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Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is a 2005 British-American stop-motion animated film, the first feature-length Wallace and Gromit film. It was produced by Universal Feature Animation Aardman Animations and USA produced by Dreamworks Animation. The film was directed by Nick Park and Steve Box and shot entirely in Britain. It was released in the United Kingdom, United States and Hong Kong in October 2005 to almost universally rave reviews, including "A" rating from Roger Ebert and Ty Burr.

The film won an Academy Award for best animated feature film of the year at the 78th Academy Awards on March 5, 2006. The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is in part a parody of the horror genre, and contains many images that parody or pay homage to specific horror films. One of the television advertisements for the film is a montage of these parody images and scenes. Peter Sallis (the voice of Wallace) is joined in the film by Ralph Fiennes (as Lord Victor Quartermaine), Helena Bonham Carter (as Lady Tottington), Peter Kay (as PC Mackintosh), Nicholas Smith (as Rev. Clement Hedges), and Liz Smith (as Mrs. Mulch). Gromit remains silent.

Nick Park told an interviewer that after separate test screenings with British and American children, the film was altered to "tone down some of the British accents and make them speak more clearly so the American audiences could understand it all better [1]."

The vehicle Wallace drives in the new film is an Austin A35]] van. In a collaboration with Aardman in the Spring of 2005, a road going replica of the model was created by brothers Mark and David Armé, founders of the Austin A30/A35 Register, for promotional purposes. In a 500 man hour customisation, an original 1964 van received a full body restoration before being dented and distressed to perfectly replicate the model van used in the film. The official colour of the van is Preston Green, named in honour of Nick Park's home town. The name was chosen by the Art Director and Mark Armé.

This film is marketing partners from: Burger King featuring Kids Meal only and SC Johnson featuring Raid

Plot[]

Spoiler Warning: The following contains important plot details of the entire film.

As Tottington Hall's annual giant vegetable competition approaches, the cheese-loving inventor Wallace and his beagle Gromit provide a humane pest control business known as "Anti-Pesto," protecting people's vegetables from rabbits. One evening, after capturing rabbits found in the garden of Lady Tottington, Wallace uses two of his latest inventions, the "Bun-Vac 6000" and "Mind Manipulation-O-Matic," to brainwash them into disliking vegetables. All goes well until Wallace accidentally sets the Bun-Vac to "BLOW," and his brain is fused with that of a rabbit, forcing Gromit to destroy the Mind-O-Matic. The transfer appears to have worked, as the rabbit shows no interest in vegetables. They name the rabbit Hutch and place him in a cage.

That night, a giant rabbit devours many people's vegetables and the duo fail to respond. During a town meeting the next day, the creature is revealed to be the Were-Rabbit. Hunter Victor Quartermaine offers to shoot the creature, but Tottington persuades the townsfolk to give Wallace and Gromit a second chance. After Anti-Pesto unsuccessfully tries to trap the rabbit, Wallace suspects that Hutch is the beast and has Gromit lock him in a high-security cage. Gromit then follows a trail of footprints into Wallace's bedroom and finds a pile of half-eaten vegetables inside, indicating that Wallace is the real culprit.

After celebrating his success with Tottington, Wallace is cornered in the forest by Victor, who vies for Tottington's affections and fortune. Wallace transforms into the Were-Rabbit under the full moon and flees. Now seeing the perfect chance to eliminate his rival, Victor obtains three "24-carrot" gold bullets from the town's vicar, Reverend Clement Hedges, to use against Wallace.

On the day of the vegetable competition, Gromit reveals to Wallace that the experiment has swapped his and Hutch's personalities; the latter is now carrying his human traits and is the only one who can fix the Mind-O-Matic. Tottington visits and informs Wallace of about Victor's plan; as the moon rises, Wallace begins to transform again and hastily forces Tottington to leave. Victor arrives and attempts to shoot Wallace with the golden bullets, but Gromit helps Wallace to escape. Once Victor is gone, Gromit and Hutch devise a plan to save Wallace.

At the competition, after using up all his gold bullets, Victor takes the Golden Carrot trophy to use as ammunition. Wallace, carries Tottington atop Tottington Hall and reveals his true identity to her. Meanwhile, Gromit subdues Victor's dog, Philip, in a dogfight using aeroplanes taken from a fairground attraction. Gromit then steers his plane into Victor's line of fire as he shoots at Wallace, causing the bullet to hit the plane instead. The damaged plane falls and Wallace jumps to grab Gromit, sacrificing himself to break his fall into a cheese tent. Gromit quickly disguises Victor as the Were-Rabbit, causing Philip and the townspeople to chase him away.

Wallace morphs back to his human self and appears dead, but Gromit revives him with cheese, undoing the curse of the Were-Rabbit. Tottington awards Gromit the Golden Carrot for his valor, and converts the grounds of Tottington Hall into a nature reserve for Hutch and the other rabbits.

Cast[]

  • Peter Sallis - Wallace/Hutch
  • Gromit
  • Ralph Fiennes - Victor Quartermaine
  • Helena Bonham Carter - Lady Tottington
  • Peter Kay - PC Mackintosh
  • Nicholas Smith - Reverend Hedges
  • Liz Smith - Mrs. Mulch
  • John Thomson - Mr. Windfall
  • Vincent Ebrahim - Mr. Caliche
  • Geraldine McEwan - Miss Thripp
  • Edward Kelsey - Mr. Growbag
  • Dicken Ashworth - Mr. Mulch
  • Robert Horvath - Mr. Dibber
  • Pete Atkin - Mr. Crock
  • Ben Whitehead - Mr. Leaching
  • Noni Lewis - Mrs. Girdling
  • Mark Gatiss - Miss Blight

Chapters[]

  1. Anti-Pesto
  2. Technology
  3. Tottington Hall
  4. Rabbit Rehabilitation
  5. Vegetable Carnage
  6. Town Meeting
  7. More...Alluring
  8. Detective Gromit
  9. Totty's Garden
  10. Wallace's Transformation
  11. Rabbit Ears
  12. Lady Tottington's Visit
  13. At the Competition
  14. Dogfight
  15. Cheese!
  16. End Credits

References, in-jokes, goofs and mistakes[]

  • In the town meeting after the first strike of the Were-Rabbit, Totty has a bible behind her and a lamp above her head, giving her angel wings and a halo, and Victor has two devil horns.
  • Monsters in Reverend Hedges' book have comical Latin names: for example, the Loch Ness Monster is "Touristus trapus".
  • The book on obscure monsters is authored by Claude Savagely.
  • Real aerial dog fight noise are incorporated into the Snoopyesque fight between Gromit and Victor's dog Philip.
  • Gromit and Philip interrupt the fight to load a 10-penny into a toy plane, reminiscent of A Grand Day Out.
  • Many of Totty's outfits make her look like a vegetable or flower.
  • Hutch says "the bounce has gone from his bungee". Wallace says exactly the same thing in A Close Shave.
  • The climax of the film is reminiscent of the climax of King Kong, which was also created with stop-motion animation.
  • Many other horror and action movies are parodied, including Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and Screamers (a moving bump of earth following a vegetable).
  • The box Gromit holds up to cover the naked Wallace has a sticker saying "may contain nuts".
  • Wallace is shown reading a copy of Ay-Up! magazine. "Ay-up" is northern English for Hello!.
  • The eyes in the portraits of the Anti-Pesto clients flash just like those of the Tracey brothers in Thunderbirds.
  • The buttons on the car radio spell "mutt".
  • The car's license plate says "Hop 2 It".
  • The fridge is a Smug instead of a Smeg; the drill is a Botch instead of a Bosch.
  • Co-writer Bob Baker wrote for the BBC's science fiction television series Doctor Who several times throughout the 1970s. The "death" of the Were-Rabbit towards the end strongly resembles a "regeneration" as seen in the programme.
  • Totty defends Wallace by applying "pansy spray" to Victor.
  • Books in Wallace's collection include "East of Edam", "Fromage to Eternity", "Swiss Cheese Family Robinson", "Waiting for Gouda" and "Grated Expectations".
  • A large carrot sign advertises "Harvey's" vegetable shop, a play on the film Harvey, about a man who befriends an invisible six foot three and a half inches tall rabbit
  • "PC Mackintosh" was never said or mentioned. PC Mackintosh never said what his name was.
  • This was the last DreamWorks movie to use full opening credits.
  • This was the only DreamWorks movie to be rated G.
  • This was the last DreamWorks Animation movie to be distributed by DreamWorks Pictures.

Gallery[]

External links[]

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