Aardman Animation’s re-packaging of Nick Park’s acclaimed animated shorts featuring Wallace & Gromit.

CRITIQUE

The truly amazing animation from genius filmmaker Nick Park is a favorite of mine, particularly his intrepid duo of Wallace and Gromit, the geeky inventor/cheese aficionado and his long-suffering yet wiser, mute dog, respectively, have created a sensation internationally. His pain-staking, stop-motion animation (a 4 second bit of business can take up to 8 hours to animate) is a revelation.

It was in the productions by Aardman Animation that Park cut his teeth on plasticene animation (a type of pliable clay) with “Creature Comforts” which scored a Best Animated Short Academy Award in 1989 for the budding animator (who was in competition with himself in the first W&G adventure: “A Grand Day Out”).

Subsequently his W&G larks, “The Wrong Trousers” (1993) and “A Close Shave” (1995)  - both back-to-back Oscar winners in the same category as his previous work – would lead to 2000’s “Chicken Run” and the first feature length W&G film, “Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit”, which scored the 2005 Best Animated Feature Oscar.

Park’s unique work is best known for the slightly goofy features yet offers plenty of heart amidst the comic hi-jinks, sight gags and slapstick reminiscent of Warner Brothers cartoons, Tom & Jerry shorts and any other form of animation over the years that Park pays homage to. In a nutshell, his original creations – especially W&G – are ideal for the times and stand out for their own blend of humor and good cheer.

The first short “A Grand Day Out” introduced the duo on a jaunt to the moon for Wallace to seek out the cheese the satellite is supposed to be made out of.  The sophomore effort, “The Wrong Trousers” offers the pair taking in a lodger – a placidly malevolent penguin - who turns out to be up to no good, while Wallace is working the bugs out on robotic pants. Finally, the third chapter, “A Close Shave” has the friends as window-washers who discover the client may be involved in a sheep-knapping scheme.

All three shorts are highly entertaining and laugh-out loud funny, each escalating the Rube Goldbergian antics in each new film, and clearly each deserving of the accolades, awards and fans they have garnered.

THE VIDEO

Full-screen formatted with sharp visuals and a brilliant transfer of all looking brand-spanking new.

THE AUDIO

Dolby Digital and in English only, the sound is on the money overall.

THE EXTRAS

Running commentaries on all 3 shorts by Park, with collaborators Bob Baker and Steve Box, offer some insights (i.e. Wallace is partly based on Park’s father and voiced by English actor Peter Sallis) but fluctuates from gushing over how they loved a certain piece of business to some information no one would’ve ever guessed (real oatmeal was used in one sequence for animated oatmeal!)

Cracking Contraptions: These are 10 W&G mini-adventure shorts running 2-3 min each. Also on tap are 2 new “Shaun The Sheep” shorts featuring the unsung hero of “A Close Shave”.

The Amazing Adventures of Wallace & Gromit: A short history and biography of the animated team and their beloved characters, as well as the pop culture phenomenon they’ve become.

Inside The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave: How They Did It: Very brief glimpses at the animation process for both films.

Wallace & Gromit Scrapbook with Blue Prints of Their Inventions and Photo Gallery: Featured here are stills of the creative inventions concocted by W&G and shots of behind-the-scenes works-in-progress.

FINAL THOUGHT

This DVD collection is a must have for any animation fan and particularly a W&G one too boot.