FILM FRENZY

The Claymation champs (Photos: Shout! Studios & Aardman)

By Matt Brunson

A Grand Day Out (1989)
★★★½ (out of four)
The Wrong Trousers (1993)
★★★★ (out of four)
A Close Shave (1995)
★★★½ (out of four)
A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
★★★ (out of four)
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2006)
★★★½ (out of four)
DIRECTED BY Nick Park (shorts); Nick Park & Steve Box (feature)
STARS Peter Sallis

In the toon world, the clay’s the thing. At least that’s the case when it comes to Wallace & Gromit, those iconic pioneers of Plasticine.

Ever since this English odd couple reached our shores back in the 1990s, I’ve been a loyal fan, enough so that the Aardman studio’s American rep wrote me to thank me for my fervid support (some of my early scribblings had been utilized in their print plugs). There was a point when I had a Wallace & Gromit mouse pad at home, a Wallace & Gromit screensaver at work, Wallace & Gromit calendars at both locations, and even a Gromit icon for my Fantasy Football team logo. Therefore, I might be a tad biased when I suggest that those seeking ideas for Christmas gift-giving can do no better than handing out the new 4K UHD + Blu-ray box set Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection. Admittedly, it’s not the cheapest present out there — a Limited Edition of only 5,000 units, its list price is $119.98 (although some sites have it for under $100) — but, to paraphrase Hallmark, don’t you care enough to send the very best?

The brainchildren of Nick Park, the Claymation creations Wallace (voiced by Peter Sallis until his death in 2017 at the age of 96) and Gromit have starred in four shorts, one feature film (a second, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, premieres on the BBC December 25 and Netflix January 3), a couple of television series, a dozen video games, three comic books, a stage show, numerous commercials, and more. (There’s also been a spin-off franchise, Shaun the Sheep.) Here’s a look at which of these treats are included in this set.

Park first showcased the befuddled, cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his silent (and more intelligent) canine companion Gromit in a trio of short films and later added one more title to the batch.

The 1989 Academy Award-nominated A Grand Day Out (it lost the Best Animated Short Film Oscar to another Park pic, the non-W&G gem Creature Comforts) finds the duo building a spaceship simply so they can fly to the moon and eat to their hearts’ content (after all, everyone knows that the moon is made entirely out of fromage).

The collection’s masterpiece, 1993’s Oscar-winning The Wrong Trousers, is a dazzling blend of humor, suspense, and fast-paced action, as Wallace unwisely rents a room to a malevolent penguin planning a major art heist; naturally, it’s left to Gromit to vanquish the villain in the most imaginative way possible.

The Oscar-winning 1995 A Close Shave places Wallace in a burgeoning romance with the shy Wendolene Ramsbottom (Anne Reid) even as Gromit is framed for sheep-napping by a metallic RoboDog who wouldn’t be out of place in The Terminator.

And 2008’s Oscar-nominated A Matter of Loaf and Death opens with the pair running a bakery service called Top Bun — while Gromit worries about the string of murders that has left 12 other bakers dead, Wallace unexpectedly finds romance with former bread-company model Piella Bakewell (Sally Lindsay) even as it appears that he might be the next victim.

While the four shorts are offered in both 4K and Blu-ray formats, 2005’s Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which took the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, is presented only on Blu. While this might disappoint many, this does mark the first time that the shorts and the movie have been available in the same set.

In this yarn, W&G have taken it upon themselves to rid their burg of its rabbits by forming a pest control outfit called Anti-Pesto. Using Wallace’s latest invention, the Bun-Vac 6000, the team is able to humanely capture all the bunnies that have been helping themselves to the neighbors’ garden patches. But shortly before the annual Giant Vegetable Competition is scheduled to take place, one of Wallace’s experiments goes horribly awry, and the result is a monstrous rabbit that eats its way through the townspeople’s prized possessions. Lady Tottington (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter), the event’s hostess as well as Wallace’s potential love interest, wants the were-rabbit captured but not harmed. However, her jealous suitor, gun-crazy Victor Quartermaine (a hilarious Ralph Fiennes), hopes to blast the creature with the gold bullet he acquired for his trusty shotgun. Wallace’s bumbling efforts do little to aid the cause, so once again it’s up to Gromit to save the day — and the were-rabbit.

Long-standing fans will be delighted that Julian Nott’s jaunty score from the shorts has been retained for this film, and they’ll get a kick from the sly references to the lads’ earlier adventures. But make no mistake: This requires no knowledge of the lead characters’ previous exploits to enjoy the film on its own terms. You don’t have to be aware of Wallace’s overwhelming love of cheese to appreciate the titles in his bookcase (East of Edam and Fromage to Eternity, for example), and no prior exposure is required to catch Park’s homage to classic horror flicks (King Kong and Frankenstein among them). The rampant wit extends to the smallest details: The minor character of the police constable is named PC Mackintosh, a Marx Bros.-worthy moniker which still makes me chuckle all these years later, and even the one nod toward the crudity found in most kid flicks today (a gag involving nuts) is a keeper.

Also available in this collection is 2002’s Cracking Contraptions, a TV and Internet series of 10 shorts in which Wallace invents such offbeat items as a tellyscope and a snoozatron. (Not included is their other show, 2010’s Wallace & Gromit’s World of Invention, which was released on Blu-ray in 2012 by Lionsgate.) Extras include an interview with Park and Aardman co-founder Peter Lord; making-of featurettes for three of the four shorts; and a picture gallery. Items inside the suitcase-shaped set consist of a 24-page booklet with an essay and recipes, and a sticker sheet.