"Stand back! There may be a large rabbit dropping!"
In honour of Gromit's cracking film debut on DVD... Wallace and Gromit return in a movie that's every bit as good as their previous efforts, a rip-roaring
adventure packed with detail and humour, beautifully animated as always and so consummately charming
you can't help but love it. A singular tribute to the Universal Monsters as well as the creative
possibilities of Plasticine, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit sees our plucky Northern
heroes resolve to capture a hulking, fluffy, veggie-nabbing bunny. Plus love is in the air as posh
wildlife enthusiast Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) catches the eye of our Wallace (Peter Sallis),
proud inventor of the Bun-Vac 6000 and lots more besides.
"It's really a dream come true," says director, writer, producer and triple-Oscar winner Nick Park, who
first created Wallace and Gromit 16 years ago. "Wallace & Gromit were my college creations, and it is
quite something to think that they are starring in their first full-length feature film."
Co-directing with Park is Steve Box, who served as an animator on both The Wrong Trousers and A Close
Shave. "Making a 30-minute Wallace & Gromit movie is time-consuming and requires a lot of patience and
care. Making an 85-minute feature is like making the Great Wall of China with matchsticks," Box notes
with a laugh. "It's a monumental feat, actually. It was five years of solid work, because every tiny,
little thing matters so much. But I think the biggest challenge of taking these characters from 30 minutes
to 85 minutes was finding the story."
"It took a while to come up with an idea we felt was expansive enough to suggest a full-length movie,"
Park recalls. "Steve and I sat for hours on end with the other writers, and we suddenly hit on this idea
about a Were-Rabbit. The Wallace and Gromit movies have always referenced other film genres, and we thought
a great genre to borrow from would be the classic Universal horror movies. But, in our movie, instead of a
werewolf, we have a Were-Rabbit... and instead of devouring flesh and blood - in Wallace and Gromit's world,
it's got to be something more absurd - we made it vegetables. It's a vegetable-eating monster so, in effect,
The Curse of the Were-Rabbit became the world's first vegetarian horror movie."
Key among the voice cast is, of course, the wonderful Peter Sallis. "I couldn't imagine Wallace without
Peter now," declares Park. "Peter is Wallace and vice versa. Back when I was in college creating these
characters, Peter seemed like a natural for Wallace. I knew him from his series, Last of the Summer Wine,
and his voice just stood out to me. I was a shy student with not a lot of money to make the film, but I
wrote to him and he very happily obliged me."
Sallis relates, "Nick Park liked the sound of my character on Last of the Summer Wine, and that was really
what started it all. I went to the Beaconsfield Film School, where Nick was a student - this was back in
1983 - and we literally sat side-by-side and recorded A Grand Day Out with a microphone on the desk in
front of us, no fancy glass booth or anything like that. I would say the lines and Nick would interrupt
and say things like, 'I think it would be better this way.' At first, I'll admit, I was just a little bit
skeptical. I thought, 'This guy is a student here, and I've been in the theatre for, how many years?' But
it dawned on me, after a very short time, that he was absolutely right. And he's been absolutely right ever
since."
Through all of his adventures, Wallace has had a silent partner at his side: his dog Gromit. Sallis says,
"Wallace & Gromit live and work together and they are quite chummy. People who are familiar with the
characters will tell you that Gromit is the brains of the outfit, but," he argues, "that does not alter
the fact that Wallace is a rather clever inventor. I mean, he got them to the moon and back much quicker
than the Americans did," Sallis smiles, referring to the duo's first adventure in A Grand Day Out. "You
have a man who, on one level, is so brilliant that he can put his hand to making almost anything, but, on
another level, is really a bit thick. And then you have a non-speaking character with the most expressive
eyes and ears that have ever been created. Together, they have great chemistry, which is entirely due to
Nick Park."
"Obviously Gromit can't say anything, but that's an important part of Wallace and Gromit's relationship,"
notes Park. "They don't have to talk - they have a bond that goes much deeper. Wallace is the daffy inventor
who acts first and thinks later. Gromit is the opposite; he is very cautious. Wallace is a doer, but Gromit
is a thinker; he is definitely more intelligent - the long-suffering partner who has to get Wallace out of
his own self-made scrapes. So much of the comedy relies on Gromit's reactions to Wallace."
If you're looking for a film guaranteed to entertain everyone who sees it, you'll do no better than Wallace
and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. All that remains now is to wait impatiently for a sequel.
|