Released on Christmas 2024, it marked 25 years since the debut of this stop-motion franchise, created by 66-year-old, English animator, Nick Park. The franchise began with A Grand Day Out (1989), which was nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the 63rd Academy Awards. The film lost to Creature Comforts (1989), which was Park's other work that year. However, most people remember him for the characters introduced in A Grand Day Out. Park created a sequel to called The Wrong Trousers (1993), which did win the Oscar for Best Animated Short Film at the 66th Academy Awards. He did another sequel called A Close Shave (1995), which won in the same category at the 68th Academy Awards.
At that point, Park and Aardman Animations, the company for which Park worked, knew they had a hit on their hands. Aardman decided to do its first-ever theatrical feature. Park co-wrote and co-directed Chicken Run (2000), which became the highest-grossing, stop-motion film of all time. Yet, it didn't make it to the Oscars. It's only when Park decided to take his characters from A Grand Day Out and put them in the feature, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) did Aardman get nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 78th Academy Awards, winning in that category that year, beating stiff competition like Hayao Miyazaki. The franchise has since expanded with TV series, specials and more films.
Thinking about this film, I compare it to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). That 1982 flick was a vengeance tale where the creators of that science-fiction franchise decided to take a villain introduced in the past and bring him back for an epic showdown with the heroes. This film is doing that same as The Wrath of Khan conceit. The villain in question was introduced in The Wrong Trousers. That villain is out for revenge and he comes to a quasi-epic showdown with Wallace & Gromit, the two lead characters. Like with The Wrath of Khan, that epic showdown is well and thrilling but the heart of the film boils down to the friendship of its two main characters. Similarly, Park's film boils down to the friendship of its titular protagonists.
Wallace is a cheese-loving, British man who works as an inventor. He doesn't work for a lab or a corporation. He works exclusively from his home. He's not married or has any kids. Yet, he seems as though he's probably middle-aged, probably the same age as Nick Park when he first created the character. Wallace doesn't seem to have much in the way of friends. His only companion is his dog. However, we're not to feel sorry for him. Wallace is very happy-go-lucky and who always remains upbeat and optimistic.
Gromit is the aforementioned best friend of Wallace. He's a dog, a beagle that looks like Snoopy from the Peanuts cartoons. Like Snoopy, he doesn't speak, but he's capable of doing anything a human being can do like drive a car. Yes, Wallace is an inventor and knows about science and technology. He's arguably book smart, but Gromit is more street smart. Gromit arguably has better instincts, but he's not as happy-go-lucky. He's more skeptical and more cynical. He's also not a fan of all of Wallace's inventions. He prefers a simple life where he gardens and is more connected to nature. Gromit is also comparable to the character of Brain from the series Inspector Gadget (1983).
Things get hairy when Wallace invents a robot with some kind of artificial intelligence. As one can probably guess, the artificial intelligence isn't really a force of good or at least it starts as a force of good, only to turn. Not only is this a trope in many sci-fi films and television, it's a trope within the Wallace & Gromit franchise. Most of the Oscar-nominated and Oscar-winning work involves some kind of evil robot or specifically some kind of robotic device invented by Wallace turning on him or on Gromit.
One of the exceptions was The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, which stands as my favorite. That film defied the tropes. This one doesn't. One could say that the 2005 film plays with other tropes. One could argue this one plays with tropes too. It depends if one is tired of those specific tropes or not. The comedy and humor is cheeky enough and could cause a grin here or there.
Rated PG for some action and rude humor.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 22 mins.
Available on Netflix.
