Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Year: 2005
Rating: G
Length: 85 minutes / 1.42 hours
Having grown up with the Wallace & Gromit short films, I’ve always held the belief that this duo is the core to Aardman Animations’ success. For their first outing in a feature-length context, there was bound to be some growing pains with the transition from short films. Granted, this wasn’t Aardman’s first foray into feature-length stop motion films, but there were a lot of expectations riding on this film based on how well the previous Wallace & Gromit shorts had done.
With the leap into a feature-length movie, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) pulled out all the stops for its visuals. The whole thing looks great, even if it’s clear in spots that there were computers being used instead of just the raw physical medium of Plasticine. As always, Gromit is the most expressive silent character of this century (and I’d even say in all of cinematic history). It felt like the audience needed more of him, but that was because the other sub-plots seemed to focus solely on Wallace.
In terms of plot, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit felt a little less original than the short films. Not that the tropes they used were overdone, just that it was perhaps a little more predictable and “safe” compared to their previous outings. Still, the truly British humor shone through as always, leaving me chuckling at all the brief references and lines that the adults would get but the kids wouldn’t. Overall, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is one of the best stop motion movies ever made, just not necessarily the best Wallace & Gromit story.
A great jump to the big screen for Wallace & Gromit, but not without some growing pains, I give Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit 4.0 stars out of 5.
This movie appeared in Cinema Connections:
#113. Stop-motion
#114. Aardman Animation
