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Wallace is a handyman and inventor living happily in Tottington with his dog/butler/best friend, Gromit. Wallace's latest get-rich scheme is to create Anti-pesto, a safe and humane way of stopping local rabbits devastate Tottington's vegetable crops. But with a huge vegetable competition about to be unveiled, Wallace tries another way of stopping the hungry rabbits, but unfortunately lets something bigger and hungrier off the leash: the were-rabbit, whose appetite knows no bounds. So not only do Wallace and Gromit have that to stop, the vegetable competition to save, but Wallace finds himself in competition with arrogant nobleman Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes) for the heart of Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham-Carter).

Aardman studio's first foray into full-length animation was with the brilliantly entertaining 'Chicken Run', suggesting that they perhaps thought that Wallace and Gromit belonged safely on the small screen, not the big. 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit' however, proves that school of thought completely and utterly wrong. It fully deserves its place alongside the best of full-length animation and utterly eclipses any CGI offering we've had so far this year. You can keep the photo-realistic bangs and whistles of 'The Polar Express' because this is animation at its most dazzling and imaginative.

Directors Nick Park and Steven Box have a keen cinematic eye and also work with a script that's just bursting with wit, and jokes for both young ones and those simply young at heart. There's cinematic in-jokes that flash by without beating you over the head with them, great puns and terrific jokes running throughout. The night-time scenes of the were-rabbit creeping about drip with an atmosphere that cries out "Hammer Horror!" without making it too scary, and the film simply flies by with barely a sag in the story.

And having created an astounding pie-machine sequence in 'Chicken Run', the ante is upped here, with a climax that involves a literal dog-fight in the air, the were-rabbit fleeing for its life and a fairground descending into utter chaos. It's a dizzying spectacle, genius in its conception and when you consider just how painfully slow it would take to create such a sequence, the love for the film by its creators is astonishing.

But there's so much more to talk about! There's an earlier pursuit of the were-rabbit by Gromit, the scene where the were-rabbit changes into itself that shows a deep love of the universal horror films of the 1940's, some of the best silent gags you'll ever see...it's a sheer delight throughout.

Peter Sallis voices Wallace to simple perfection, Fiennes and Bonham-Carter are terrific fun, but with Gromit we're talking about a creation that simply has to go down alongside Bugs Bunny, Woody and Buzz, and Roger Rabbit as one of the finest animated characters ever seen. Silent throughout, the animation of Gromit is exceptional as he conveys fear, suspicion, exasperation and worry simply through the smallest movement of his eyes and the most subtle of facial expressions. Hell, he'll even be forcing a lump in your throat and severely watering your tear-ducts by the end. And that's a mighty impressive achievement when you consider we're talking about an exquisitely moulded blob of clay.

Throughout the film I had a small child behind me who kept kicking my chair. Then his father's mobile phone went off right at the climax of the film. A bunch of teenagers were trying to sort out their social lives at the front of the screen. Yet, despite all these irritations that would normally make me snap, I left 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit' with a grin a mile wide and a spring in my step. I couldn't remember the last time a film left me so thoroughly satisfied and entertained. I can't remember any animated film being done with so much obvious love and affection. Surely securing themselves a place forever in animation history, Wallace, the never-say-die hero; and Gromit, his endlessly loyal companion, prove that just like Wensleydale cheese, they really are the best of British.

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originally posted: 10/12/05 21:03:18
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