MOVIE: A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
A Matter of Loaf and DeathYear: 2008Rating: PGLength: 29 minutes / 0.48 hours
One of the weird things about claymation is that there's this fine line between rough early works and super-refined later films. For Wallace & Gromit, the quality of shorts like A Grand Day Out (1989) shows potential, and the next two shorts of The Wrong Trousers (1993) and A Close Shave (1995) refined the feel of the universe while still having that organic, handmade aesthetic. After having released the full-length Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), the next short of A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008) actually felt too polished.
Stylistically, A Matter of Loaf and Death is perhaps the most consistent of the shorts. Whether CGI helped or if the processes to make stop-motion films have improved over time, it's difficult to tell. Whatever the reason, so much of this short feels too clean—there aren't the errant fingerprints or other artifacts that reveal the handmade nature of the...