Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
I'm a huge fan of Wallace and Gromit in their previous short films, so I was very eager to see their new feature film.
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
★★★★★
It's rather funny to see how DreamWorks is almost maniacally-intent on copying Disney with its distribution of Pixar films. From the short preceding the movie to the “Production Babies” section of the credits, you could see the imitation of the packaging.
Before the film was a short starring the penguins from Madagascar in some Christmas thing. One word review: dreadful. I didn't see Madagascar when it was out, and if this was any indication of what the movie is like, I shan't. The four penguins reminded me of the Cheat Commandos, but without the humor and self-awareness. The short committed the one cardinal sin of a film: It was boring.
Fortunately, it was over quickly, and the real film began.
The basic plot is simple: Every year there's a vegetable-growing contest held by the Tottingtons, and Wallace and Gromit are taking care of keeping the rabbits away from the prize contenders. But soon, a mysterious creature starts attacking the vegetables of town. And of course, it's W&G's job to stop it before Victor Quartermaine causes it to meet a violent end.
The only characters that survive from the previous films are Wallace and Gromit themselves. Lady Campanula, the latest of the Tottingtons, serves as Wallace's love interest. I suppose you need one of those in every movie, at least. I guess it didn't work out with Wendolene Ramsbottom.
The gleeful zaniness of the film is everywhere you look. So much energy is put into everything, even the smallest details, that you can't help but be captivated. Silly little details that you'd never catch are there, references to movies and to previous films.
What elevates it past most of what I saw this year are actually very simple things. First, its characters never do something stupid to just keep the plot going. While it's clear that it's W&G's show, all the characters have reasonable motivation to do what they do. Secondly, you can't see where the plot is going. No surprise that there's a happy ending, but how it gets there is a wonderful ride. And finally, there are moments of sheer genius, as when a sale of garden implements gets turned into a sale of mob implements. There were plenty of times I just had to applaud.
This movie is amazing. It's funny and smart and clever. You must see it.