‘Lovely bit of cheese, Gromit…’
While Nick Park’s beloved comic creation Wallace & Gromit was never a big part of my own childhood, I was still very much aware of it. It was so huge in the ’90s that it was impossible not to have at least an awareness of it. I definitely watched them and enjoyed them but by the time the animated shorts became feature films I had already checked out. With a new film on the horizon, this seemed like as good a time as any to go back through the franchise…
6. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
Following the success of the earlier shorts and also of Park’s other creation Chicken Run, expectations were high for The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, and while it certainly isn’t a bad film, the titular man and dog combo do lose some of their charm once translated to the big screen. I don’t come to Wallace & Gromit for big action set pieces, I come for the small moments. A knowing glance from Gromit. A cheese pun. In moving from the television set to the cinema screen, Park’s most famous duo lose some of their charm.
5. A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008)
Perhaps the most forgotten of all the Wallace and Gromit offerings, A Matter of Loaf and Death combines everything that made the original shorts so appealing with a darker sensibility. This uneasy alliance doesn’t always work. As a horror obsessive, I’m all for dark material but I’m not sure we need a serial killer being murdered by crocodiles in a cartoon about a lovable old man and his faithful dog. That being said, there are still some lovely gags here and this 2008 effort feels like a return to form after faltering with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
4. A Grand Day Out (1989)
Park’s first foray into the world of Wallace and Gromit has buckets of charm but definitely lacks the sophistication of his later efforts. That being said, many of the elements that make the franchise so beloved are introduced here. Wallace and Gromit, obviously, but also their love for tinkering and making things, the beautiful friendship that they share, their mutual passion for cheese. It’s all here.
A Grand Day Out is groundbreaking in its own way, but it’s not as essential as the films that would follow it.
3. A Close Shave (1995)
I remember this coming out when I was a mere slip of a lad (I was 8 years old) and how much of a big deal it was. Everyone watched A Close Shave. It was a huge deal with huge expectations. The fact that this is many people’s favourite Wallace & Gromit film perhaps indicates just how good it is, and while I am personally not a big fan of Shaun the Sheep (and can’t really understand why he spawned a franchise all of his own), there is no denying that A Close Shave, like the film that came before it, is pretty damn perfect.
2. The Wrong Trousers (1993)
This for me is the sweet spot. The combination of the rustic charm of A Grand Day Out and the bravado craft of the later efforts. While I love A Close Shave, this one is more lovable and perhaps more lovingly crafted. I also just love Feathers McGraw as a villain. A mute penguin as an antagonist is a genius move.
The Wrong Trousers is perhaps the high watermark of stop-motion animation, it is also central to British cinema and to the concept of Britishness as a whole. Wallace’s continued politeness in the face of adversity is as innate in our culture as our love of a queue. Or a pub. Or queueing at a pub – this is an exceptional short film.
1. Vengeance Most Fowl (2024)
Again, expectations were high for Vengeance Most Fowl but I’m pleased to say that this is the moment in which Park and his team finally manage to successfully marry Wallace & Gromit to the feature-length format. This is partly down to the return of Feathers McGraw – genuinely one of the most compelling cinematic villains ever – and partly down to ditching the big set pieces of The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to return to something more grounded. The addition of Reece Shearsmith as the demented robotic garden gnome Norbot is a welcome one and Mark Burton’s screenplay is the funniest of the whole franchise.
While The Wrong Trousers are pretty hard to beat, and it’s impossible to know yet what kind of legacy Vengeance Most Fowl will leave behind, I adored every moment of its skinny 79-minute run time and for me, this most recent entry in the Wallace & Gromit franchise is also the best.