This time of year, it is not terribly easy to find family-friendly Halloween movies that reach a certain level of quality. There are only a handful of contemporary movies made for the Halloween season that will entertain all ages without falling into juvenile inanity. It’s a tough enough balance to strike even when making a non-seasonal film. One of the best films to achieve this balance is a delightful, gothic romp from Aardman Animation. Based in England, Aardman made a name for itself through their Oscar-winning, stop-motion short films which reveled in the zany adventures of two characters named Wallace and Gromit. These characters became such an underground phenomenon, that Dreamworks Animation signed Aardman to a production deal to produce and distribute features. After 5 years of development, Aardman finally brought Wallace and Gromit to the big screen in their first, and to date only, feature film. That film was 2005’s WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT.
In this film, Wallace (Peter Sallis) and his dog, Gromit run a humane pest control business called “AntiPesto”. They find themselves very busy as the locals are getting ready for the annual Giant Vegetable Competition and want their gardens well protected. After a while, their gardens become ravaged by what the locals are describing as a ferocious, giant rabbit. The citizens, led by Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) look to AntiPesto for a solution. Lady Tottington’s snobbish suitor, Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes) has other ideas – and intends to put his hunting skills to good use by killing the Were-Rabbit and, at the same time, removing his rival for Lady Tottington’s affections – Wallace.
Say no to carrots, cabbage, and cauliflower!
Helena Bonham Carter is utterly hilarious as Campanula Tottington, the lovely and bright, animal-loving Lady of Tottington Hall. Ralph Fiennes has great fun twirling his proverbial moustache as the villainous Victor Quartermaine, an unethical hunter wooing Lady Tottington for her money. A gaggle of character actors round out the cast and clearly have great fun with the material. The film’s heart and soul, however, belong to our title characters. The mute dog, Gromit is a wonder of a character. Intelligent, resourceful, and loyal to a fault, Gromit expresses more with one eye roll, one shrug, or one startle than most live actors can with several lines of dialogue. As for our main human character, Peter Sallis originated the voice of Wallace in the short films and reprises the role for the feature. His clipped, gentle delivery is so utterly beguiling that Sallis’ voice sets the tone for the entire film.
The Gothic, classic horror-inspired storyline is reflected in the design of the film. In the daylight, this little English town is a charming, homey place full of eccentric and lovable people. At night, the shadows are long and the streets oppressive. The people, while still eccentric, are more ominous. The cues that the film takes from the classic Hammer horror films are in evidence all around. It is a testament to the skill of everyone involved that this straight-faced approach to the darker side of this story only serves to heighten and enhance the zaniness all around.
Run, rabbit, run!!
If you think this all sounds very English, you’d be right. WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT is relentlessly silly in the delightful way that only British humor can be. This film follows the great traditions of English humor from Music-Hall to Monty Python, and the result is a romp that is absolutely perfect in its balance and tone. Nick Park wisely resisted efforts by Dreamworks to replace Peter Sallis’ voice as Wallace with a celebrity that American audience would recognize. He also resisted efforts by Dreamworks to “Americanize” the script out of fear that American audiences wouldn’t understand some of the jokes. The result is a film that stayed true to the short films that audiences around the world had already fallen in love with.
No, Mr. Katzenberg… No one else can play Wallace. No one.
While WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT performed fairly at the U.S. box office, the film did very well worldwide. It performed under Dreamworks’ expectations, however, and even though the film was a smash with critics and worldwide audiences, it was the beginning of the end of the association between Dreamwroks and Aardman. This film will also probably be the only Wallace and Gromit feature since Peter Sallis’ failing health prevents him from working very much. We should all be grateful, however, that the only feature film starring these characters was a delightful, Halloween-appropriate adventure for the whole family to enjoy.
WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT fun facts – On average, 3 seconds of usable footage was produced per day.
Gromit rolls his eyes 13 times in the film
At one point, Gromit hears the song “Bright Eyes” on the radio. “Bright Eyes” was featured prominently in the film “Watership Down”, which was another animated film about English rabbits.
A notice on the hot dog stand at the fair reads “Hot Dogs, and Cats and Burgers”. This is a nod to Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of Dreamworks Animation.
Wallace - “Just a bit of harmless brain alteration, that’s all.”
Mr. Dibber - “Kiss my Ar…tichoke!”
Wallace – “Burrowing bounders! They must be breeding like… well, rabbits.”