Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

2005
Starring
Peter Sallis as Wallace
Ralph Fiennes as Victor Quartermaine
Helena Bonham Carter as Lady Campanula Tottington
Directed by Steve Box and Nick Park

The year 2005 gave us Son of the Mask, The Honeymooners, Alone in the Dark, XXX 2, Stealth, Elektra, House Of Wax, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, The Perfect Man, Kingdom of Heaven, The Cave, Into the Blue, Fantasic Four, War of the Worlds, Alexander, The Island, Bewitched, The Greatest Game Ever Played, Man of the House, and Cry_Wolf. More horrors are undoubtedly on the way, such as Bloodrayne. There were a few bright spots, but out of the darkness comes a beacon so bright it blinds all competition. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is too good of a movie to have come out of this year. It is a miracle. A beacon of hope. A sign of things to come. Wallace and Gromit are the first in a wave of decent films that are due out, and they are a sight for sore eyes. Hollywood has been complaining all summer about their being in a box office slump, then they release another weekend of garbage. Deservedly, people are staying home and staying away. Sure, Episode III, Sin City, Batman Begins, all decent, but not enough to keep people going to the lesser fare. Smaller productions such as Broken Flowers entertained but didn’t get much exposure, nor would they appeal to the masses as they weren’t designed to. Mot of the best films I saw this year were foreign films from 2004 or earlier, such as Kung Fu Hustle, Kontroll, Oldboy, and The Warrior. W&G is a great film. Everyone will love it, unless you are dead inside.

In a town obsessed with growing giant vegetables, the prized produce is protected by Anti-Pesto, a humane rabbit removal service run by Wallace and Gromit. Wallace is the cheese-obsessed inventor who is always making gizmos to help around the house, while Gromit is his loyal dog, a true man’s best friend. An alarm system is set up in each garden, and Wallace and Gromit rush to the scene for every emergency. As something has to be done with the captured rabbits, they are stored in the basement of their home. As you can imagine, rabbits do what rabbits do, so there are a lot of them. The storage and feeding problems, combined with Wallace’s natural inventiveness, leads him to create a brainwashing device, which he uses to try to cure the rabbits of their veggie-craving ways. Obviously, something goes horribly wrong, and soon a giant were-rabbit is terrorizing the neighborhood and only our two heroes stand in the way of complete vegecide.

Add to the mix a love interest, the lovely Lady Campanula Tottington, whose rabbit-infested yard is quickly swept free of bunny invaders by Wallace and Gromit’s Bunny-Vac, impressing the Lady and angering her suitor, Victor Quartermaine. Spouting a large toupee that would put Elvis’s hair to shame were it real, a mean dog sidekick, and a rifle in which he wishes to eliminate the rabbit problem permanently, a rivalry is born. Wallace and Gromit use a giant fake female bunny as bait, which they drive through the town and have dance seductively. Throw in references to King Kong, Harvey, Harry Potter, and classic werewolf movies, and you got yourself a winning combination. All of the fun of the previous shorts is kept, and it is pulled of wonderfully on the big screen. Sometimes it can be hard to stretch smaller things out to feature size, but have no fear. The clay world of Nick Park once again reigns triumphant. We’ll delve further into the plot below the rating, in case you are worried about spoilers…

The film debuted at number one, deservedly, but that success was overshadowed by a fire at the Aardman Animations storehouse that destroyed most of the company’s history in props, including all Wallace and Gromit sets and characters from the previous shorts. The sets from this film were on display and were not affected. But, we got a great film, an antidote to the summer of blues, a great payoff for a film that has been anticipated since before Chicken Run poked it’s beak into theaters, and a boatload of fun. Those opposed to this film best be shot by a golden carrot, for they are not to be trusted.

Go see this film, enjoy the inventions, the contractions, the misunderstandings, the were-rabbitings, the expressions of friendship and loyalty between W&G, the thrills, the chills, the cheese, the bunnies, the clay.

SPOILERS BELOW!!!

SPOILERS>>>

The rabbit that was brainwashed is believed to be the were-rabbit, but the secret is Wallace is the were-rabbit! Revealed halfway through, the film then shifts as Gromit must protect his master, while Victor finds out the truth and vows to kill the were-rabbit. As the only way to kill the were-rabbit is with a golden bullet, Victor stocks up. Wallace escapes while Gromit is trapped by Victor, and the finale happens at the giant vegetable festival. That’s all the spoilers I’m giving here. So go see the movie if you want to see what happens. Go. Get. Move on. Did you go yet? NO?? What are you waiting for? Move it, buddy!

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