This was no man. Does a man have teeth the size of axe blades? Or ears like terrible tombstones? By tampering with nature, forcing vegetables to swell far beyond their natural size, we have brought a terrible judgment upon ourselves.


* * *

Quotes:

----- -----

Lord Victor Quartermaine: I know your little secret, Pesto. I know exactly what's going on.
Wallace: Your Lordship...
Lord Victor Quartermaine: Oh, yes. You think you can pilfer my filly, don't you? You think you can con an innocent woman out of her fortune?
Wallace: Who, me?
Lord Victor Quartermaine: Well, I got here first! I've spent a long time reeling in that fluffy-headed bunny-lover, and I'm not about to let some puddle-headed peasant poach her from me. Comprenez?

----- -----

Reverend Clement Hedges: This was no man. Does a man have teeth the size of axe blades? Or ears like terrible tombstones? By tampering with nature, forcing vegetables to swell far beyond their natural size, we have brought a terrible judgment upon ourselves.
[Omninous organ music plays]
PC McIntosh: [To the organ player] Hey, give over!
[Organ player stops]
PC McIntosh: You're mental.
Reverend Clement Hedges: And for our sins, a hideous creature has been sent to punish us all! Repent! Repent! Lest you, too, taste the wrath of... the Were-Rabbit!

----- -----

[Quartermaine's hairpiece has been sucked up in the Bunvacc]
Lord Victor Quartermaine: I want...
[lowers voice]
Lord Victor Quartermaine: ...toupée, please.
Wallace: Oh, grand. We take cheques or cash.
Lord Victor Quartermaine: Toupée, you idiot! My hair is in your machine.
Wallace: Oh, no, it's only rabbits in there. The hare, I think you'll find, is a much larger mammal.

* * *

Review:

In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, we join the claymation heroes, Wallace and Gromit in what their creator Nick Park calls, the world's first vegetarian horror movie. This is one of the funnies and most heart warming animations ever to appear on the screen.

Wallace is a cheese-loving, north-country English chappie who fancies himself an inventor. He has a gift for creating wonderful Rube-Goldberg devices to accomplish simple everyday tasks. Unfortunately (or fortunately for us viewers), he lacks the common sense to see where his creations may lead. Gromit, his long suffering best friend and dog, is the real brains of the outfit. Together, they get into a number of hilarious adventures and scrapes.

The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, is the fourth outing for the team, and like two of its three predecessors, won an Oscar. The first short, A Grand Day Out (1989) was started by Nick Parks as his graduation project from film school. The 11-year long development of this idea, lead to his association with Steve Box and Aardman Animations. Soon afterward (in claymation terms) The Wrong Trousers (1993) followed, which is possibly the funniest claymation ever made. Just a scant few months later, the wickedly funny A Close Shave (1995) followed. However, fans had to wait many years, while Ardman Animations teamed up with Dreamworks to produce Chicken Run (2000) before another W&G sequel was made. This time however, it is a full length feature movie, and well worth the wait.

Claymation, by the way, is a process where animations are created by making Plasticine (modeling clay) figures of the characters, and moving them slightly between shots. It is incredibly time consuming. At the height of production, the 250 person team creating Were-Rabbit shot only 3 seconds of film per day. The whole movie required over 2.8 tons of Plasticine to make.

In The Curse of the Were-Rabbit Wallace and Gromit have their own pest control company called Anti-Pesto, which specializes in humane pest control. Their job primarily consists of protecting a town of gardening over achievers from a horde of terminally cute rabbits. Every gardener has their own giant vegetable securely locked away, ready for the town's annual giant vegetable competition for the coveted golden carrot. With the competition only days away, everyone is on high alert, when suddenly a gigantic 8-foot-tall bunny begins to pillage even the most secure plots. Wallace and Gromit have to come up with some of their best ideas ever to locate and neutralize this furry pest.

This movie is knock down, roll-on-the-floor funny from beginning to end. It is jam packed with British humor, sight gags, slapstick, farce and tons and tons of sly references. There is far too much going on to take it all-in in one sitting. Although the humor is accessible to children, this is not in any way a children's movie. Many of the jokes require an adult's broader knowledge to appreciate, though they are not in any sense "adult" humor. There are also a number of Britishisms, like the heroines nickname "Totty" and the cracks about Yorkshire.

Somehow, the fine animators have managed to imbue their characters with the obvious affection that they feel for them. These clay figures are a lot more real than the actor-portrayed cardboard cutouts in most of today's fare. This is aided by brilliant voice work by Peter Sallis (Last of the Summer Wine) as Wallace, Ralph Fiennes as the evil hunter, Victor Quartermaine, and Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Campanula Tottington, the competition organizer and bunny lover.

Of course, no one played Gromit, who despite having no voice, nevertheless has the best lines in the movie. The climactic chase and dogfight beween Gromit and Quartermaine's vicious bulldog is both funny and exciting. There is no doubt who the real star of this movie is, although Gromit does come close to being upstaged by the hordes of extremely cute bunnies.

This is a brilliant movie and an equally brilliant DVD. I give it six stars, as a must see for everyone with a brain. BTW, if you watch to the very end of the credits, there is one more joke. I do like a bit of cheese.

* * *

The DVD:

In addition to the movie, the DVD has a lot of interesting stuff on it.

The Making Of video, and the compulsory Studio Tour are okay.

The history of Wallace and Gromit is very good, with tons of interesting biographical information and trivia, as well as long excerpts from the prior three shorts.

The part where one of the modelers shows us how to make a Plasticine bunny, armed with only a sharpened chopstick is quite amazing. (The modeler has the chopstick, not the bunny.)

Ten brief shorts were made to test out techniques for this movie. Three of them are on the DVD. These are all funny. I understand that others of this set are/were available for download on the Web.

A short by Steve Box called Stage Fright is excellent. Funny, sad and scary all at the same time.

The deleted scenes are good and include a long alternative opening and several alternative endings. Personally, as a northern-English lad myself who lived near Preston (Nick Park's home town), I found the "Yorkshire" ending even funnier than the one actually used.

The kid's games seem decent too. I played the rabbit one and got a secret code word. I never figured out what to so with it though. Maybe there is some content I missed.

* * *

Cheese:

Wallace's highly touted love of cheese has created somewhat of a resurgence in the British cheese industry. The makers of Wenslydale, his favorite, credit W&G with saving the company, and their cheeses now feature our heroes on the label. After the release of Were-Rabbit, the orders for Stinking Bishop went up 500-fold.

* * *

Rating:

This movie is G rated for Great. It should be seen by everyone, preferably several times.

* * *

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

Directed by Steve Box and Nick Park

Written by Nick Park (characters), Bob Baker, Steve Box and Mark Burton

Cast:
Peter Sallis - Wallace/Hutch
Ralph Fiennes - Victor Quartermaine
Helena Bonham Carter - Lady Campanula Tottington
Peter Kay - PC Mackintosh
Nicholas Smith - Reverend Clement Hedges
Liz Smith - Mrs. Mulch
John Thomson - Mr. Windfall
Mark Gatiss - Miss Blight
Vincent Ebrahim - Mr. Caliche
Geraldine McEwan - Miss Thripp
And a host of others...

* * *


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4