Film Review: Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Aardman Animation has succeeded again with their Wallace and Gromit franchise, and this time it is in the long form. Although Chicken Run was a disappointment, Aardman has redeemed itself by sticking to characters close to their heart.

I have followed the Wallace and Gromit characters since their initial short-length versions, which already included a trip to the moon, a nefarious penguin and some mishapenned lost sheeps. The success of the series lies in its good old underdog-wins-the-day (and-gets-the-girl) narrative.

Wallace and Gromit fit the movie buddy profile, with Gromit being the indispensable sidekick that cleans up after his master. He is the butler to Batman and Q to James Bond. Such a pairing is essential to showing the camaraderie of friends and the loyalty of partners (and Gromit is one very loyal dog).

Although highly British in its sensibility and humour, the simple storyline, with well-placed red herrings, can be universally understood. Rather than appear as a simplistic tale of mindless small-town British folks, the film creates a silly but memorable world of quirky characters and dodgy technology. The latter is almost a slap in the face to the supposed advancement of animation through computer technology. There is just something so benign and wholesome to claymation that fits the expressive style and down-to-earth stories that Nick Park and the Aardman studio tell.