Wallace & Gromit In The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit

If you are unfamiliar with the Wallace and Gromit franchise, it is the work of Aardman Animation in the UK, the same folks who created Creature Comforts (reviewed some time ago). Wallace is a wide-mouthed cheery inventor type with an obsession for cheese and crackers. Gromit is his silent (and much more sensible) dog, business partner, and household assistant. The pair appeared in three much-loved shorts, painstakingly animated in good old fashioned stop-motion Claymation. No computer effects or drawings. It’s probably taken the studio the full ten years since the last featurette to create this full-length movie (it’s not uncommon to produce a few seconds of usable film per day in this process).

The movie is a delight from start to finish. It is witty and inoffensive, with a real plot line, good gags, and fun appropriate for the littlest of kids and adults alike. The plot is a twisted take on the classic Universal horror films of Frankenstein and The Wolfman (adding in touches of King Kong and Indiana Jones), with plenty of direct references that fans will appreciate.

There are two “naughty” adult gags I caught, both of which are humorous and so subtle that a kid would have no idea they just occurred. The main Were-Rabbit plot is played as a mystery for a while, which is probably the shakiest part for adults, since everybody knows what the true nature of the beast must be. But I’m sure it is fun for kids to figure out the puzzler before the characters do.

Recommended fun for the whole family. I laughed out loud.