pmills1210's Full Review: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
It's October in the English town where Wallace and his faithful dog Gromit make their home. In October, the duo is busy protecting the gardens of their neighbors from rabbits with their business, Anti-Pesto Security. Everybody in town is getting ready for the fall harvest festival, where they will display their food, which Wallace (Peter Sallis) has helped to make bigger than normal. Whenever one of the Anti-Pesto homes has an intruder, Wallace and Gromit respond immediately, capture the rabbit, and put them in their home, where the duo keeps them caged and full of carrots.
The rabbit problem is most pervasive at the mansion of Lady Campanula Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter), who's hosting the festival at her place. Her boyfriend, Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), will happily shoot the creatures, or let his vicious dog go after them. Lady Tottington is much more humane, and won't allow Victor to harm the bunnies in her garden. Wallace & Gromit don't let any rabbit problem overwhelm them, and they collect her vegetable eaters with their Bunny-Vac. At his home, Wallace gets the idea to cure the bunnies of their love of vegetables. He experiments on a bunny named Hutch, but Wallace inadvertently creates a monster in Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.
The were-rabbit starts eating the town's vegetables, starting with the ones grown by the town vicar. Wallace & Gromit find themselves suddenly bombarded by security calls as the beast threatens to ruin the festivities for everybody. The vicar knows the only way to stop the were-rabbit, which looks a little like Bugs Bunny on steroids, is with golden bullets, and he happens to have three in the event that they corner it. Victor is more than happy to fire the bullets. He also grows jealous of Wallace, who seems to be getting more of Lady Tottington's time than Victor. Victor is anxious to show the town how he defines pest control.
The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is the first new adventure for Nick Park's popular duo since A Close Shave in 1995. It's also the first time that Wallace & Gromit have appeared in a feature-length movie. Were-Rabbit is an affectionate and humorous tribute to the famous horror films of the 1930s, such as Frankenstein, King Kong, and The Phantom Of The Opera. Scenes from these famous movies are recreated in Aardman's clay animation. It took Park several years to create this animation, and is his first completed project since Chicken Run in 2000. Park (with co-director and co-writer Steve Box) make this a fine follow-up to Chicken Run.
Wallace and Gromit are an odd couple in the animated world. While Wallace tries to reassure his customers, Gromit is usually the one who has the answers. Even though Gromit never says a word, he steals the show from his master, especially after Wallace's best intentions go awry. While Wallace doesn't quite get to the bottom of the problem with the beastly bunny, Gromit pays attention to every detail so that he knows how to find and stop the were-rabbit. He also uses his dog mind to fight Victor and his canine companion. The showdown between the dogs is reminiscent of Snoopy's heralded battles with the Red Baron in the "Peanuts" comic strip.
This is not to say, though, that I didn't enjoy Sallis's performance as Wallace, the gentle, well-meaning inventor. Some inventions he creates work just fine. In the opening sequence, he and Gromit are summoned from their sleep to catch a rabbit. They don't have to move; the bed moves for them, leads them down a slide, gives them a quick cup of tea, and deposits them in their work clothes. It's through the quick thinking of Gromit, though, that Wallace realizes the monster he created. That leads to some humorous situations, including a surprise visit from Lady Tottington. I also enjoyed the rapport between Sallis and Carter as Tottington, a lady who shares Wallace's humane treatment of the rabbits who could wreak havoc on their plants. Fiennes is funny as the smug Victor, who thinks all of the town's problems can be solved with bullets.
The theatrical release of Wallace & Gromit also includes a short called A Christmas Caper, starring the penguins from the movie Madagascar. The story involves the escape of one of the penguins, who has gone shopping for a Christmas present for a lonely polar bear. However, the penguin is mistaken for a toy by a cantankerous elderly woman. She wants the penguin for her poodle, who has learned his nasty traits from his owner. The other penguins have taken notice of their missing comrade and have begun a rescue mission. The result is predictable mayhem. This short has a good message at its core, but that message is buried in mean-spirited and humorless action. This holiday fiasco has no business on the same bill with the Wallace & Gromit feature.
Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit is a fun film that also lovingly pays tribute to some of the classic films associated with Halloween. Wallace gets the idea to change the nature of rabbits, but his idea threatens to ruin the harvest festival. Ultimately, he learns that he should be content to make his town a safe place for both rabbits and gardeners. Wallace and Gromit are back after a ten-year absence, and fans of the series will surely hope that another film with this animated duo won't be ten years in the offing.
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