking contraptions" –  8 two-minute videos of Wallace at his most inventive. ...