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Wallace
and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
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My belated introduction to the work of Aardman animation, the career of director Nick Park and the characters Wallace and Gromit came during a trip to Vienna in 1994. I sat among a crowd of hard-line, left wing, intellectual film buffs in a venue where normally only avant-garde movies were screened. It seemed an odd, possibly disastrous place for the Austrian premiere of The Wrong Trousers (1993). Yet, the moment the film began, the audience melted in delight. When I asked someone what the appeal of this work was to the Viennese intelligentsia, he replied: "We enjoy laughing at the British." Since 1985 and the short A Grand Day, the Wallace and Gromit films have offered a veritable encyclopedia of British dagginess. Wallace, an eternal bachelor, is a slightly dotty chap who loves to tinker with his inventions. His loyal dog, Gromit, tends to keep him out of trouble. Around the daily rituals of this pair, we witness the eccentricities of everyone else in the neighbourhood. Sometimes, one feels that Park and his collaborators would be content to simply observe this milieu in its most banal, nothing-happening state. But there must be a plot, especially in a feature film. In reaction to the strenuously mythological narratives used by Hollywood animation, Park prefers the self-consciousness of a tall tale, usually a pastiche of elements from old-fashioned movie genres. Horror is the borrowed element here, although it is presented in a completely cheery, unterrifying way. Wallace carries out experiments on the brains of the rabbits he captures but cannot bring himself to kill, trying to factor their vast appetites out of their personalities. Alas, things go wrong and two surreal, hybrid creatures emerge: a giant 'were-rabbit' who is actually Wallace himself, and a cute, ditzy rabbit who is a mini-Wallace. Those who are already fans of the Wallace and Gromit films know exactly what to expect here – Wallace's elaborate wake-up ritual, the exasperated reactions of Gromit to everything his Master does, the frenetic chase and action scenes. To liven things up a little, there is a tentative love interest for Wallace in Lady Tottington (voiced by Helena Bonham Carter), and a villain, Lord Victor Quartermaine (Ralph Fiennes), whose presence allows a couple of slightly naughty double entendres to slip under the radar. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is an enjoyable, efficient but finally rather unadventurous piece. The stop motion animation technique, for which Aardman is famous, still offers a refreshing break from the digital juggernaut that now rules this area of production. But Park and co-director Steve Box prove unable to push their tried-and-true style into any new or surprising realm. Especially in Australia, where the similar look and feel of Harvie Krumpet (2003) has become ubiquitous, one now looks to Aardman for something better than mere 'creature comfort'. © Adrian Martin September 2005 |
