Review

Review Date: 9-October-05
Spoiler Rating: Low
Juju Judgment: Juicy

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

I got my money's worth during the first two seconds of "Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." It opens to a photo gallery of the title characters that includes a picture of a PUPPY GROMIT, the sight of which would now allow me to die happy. Anyone who has discovered Nick Park's animated short films about a daffy British inventor and his trusty dog surely understands what I mean. If a couple lumps of clay ever deserved a movie hound's devotion, Wallace and Gromit are they; and the latter has got to be one of the cutest, most lovable heroes on film.

Oh yes, there's another 85 minutes of movie after the puppy Gromit revelation, and they don't let an admirer down. Despite the pressures of making their first feature film a success (extending the familiar running time, appealing to a wider theatrical audience), Park and co-director Steve Box stay true to the shorts that brought them this far. (Perhaps a little too true, as "Were-Rabbit" is very like "A Close Shave.") Our chums still inhabit their cozy, contraption-laden cottage, where Wallace (Peter Sallis) bumbles about with his mind on cheese and Gromit keeps everything running smoothly. The humor of their existence still pops up in wonderful winks of an eye (another photo captures Gromit's graduation from Dogwarts), and, as always, they're deep into a project which capitalizes on the man's inventions and requires man's best friend to save the day.

Part of the fun of Wallace & Gromit (for adult fans if not young ones) is that their stories adopt the style of a classic matinee, and here the adventure recalls an old horror flick in which a monster preys upon innocent villagers. No new character is as delicious as Feathers McGraw, the villainous penguin of an earlier episode, but Ralph Fiennes hams it up admirably as a gun-toting cad threatened by Wallace's gentle approach to wooing the Lady Tottington (Helena Bonham Carter) and helping her with pest control. Wallace seems to be carrying the day on both fronts until the pest in question switches from a clutch of adorable bunnies to a towering super-rabbit whose appetite for carrots and cabbage is insatiable. Kids and grown-ups alike (W&G's target audience being fuzzy) can then sit back and enjoy the showdown between man and beast (W&G's distinction being fuzzy) for the honor of the Lady and her renowned vegetable-growing competition. Lettuce admire once more the ingenuity of the wonderful Gromit! "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" isn't quite as perfect as its small-scale predecessors, but for lovingly crafted, vitamin-rich entertainment, it can't be beet.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.