Earlier this week (Tuesday night, if you're curious), I got to see a sneak preview of the upcoming movie Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
After all the crap I've seen at the movie theaters this year, it seemed almost a shame that I catch two of the best movies I've seen all year in the same week. (Serenity being the other, in case you're paying absolutely no attention.)
If you aren't familiar with Wallace and Gromit already, you're missing out. The three short films featuring the characters have recently been re-released on DVD, and you should go out and buy them. They're great for all ages.
Chicken Run came from the same creator a few years back, and though it too was great, it also felt a bit like the opening act of a concert -- everyone in the crowd was waiting for a full-length Wallace and Gromit movie to take the stage. Well... soon it will. And it's brilliant, funny, and clever. It's loaded with impressive feats of clay animation (hundreds of floating bunnies swirling in a big glass globe, for example). The climax of the film is an action sequence that, like the Wallace and Gromit short The Wrong Trousers, delivers more thrills than most live-action film chases.
Ironically, this movie did not quite crack my top 100 list, even though Chicken Run did (at 83). Nevertheless, I give it an enthusiastic A, and steer everyone in its direction when it opens this coming Friday.
6 comments:
...Must...see...Wallace...and...Grommit...
Hey, I wonder if the Training-Daugher wants to see it... That'd be cool...
Hmmm, let's see how many names I can drop here: Aardman Animations are based in Bristol; Nick Park married the daughter of someone my dad used to do business with; um, that's it. The Wrong Trousers is excellent (not least because of Peter Sallis' voice acting) but I don't get how you seem to prefer this to Chicken Run yet that rates higher in your movie hall of fame.
Well... Wallace and Gromit as a whole, I prefer over Chicken Run. But I thought the best of the shorts (The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave) were a little better than this movie. Not that this movie is anything less than great.
Does that make any more sense?
I found Chicken Run to be fun, but nothing special. Certainly wouldn't make my top 100.
Wallace and Gromit as a whole I prefer over Chicken Run
Only when I went to post this comment saying it still didn't make sense did the light bulb finally go on. I thought you were saying you preferred the new W&G movie as a whole (taking in all its different aspects like animaton, writing and performance) but you meant the W&G "collection" as a whole. I get it now!
And hey, it's your list anyway :).
Man, I just saw Wallace and Grommit and loved it. While I think the shorts were a bit better because they squeezed more quality per minute, I thought the humor and quality of this movie were great. Chicken run was good, but perhaps because of Mel Gibson, I thought it was more Hollywoodized.
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