Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)
The Cast
Peter Sallis ... Wallace/Hutch
Ralph Fiennes ... Victor Quartermaine
Helena Bonham Carter ... Lady Campanula Tottington
I'm going to spoil the whole review again, right off the bat. I have to do it though, because sitting here and reading about how awesome this movie is when you could be running out to buy it, rent it or borrow it from someone and then sit down and watch it yourself would be a waste of your time. You've already gone haven't you? Well if you're still here and reading this, there's going to be little suspense left for the rest of this review. I might even cut it short by a couple paragraphs.
This is the movie that inspired andythesaint to convince his wife wow_funstuff to name their future pet beagle after the silent hero of the film, Gromit. He may not say a word, but the eyebrows and exasperated expressions and small hand gestures speak volumes. There is so much love and devotion and creativity put into the filming of this movie that a single viewing is not doing it justice enough. This isn't a kid's movie that's fun for adults because of cheeky pop-culture of the moment humour. This is a movie that is fun for everyone and will reign for years as a timeless claymation classic. Unlike, say, the Shrek movies which cease to be funny about five seconds after the film is over.
I find it amazing that a movie that took over five years to make seems fresher and more relevant than some CGI celebrity-voiced-talking-whatevers-in-the-place-of-humans movie that comes out every week. Director and co-writer Nick Park and his crew averaged something like three seconds of useable footage for each day spent making this Wallace & Gromit feature. Three seconds a day. I can't imagine doing anything for three seconds a day and having something amazing to show for it five years later. Unless it's destructive I guess, like littering or throwing a rock at a window.
Anyways, I'm not going to take up any more of your time here. You can probably find this movie ridiculously cheap somewhere nowadays, and it's well worth every penny you spend. It's a touching and hilarious 80 minutes or so, filled to the brim with adorable animals and idiot humans. Ralph Fiennes delivers one MONSTER of a vocal performance, and Helena Bonham Carter keeps up with him as ably as she can, which is fantastically well. There's some wonderful suspense, gorgeous and amazing animation sequences, cute bunnies getting sucked into holes and a lil' bit of comical horror as well. Plus, the pop culture references that W & G make are already timeless and won't make you cringe in 20 years like when you watch the bonus Far-Away Land Idol sequence at the end of Shrek 2.
5 / 5
GO NOW, GO BUY IT!