Cracking and grand, Grom-it...
You're right, leonardpart6: dem Wallace and Gromit shorts be lovely fun things.
The library was kind enough to have a copy of Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures: the original three short films and the 10 "Cracking Contraptions" short-shorts from a few years ago. "Turbo Diner" (the cooking-food-at-the-table machine) was probably my favorite short-short -- the payoff made me laugh out loud -- and of the original shorts I most loved A Close Shave.
It's easy to see how much the filmmakers learned between A Grand Day Out and A Close Shave -- it's so much more cinematic, and usually if I say something's "cinematic" that means I especially like it. But the qualities that made me really like the movie are there in the original shorts, too, of course: the gentleness of the tone, Wallace's slightly cracked optimism, Gromit's moods (I really perked up at his I'm-mad-as-hell close-up in The Wrong Trousers), the machines, and the music (now how catchy is Julian Nott's main theme?). It's good-feeling stuff, done with love. I mean, "Shopper 13" had me cheering on a hobbling shopping cart! "Oh dear, is it gonna make it? You can do it! Keep going!"
OK, so this ain't the most exciting post. I'm still waking up! (Jeez.)
The library was kind enough to have a copy of Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures: the original three short films and the 10 "Cracking Contraptions" short-shorts from a few years ago. "Turbo Diner" (the cooking-food-at-the-table machine) was probably my favorite short-short -- the payoff made me laugh out loud -- and of the original shorts I most loved A Close Shave.
It's easy to see how much the filmmakers learned between A Grand Day Out and A Close Shave -- it's so much more cinematic, and usually if I say something's "cinematic" that means I especially like it. But the qualities that made me really like the movie are there in the original shorts, too, of course: the gentleness of the tone, Wallace's slightly cracked optimism, Gromit's moods (I really perked up at his I'm-mad-as-hell close-up in The Wrong Trousers), the machines, and the music (now how catchy is Julian Nott's main theme?). It's good-feeling stuff, done with love. I mean, "Shopper 13" had me cheering on a hobbling shopping cart! "Oh dear, is it gonna make it? You can do it! Keep going!"
OK, so this ain't the most exciting post. I'm still waking up! (Jeez.)