Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit Film Review

Wallace & Gromit are cultural icons over here in the UK with the duo getting audiences excited every single time they announce something new is coming with these two characters. With the duo before this film having starred in three short films all of which are more then worth checking out it was only a matter of time before they made the leap to the big screen and that's exactly what happened in 2005 and so then join me as I review the film that saw the duo trying to track down a giant rabbit with the film in question being called simply just "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit" enjoy.

The plot of this film is with the towns local vegetable competition just days away Wallace and Gromit have to find the giant rabbit that's been eating all of there vegetables before it's to late. Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. To be frank this films plot is dumb and absurd in all o the best ways possible as this is the kind of plot that these two characters would be drawn into as heck even there very first short film A Grand Day Out had them dealing with a robot on the moon. Whilst yes this films plot is about as dumb as it gets it is also one that does feel right for a Wallace & Gromit as it does take the time to delve into there friendship something which there shorts just never had the time to do whilst also opening up the world of the shorts by giving us a whole host of new characters and whilst yes it could be argued that this films plot is rather on the thin side this is something that could also be true for Vengeance Most Fowl or any of there other short films as well for that matter with this films plot being as thin as it need to be as it does allow for the charm of the characters to shine through and that is something that wouldn't be possible if this film did have a more thicker plot to it as then alot of the film would be just about pushing the film plot forward and that's something that does work for this film as while yes the films plot is really good the strength of the films ploy lays with how strong and charming the characters are with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being rally rater engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Peter Sallis as Wallace and Hutch and Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Campanula "Totty" Tottington. Also starring in this film is Ralph Fiennes as Lord Victor Quartermaine , Peter Kay as Police Constable Albert Mackintosh , Nicholas Smith as Reverend Clement Hedges , Liz Smith as Mrs. Mulch , Dicken Ashworth as Mr. Mulch , Edward Kelsey as Mr. Growbag , Mark Gatiss as Miss Blight , Geraldine McEwan as Miss Thripp , John Thomson as Mr. Windfall , Vincent Ebrahim as Mr. Caliche , Robert Horvath as Mr. Dibber , Pete Atkin as Mr. Crock , Noni Lewis as Mrs. Girdling and Ben Whitehead as Mr. Leaching.

Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. The fact this film has some really good acing in it is something that really isn't all that surprising as alot of this films are a bunch of really good actors in there own right with even the likes of Peter Sallis being Wallace's official voice actor since the eighties and would carry on playing the character right up until his death in 2017 with him being the only actor to appear in all of the then three shorts and this film yet the films new actors hold there own when it comes to acting against him with the film having an all star list of classic British comedy actors all of which do turn in a really good performance in this film. With the best actor in this film being Peter Sallis as Wallace and Hutch which granted might be a cliche thing to say as he is the only actor to play the character in the shorts and this film therefor of course he's going to have a good handle on the character but it's also something that's true for this film as while it does appear as if he did slightly alter the voice for Wallace most likely to make it easier to understand what he's saying to an American audience the performance for the character is still really good with it being clear as day that even after all of those years doing just the shorts that he did still have a great time in playing the character as he does make the character his own basically with him having this natural likability about him that does shine through in his performance. With the acting that's  in this film really being helped by the fact that this film s script is just so good that all this films have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the animation for this film is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Aardman Animations. Now the interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Again much like with the films acting and plot it's not really all that shocking that we have some really good looking animation in this film as even in there short films Aardman do some really good work and when there given a feature film budget to work with there animation just gets to be a whole lot more better. As now they get the chance to really show us just what it is that they can do animation wise which in this case results in a film that have alot of really good looking animation in it with the film not being held back by the fact that is a stop motion film rather it uses that to its advantage as the film gets to have alot of crowd scenes with known characters in the film with this being something that would have been alot more easier to do in CGI and yet due to the fact that it's done in clay they have to animate every single character every few seconds and it comes off looking really good with us being able to see all of the blood , sweat and tears that go into every single frame of this film, with the film even mixing in some basic CGI as there are a few shots where the rabbits are CGI and there's is some CG mud used in the film during the chase scene with there Were-Rabbit but every thing that you see in this film was all animated by hand and it all looks good with this film looking like it could have been made last year.

Speaking of the rabbits in this film there was a really good mystery built around not only who the Were-Rabbit was but also what it was that created him in the first place. With the film giving us a clever mis-direct by showing us that Hutch has none from being he size of a normal to now having grown quite alot with him even uttering several words that Wallace himself has said not only in this film but in a small easter egg to the fans he also utters a few words from the original short films and while this isn't that that clever as the film then right away reveals that Wallace is the Were-Rabbit when it would have worked just as well if we got a few suspects as to who it could have been the fact that it does turn out to be Wallace is still a really good reveal. With this reveal even making sense since it was Hutch and Wallace and that got stuck together when Wallace accidentally caused his own invention to get haywire and therefor if Hutch is acting more like Wallace it therefor makes sense that Wallace would in turn start acting more like Hutch with even the smaller rabbits being more afraid of Hutch which is something that does play into the misdirect as the characters of Wallace & Gromit wouldn't have seen what Hutch had turned into and therefor if there seeing the rabbits scared then of course there going to think that he is this beast with the only thing that does let it down being the fact that the film really doesn't spend all that long on the mystery itself when it really could have done as that is something that would have made the big reveal at the start of the third act of the film be all that more shocking as while revealing that the Were-Rabbit is Wallace is a good idea it doesn't have the same impact that it could have done if the film had hinted that it could have been other characters besides from Wallace.

There is a certain Britishness to this film that does make the film feel like one of the Wallace & Gromit short films. As there are things in this film that you will only get if you are from the UK this is something is kind of a double edged sword as it does mean that the film does indeed stay true to it's small town British routes and has a very small scale problem with even things like the fact that the Vicar's alarm is like a car being locked that's not something that you'll get in somewhere like America but it is something that you would get in the UK with the film being filled to the brim with small moments like that even if it's something like the fact that the street that the characters live on is a cobble stoned street that's something that Americans won't notice or care about but if your in the UK that means that Wallace & Gromit live somewhere in the north on England. While this is something that the the UK fans of the characters would enjoy it is also something that would and in this case alienate the American audiences as while the film was a huge success over here in the UK in America it didn't do that good with the one of the reasons possibly being that it might have been two British for American audiences to fully get behind and that is fair enough as even alot of the accents in the film are thick English accents and with there being no major American name in the film like there was with Chicken Run it does mean that American audience might not have had the same urge to go and see the film that the British audiences obviously would have done and thank god for that as it means that Aardman stuck with what made them well known n the first place and weren't willing to change who these characters are for an audience that might not have watched the shorts in the first place.

The films main villain Lord Victor Quartermaine is a good and funny character with him being an over the top and pompous character. With his main goal being to kill the Were-Rabbit which on paper does make him sound like the hero of the film as he's trying to get rid of the thing that is causing chaos in the town but given the fact that he finds out that Wallace is the Were-Rabbit and he already hates Wallace in the first place then it is something that does make him more of an evil character with him going to extreme lengths to make sure that he gets what he wants as he does take the time to attack the duo at there home when Wallace has just transformed into the beast and he does take the time to lock Gromit up to make sure that he can't get in the way these are things that might seem small at first but do make him out to be a solid villain. While he's not as good as say Feathers Mcgraw was in The Wrong Trousers he's easily better then Preston from A Close Shave as Victor does try to kill the duo several times in the films third act with him even being painted as being the devil in the films church scene, the character is also a bit of funny character with the makers of this film clearly having a blast writing these over the top lines for the character all of which make him appear to be more of a pantomime villain then a straight up film villain and while that is something that would be seen as being a bad thing in quite literally any other film here due to how over the top the situation it does call for a having a villain that can that over the top and the fact that he is willing to turn on the townsfolk just to prove a point in something that does help to make this character appear to be more evil then what he is.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and twenty four minuets and fifty nine seconds. With this being a pretty solid running time as alot of the films homegrown audience will already be aware of Wallace & Gromit and therefor the film doesn't really need to be set them up as characters and nor does it need to set up the world that the film takes place it in just needs to let the characters do there thing and that's it and that's exactly what this film does and while it would have been nicer if the film was a bit longer as the film is so good in the first place this is something that would be stretching a thing premise even thinner with the film having more then enough plot there to cover that amount of running time in the first place. With the film even using its running time as wisely as it could have done as the film does take the time to fully develop as much of the plot as it could have done as while the doesn't really explain all that much plot wise as it never explains how the Vicar came to know about the Were-Rabbit after he himself was attacked which is something that that the film could have done but to be fait it could be argued that the less we know about the films plot the more funnier and absurd it is which if that is the case then this films plot is even more better then what we all thought it was in the first place. The same thing is also kind of true for the films characters as while not all of he films characters get character development as the only one that gets character development in this film is Gromit as he learns that it's OK to eat Cheese some of the time which granted is a little bit of an odd lesson for a character to learn but this film it is something that does work and while it would have been better if Wallace got some character development it really wasn't need to make this film work in this first place but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is a comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's  actually featured / featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With nearly all of this films jokes not only landing but landing hard and granted this is something that will be better if you are from the UK as alot of the jokes in this film the jokes that you will only get if you are from here but with that being said a good joke will always be a good joke like Wallace & Gromit's van shaking of mud like and dog shakes of water that is a decent joke as is Wallace mixing up toupée with Victor saying that he wants to pay these are all some really funny jokes that alot of people will find to be really funny. With the best joke in the film being in the third act when Wallace as the Were-Rabbit kidnaps Lady Campanula "Totty" Tottington and he takes up the side of her house King Kong style only for him to him almost get shot by Victor with Police Constable Albert Mackintosh coming out with a great one liner by saying that there might a giant rabbit dropping which is a really good joke with it showing that the makers of this films are more then willing to do those kinds of jokes and yet do it in way that's both smart and clever which is something that we still don't see happen in alot in kinds film and yet we see it happen here in this film as this is a film that does have alot of smart and funny jokes in it with the rest of the films jokes being just just as good as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall what else needs to be said as this is a really good film that alot of animation lovers will and in some cases have loved or over twenty years now and whole yes you will get more out of the film if you are from the UK this doesn't stop the film from being a really good film in it's own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film kin this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly an 8.5 out 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from Blogger , Wikipedia and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.