Posted: 10/16/2005

Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit

(2005)

by Hank Yuloff

Several years ago I attended an animation festival that showed a dozen or so works by different directors. The one that stood out the most was a claymation production about a man and his dog called Wallace & Gromit a Grand Day Out. One of the things that stuck with me was the way that Wallace said Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeese. Continued to make me laugh for years.

The story revolves around the Annual Giant Vegetable Competition that has been put on for 500 years in W & Gs town. They have set up a business called “Anti-Pesto Humane Pest Control” to keep all the rabbits and such from eating all of the produce that the villagers are growing for the competition. Wallace comes up with a magnificent idea for making the bunnies not like vegetables but it backfires and he and Gromit now have a 25 foot Were-Rabbit with which to contend.

If you have seen any of the W&G shorts, you will immediately know that while he has many wonderful inventions, some of Wallace’s ideas go astray in the most bazaar ways, leaving his faithful dog companion Gromit to bail him out. Such is the case in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit where the fate of the competition is in the balance. When W&G fail to immediately trap the Were-Rabbit, Lady Tottington, who’s family has run the competition since its inception, is eventually forced to allow her snobby suitor, Victor Quartermaine to hunt down the vegetable chomping marauder.

Little does she know that Victor’s real intent could have dire consequences for her …and Wallace and Gromit.

Director (and W&G Creator) Nick Park was the brains behind Chicken Run but his long time love and career focus has been to make Wallace and Gromit household names. In this film, he borrows liberally from other horror films like King Kong and Jaws but it isn’t too scary for children.

In fact, because Gromit is so much the star of the film, it will probably make them all want to see if their pets at home can drive a car and whip up a pot of tea. Many of the jokes are aimed at adults (there are some vague sexual references) but not so much that the kids won’t be the ones who truly enjoy the film.

Hank Yuloff is our senior film critic in Los Angeles.

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