It’s the Good Cheese
It’s been a while since cheese-loving inventor Wallace (Peter Sallis) and his faithful dog (of no mouth) Gromit have ventured out of Aardman Animation Studios. Their three Claymation shorts “A Grand Day Out,” “The Wrong Trousers” and “A Close Shave” are beloved by children and adults all over the world, each being nominated for an animated short Academy Award with the latter two bringing home the little gold statue.
Now, for the very first time, these two timeless characters appear in their first full length motion pictures, “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.” Happy to say, the years have been kind to this fitfully funny duo and it’s been well worth the wait anticipating their return. Why? Not only is this movie a welcome and wonderful continuation of the duo’s adventures, it’s also the best animated film released this year. “Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is an instant classic, and creator Nick Park should start dusting off space on his mantle for a third Oscar right now. As Wallace would say, this is “Crackin’ good cheese!”
Wallace and Gromit’s peaceful neighborhood is overcome with “veggi-mania” as the annual Giant Vegetable Competition approaches. Being the enterprising best friends that they are, the two start up a company, “Anti-Pesto,” to humanely deal with the numerous rabbits invading the town’s all-too sacred gardens. The company is a hit. A hit, that is, until a giant veg-ravaging beast starts terrorizing gardens (and property) everywhere.
Believing animals should not be killed – no matter what their size – festival hostess Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter, who with this and “Corpse Bride” is making a career out of doing stop-motion voiceovers) hires Anti-Pesto to bring down the marauder and save the competition. But, as the day of the festival draws near, and with Wallace and Gromit apparently failing to capture the critter, Lady Tottington is forced to turn to the snobby Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes, foppishly delightful). He’d rather shoot the veg-robber then capture him, and even after learning what’s really going on his murderously jealous feelings towards the Were-Rabbit could just prove dire for the plucky inventing heroes.
No bones (or should I say carrots) about it, this Claymation marvel is practically perfect in every way. Children are guaranteed to gobble it up wholesale, laughing and smiling their way through each mis-adventurous frame. Adults will join right in, chortling loudly at every one of the hidden (and far more mature) gems sprinkled throughout Park, Steve Box, Bob Baker and Mark Burton’s ingenious screenplay. The family comedy is an all-around winner, blowing every other animated picture this year so far out of the water they’re all stuck somewhere up in the upper atmosphere unable to get back down.
Speaking of bones, it is ironic this stop-motion masterpiece comes so close on the heels of Tim Burton’s recent macabre hit “Corpse Bride.” Ironic, because for all that film’s advance buzz and intense interest it doesn’t come close to equaling the genius of “Curse of the Were-Rabbit.” Both pictures feature some of the most eye-popping and distinctly dazzling animation of this, or any, year, but only one of the two has a script worthy of all the fuss. “Corpse Bride” is eye candy, sometimes wondrous eye candy to be sure, but other than that there isn’t anything else to the whole thing making it stunningly unmemorable. That is certainly not the case here, ever piece of the puzzle so alluring and splendiferous the smile it produces nearly guaranteed to last for weeks.
My favorite moments? How about a sequence featuring Gromit and Quartermaine’s toothy mutt engaging in a WWI-style, excuse the pun, dogfight in out-of-control carousel airplanes. Or, there’s a deliriously silly mad scientist bit featuring floating bunnies that’s part Universal and Hammer horror homage, part Loony Tunes inventiveness and all uniquely hysterical in its visual and verbal originality. And, not to mention there’s the sequence involving the Anti-Pesto wagon, a long rope and… no… no… I’m not going to spoil it. You’ll just have to see for yourself.
Needless to say, “The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” is spectacular. I have nothing bad to say about it, nothing at all, and for me that’s really saying something (I can be a bit of hard case sometimes). Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another decade for Wallace and Gromit to come back to theaters for a second helping.
Film Rating: ęęęę (out of 4)
