Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit 20th Anniverserary Review
When you think of stop-motion in the USA, you think of Rankin-Bass, Tim Burton, and Studio LAIKA. But head across the pond, and you’ll find that Aardman Animation reigns with its pair of kings, Wallace and Gromit. Since 1989, this lovable duo consisting of a brilliant inventor and his super-smart dog have entertained kids with their misadventures. They’re some of Great Britain’s best-known cultural ambassadors, and if you’ve seen their shorts and films, you’ll understand why. From the introduction of Feathers McGraw in The Wrong Trousers to the murder-mystery of A Matter of Loaf and Death, Wallace and Gromit have remained fairly consistent with the quality of their work. But if you ask me, their magnum opus is their 2005 love-letter to old-school gothic horror, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit.
Bagging Job, Gromit! Reel em’ in, Lad!
It’s almost time for the annual giant vegetable competition in Wallace and Gromit’s town, something that the townsfolk take too seriously for their own good. So to protect everyone’s veggies from rabbits, Wallace and Gromit start a successful humane pest control, capturing rabbits until the contest is over. But when Wallace tries to use his newest invention to make them hate vegetables, it backfires, transforming him into a wererabbit. With everyone’s veggies at risk and a rival hunter looking to bag the bunny, it’s up to Gromit to save his best friend!
It should be noted that this wasn’t my first exposure to Aardman’s work, though, with that honor going to their 2000 movie Chicken Run. That movie had seen them partner with DreamWorks to distribute it and had seen massive success as a result. In fact, it was DreamWorks’ biggest success until Shrek came out a year later. It also gave Aardman the confidence it needed to make another movie, this time starring the duo that had made them world-famous. And while it didn’t as well as Chicken Run, most people can agree that The Curse of the Wererabbit is when Wallace & Gromit peaked.
Why? Because the film is incredibly silly.
Curse of the Wererabbit is Unapologetically Silly
As a parody of classic monster movies, The Curse of the Wererabbit doesn’t even bother hiding just how silly it is. If anything, it embraces the ridiculousness of a giant rabbit menacing a town’s
precious crops by having the cast take it dead seriously. The film even lampshades how people are taking the veggie growing contest more seriously than they should be, but that’s what makes it so entertaining. A prime example being the town vicar, who spends a good part of the film hamming it up about how the Wererabbit is divine punishment for their hubris and whatnot. Or when everyone thinks the Wererabbit is dead, they pause to mourn it…and then start cheering like crazy. And, of course, it wouldn’t be Wallace & Gromit without British wit, puns, and sarcasm. Case in point, we have the titular duo of Wallace and Gromit.
Wallace and Gromit are a great example of a good comedic duo, with Wallace being the flighty and emotional half while Gromit is the stoic and serious type. They both work so well together, both as a team and as sources of comedy, which is even more impressive when you consider how Gromit never talks. Yet through the power of pantomiming, we can understand exactly what Gromit is thinking at all times. We can practically hear him thinking a snarky one-liner whenever he’s feeling exasperated by the absurdity of whatever’s going on, which is pretty often. My favorite example is when they’re initially trying to catch the Wererabbit, not yet knowing it’s Wallace, Gromit listens to the radio, only for it to play “Bright Eyes” from the film Watership Down, aka a film about rabbits. The eyeroll he gives is perfect.
It’s an Honor, your Ladyship!
Meanwhile, when he’s not turning into a giant rabbit, Wallace is left to deal with his own conflict in the form of his growing affection for their wealthy client, Lady Tottington. Tottington is a lover of rabbits and fluffy animals, but circumstances force her to have them dealt with for the sake of the townsfolk. As such, she greatly appreciates the duo’s humane pest control, greatly preferring it over the more violent methods of her other suitor, Victor Quartermaine.
While Wallace as the Wererabbit is technically the film’s main antagonist, the fact that he doesn’t actually hurt anyone means he’s more of a nuisance than a threat. Instead, the real threat is the foppish Victor Quartermaine. Victor is a lot like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, only sillier. He’s a hunter whose first (and only) solution to a pest problem is to shoot it, much to the dismay of Lady Tottington, who he’s trying to woo for her money. This makes him see Wallace as a threat, and when he realizes he’s the Wererabbit, he sees this as a means of killing two birds with one stone. Or killing one rabbit with gold bullets. And a gold carrot. Yet even when he’s trying to kill Wallace, he never shakes being a comedic villain, much to our enjoyment. Much of the film’s slapstick comes from his misfortune and he very much deserves it.
You Can’t Beat Classic Claymation
Of course, the film would be nothing without its real star, the animation itself. This movie came out just as studios were starting to transition away from more traditional forms of animation to relying on CGI. Aardman itself has used the technology, especially in its next film, Flushed Away, but for the most part, they’ve stayed true to their roots. With how time-intensive claymation can be, it took years for them to make The Curse of the Wererabbit, and it shows in the sheer amount of care they put into everything. Everything looks amazing, and it still holds up 20 years later.
Overall, I can’t understand why Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit marks a high point for the series. It’s funny, its good-looking, and as far as kid films go, it’s fantastic. If you haven’t seen it yet, then I recommend giving it a watch this month. At about ninety minutes long, it’s good for an evening spent in looking for something to enjoy.
